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Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding Jr., Charlize Theron, Aunjanue Ellis, Hal Holbrook ... see more see more... , David Keith , Michael Rapaport , Powers Boothe , Joshua Leonard , David Conrad , Glynn E. Turman , Holt McCallany , Lonette McKee , Carl Lumbly , Dulé Hill , Alimi Ballard

This military drama is based on the true story of Carl Brashear, who was the first African-American to serve as a diver in the United States Navy. Brashear (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.) was born to a p... read more read more...oor farming family in the deep South, and joined the Navy in hopes of bettering himself. When Brashear applies for diving school, he first encounters Master Chief Billy Sunday (Robert De Niro), a gruff and tyrannical diving instructor who holds absolute sway over his charges. Sunday does little at first to encourage Brashear's ambitions, and the would-be diver discovers racism in the military is an ugly fact of life when his white comrades refuse to share barracks with him. But Brashear's courage and determination make an impression on Sunday, and the two men become allies as Brashear must fight prejudice, military bureaucracy, and even a crippling injury in order to realize his dreams. Originally announced under the title Navy Diver, Men of Honor also features Hal Holbrook, David Keith, Michael Rapaport, Charlize Theron, and Powers Boothe; Bill Cosby served as an executive producer for the project. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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82% liked it

74,807 ratings

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41% liked it

104 critics

R, 2 hr. 9 min.

Directed by: George Tillman Jr.

Release Date: November 10, 2000

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DVD Release Date: April 10, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (2,842)

  • blkbomb
    June 28, 2011
    blkbomb
    Billy Sunday: The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get ... read moreto being a hero.

    Men of Honor is a good biopic of an obviously great and inspiring man. The only fault the movie has is trying to be overly melodramatic. The story doesn't need more drama and if they would have just let the story unfold without all the extra drama, it would have been better. With that said I still believe it is a good and worthwhile film. It shows us the heroism and fight of Carl Brashear very well; and in the end, that is all this movie had to do, for me. De Niro is good as Billy Sunday. There is a good supporting cast, but they aren't overly important and are barely on screen. At the end of the day it's a good movie about an extraordinary man, but it could and should have been great.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    January 31, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Men Of Honor is a terrific film based on the first African American Master Diver. Cuba Gooding Jr. delivers in the lead role of Carl Brashear and Robert De Niro gives a phenomenal performance as well. Brashear overcame racial tensions in the Navy to achieve his goal of becoming a... read more master diver. Despite racist slurs yelled at by his classmates, and attempts at sabotaging his exercises, Brashear proves that he's got what it takes to make it, and he does in the face of bigotry. The only reason that I don't give this film a higher rating is because the film felt slightly cliched at times and overplayed on the sentimentality of the main character. Towards the end the film started to navigate the usual feel good film territory and it felt slightly flat. Despite this, Men Of Honor is a terrific film with a great cast of talented actors that can pull off something thats nearly flawless. De Niro and Gooding Jr. light up each scene they're in and give splendid performance. Not to mention that this is one of the strongest performances of Cuba Gooding Jr. career. A well made film despite the typical feel good ending. The ending was good, but I feel they could have tweaked it slightly to make it better, there was something missing. An entertaining film to watch, Men Of Honor is a great film that despite the flaws remains a good film to watch due to it's strong cast of actor who all deliver great performances. The ending is good, but not great. But I guess considering this is a story of not giving up, I guess this is the usual ending for such movies.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    January 4, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Saw it again!!! One of the best "fight for what you believe' movies of all time. This was based on a true story and truly is one great movie with some fantastic roles from Cuba and De Niro.

    The movie starts off by introducing Master Chief Leslie W. ("Billy") Sunday (Robert DeNir... read moreo), a US Navy Diver, who has recently gone AWOL. He is badly beaten and awaiting disciplinary actions. Sunday and several other Navy members watch TV coverage of an ongoing salvage operation, when Sunday recognizes a familiar face on the screen. One of the other sailors makes some crude racist jokes, Sunday attacks him and applies a choke hold.



    We then flash back about 25 years, where a young African-American boy named Carl Braschear (Chris Warren Jr.) is watching his father Mac (Carl Lumbly) work the plow on their farm. Carl wants to quit school so that he will be able to help work and then prevent the farm from financial ruin. Mac is dead-set against his son being "like him" and stuck working on a farm, but he allows Carl to help.

    Time passes quickly and a grown-up Carl (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is leaving town to join the Navy. Mac gives his son a custom-built portable radio as a memento of home, and tells Carl to be the best, even if it means breaking the rules.

    Carl winds up working in the kitchens on the USS Hoist in the South Pacific. He and the other black officers joke about the so-called "bright future" the Navy promised them. Their superior points out that black men in the US Navy have only 3 career choices- cook, officer's valet or "get the f*ck out of the Navy."

    Afterwards, Carl and his friends go up on deck where the white officers are swimming (the black crew members are assigned a specific day when they can swim). Carl, tired and hot, decides to jump in the water. The white officers try and chase him down, but Carl out-swims all of them.

    Carl's actions get him thrown in the brig. The ships' captain meets with Carl and, impressed with the boy's speed, decides to transfer Carl to the search & rescue swimmers, a group assigned to rescue anyone who falls overboard on ship.

    A few days later, Carl is writing a letter home to his parents when the ship is rocked by an apparent crash. Their mail chopper has accidentally gone down in the ocean. Carl assists the others on deck in raising a Navy Diver from the sea floor with the wounded pilot. The Diver is Master Chief Sunday. Since Sunday is now back up on deck, regulations state that he must now undergo decompression. As the next diver is lowered, an accident with the winch severs the diver's air hose. Chief Sunday prepares to do a dangerous "bounce dive" to rescue his fallen ally. One officer, Lt. Cmdr Hanks (David Conrad) orders Sunday not to go, but Sunday disobeys and jumps off ship.

    Later in the hospital, we see that Chief Sunday was indeed able to save the other diver, but doctors find that he has sustained a severe embolism in both lungs. This condition disqualifies Sunday from any more diving. Sunday throws a fit, destroying some equipment in the hospital upon hearing the news. Carl, having seen Sunday's actions as heroic, is inspired and vows to become a Navy Master Diver.

    Two years later, Carl is reporting for Diving School. After a tense confrontation with Chief Sunday, he is allowed in. While most other recruits are revolted by the thought of sharing their bunk with a Negro, one Navy candidate- Snowhill (Michael Rapaport) attempts to befriend Carl. Starting that night, Carl and Snowhill are both subjected to severe hazing and intense training by Sunday. Before long, Sunday kicks Snowhill out of the program.

    Despite the harsh treatments, Carl performs admirably in his training, assembling machinery and adapting to the diving suit with much greater results than a large number of his classmates. Unfortunately, Carl is falling behind in the academic requirements-scoring only a 37 on his first exam. If he fails again, Carl will be kicked out of the program.

    One weekend, on leave, Carl comes to a library in the hopes of getting a tutor to help him. He meets a young woman named Jo (Aunjanue Ellis) who is studying medicine. She thinks that Carl cannot possibly succeed, since he has only a 7th grade education. Carl stays the entire night at the library reading and learning more about the Navy program. Next morning, Jo is so impressed by his progress that she agrees to help Carl. The two spend many evenings together, eventually developing a relationship in the process. Soon, Carl is back in the classroom awaiting the results of another test. As the exams are passed out, Carl is elated- he's scored a 76, keeping him in the program.

    Next day there is a training exercise, involving patching the hole in a sunken ship and raising it to the surface. All at once, the ship accidentally shifts its position, snaring the air hose on one diver while the other flees for his life. Carl volunteers to bring down a new line for the trapped diver, and after several tense seconds, Carl is able to save the young mans' life. Unfortunately, due to the prejudiced environment of the time, the diver who fled earlier receives a medal for his actions while Carl is ignored.

    That night, Carl is in town when he meets a young woman (Charlize Theron) who introduces herself as Gwen Sunday. Gwen takes Carl into the same bar her husband and his fellow divers frequent. Carl and Sunday face of in a competition using pressurized diving helmets to determine who can hold their breath the longest. Carl manages to win, but is again overlooked for his actions. Carl sees Jo watching the fight, and she reveals that she's been accepted into an internship and she won't have time to help Carl anymore. Carl, smitten, asks Jo to marry him. Jo contemplates driving off in a taxi, but she returns and accepts.

    Chief Sunday meets with Captain "Pappy," (Hal Holbrook), the eccentric senior officer at the training school. Chief Sunday states that Carl has scored a 94 on his latest test, meaning that so long as Carl completes his last training exercise he will have passed all requirements for graduation. Pappy is not at all happy at the prospect of a "colored diver," but Sunday seems hesitant to agree.

    Sunday confronts Carl yet again, stating that he will not be allowed to pass for graduation and breaking the radio Carl got from his father in their argument. Carl is furious but refuses to back down.

    Next morning, Chief Sunday explains the final exercise to the recruits- they must assemble a flange underwater, pieces are on the river bottom and tools will be provided once the parts are found. They will earn points based on the speed of their work, but there is no set time limit and air will be provided to the diving suits for as long as the divers can stand the cold water.

    Carl is among the first to find the parts for his project, but when he calls up for tools the attendants cut a hole in the tool bag sending them cascading all over the riverbank. Carl frantically searches for all the necessary parts.

    Most of the other recruits are able to complete the project in about 2 hours. Carl remains in the water well into the night. Pappy orders Sunday to leave Carl in the water until he stops moving. Sunday, however, decides that too much time has passed already and gives the order to bring Carl back up. Just as they begin to haul in the lines, Carl's project flange comes to the surface, completed. After 9 hours and 31 minutes in the excruciatingly cold water, Carl Brashear has passed his final and essentially graduated with honors from Diving School. As Carl leaves the barracks next day, he runs into Snowhill again- who has been asked to rejoin the diving program. Carl also finds his father's radio, fully repaired.

    Some time later, Carl and his wife are in a nightclub. Carl orders champagne as a celebration because he's been offered a job with Brooklyn Navy Yard. Carl doesn't know if he should accept the job, since he won't move up in rank as just a stand-by diver. Jo confesses that she is three months late, and Carl is suddenly overjoyed at the prospect of being a father.

    At a New Years' party, Sunday and his wife run into Lt. Hanks- the man who ended Sunday's diving career. Despite his best efforts to remain civil, Sunday ends up attacking the lieutenant. Charges are filed against Sunday for assaulting a superior officer, and he suffers a rank reduction.

    The scene then shifts back to Chief Sunday watching a TV report explaining the current salvage operations. Earlier that day, an American B-52 bomber crashed in Spain. Before impact, it released its payload of three 50-megaton warheads on parachutes. Two have been recovered but the last one is lost at sea. Furthermore, maritime law dictates that since the bomb vanished in international waters, whoever finds it first will be considered the true owner. So the US Divers are racing against Russian submarines to be the first to find the missing nuke.

    Carl is one of several divers assigned to try and find the missing bomb. At one point, Carl finds a metal object on the sea floor but it turns out to be a mere Coke can. At that moment, sonar signals in the water are detected- there is a Russian submarine is Carls' immediate vicinity. Carl spots the sub and tries to run for cover, but his air line is caught by the sub and he is dragged along the ocean floor. After several tense seconds, Carl is able to contact the surface and tell them that he is unhurt. As they prepare to bring him home, Carl notices a large metal object nearby. The sub's movement has caused most of the silt and debris on the ocean floor to move aside, essentially finding the nuke for them!

    Back on deck, Carl watches as the bomb is brought on board. An accident with the winch on deck causes the lines holding the bomb to snap. Carl shoves several other deck hands aside, but his own leg is caught by the snapped wire.

    Carl wakes up later in a hospital, with Jo by his side. Jo explains that Carl's leg was nearly severed by the impact, but doctors think he will walk again. Carl realizes that this injury has put an end to his diving career and he is devastated.

    Meanwhile, Chief Sunday has fallen on hard times since his rank reduction. He is now in a rehab clinic undergoing detox for alcoholism. With the support of his wife, Sunday gets back on his feet. He recognizes Carl from a news story about the accident.

    Carl is still in the hospital reading a news story before speaking with his superiors (including the now-Captain Hanks). Carl wants to return to full diving duty, but they feel that it is impossible in his current state. Carl voices his desire to have the damaged leg amputated and return after a fitting with a prosthesis. Jo is furious about Carl's reckless and apparently selfish attitude, and walks out.

    Later, Carl's leg is indeed amputated. He begins the difficult process of learning to move and act with a prosthetic. Chief Sunday shows up and asks if he can help Carl. Sunday makes a deal with Captain Hanks- he will get four weeks to train Carl before a hearing with the Chief of Naval Personnel. Hanks agrees, on the condition that Sunday take immediate retirement if and when Carl fails to return to duty.

    A month later, Carl appears before the Naval Personnel and they discuss his possible return. Captain Hanks outlines a new requirement for Navy Divers- a new diving suit, weighing in at 290 pounds has been approved for use and anyone wanting to use it must take 12 steps inside it on land. Carl, seeing that Jo and his son are in the audience, volunteers to take the 12 steps right then and there.

    Chief Sunday steps forward and offers to help Carl suit up, and Captain Hanks allows the trial to go forth.

    Carl stands up in the new suit, and-with obvious great discomfort- takes a few clumsy steps forward. Everyone assumes that his prosthetic will snap, but Sunday steps forward and begins shouting orders at Carl (identical to their first session at diving school years before). Carl struggles, but keeps moving forward until he has reached the twelfth step.

    Captain Hanks, realizing that no more can be done, announces that the Navy will be reinstating Carl Brashear to full diving duty.

    Carl and Sunday salute one another, then meet with their wives as a celebration of this important victory.

    Text at the end reveals that Carl Braschear was the first African-American amputee to assume Navy diving duty, and that two years after his reinstatement Carl was promoted to Master Chief. Carl continued in his Naval career for another nine years before finally taking retirement.
  • cosmo313
    March 21, 2010
    cosmo313
    Good acting is the highlight in this inspiring true story of courage in the face of adversity and danger.
  • sanjurosamurai
    November 30, 2009
    sanjurosamurai
    a bit melodramatic for me at points. somewhat inspiring but in the end mostly average.
  • ythelastman89
    November 22, 2009
    ythelastman89
    While I wasn't particularly impressed with the story all that much, it is a decent film. The great casting of Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. truly sold the movie. It has great performances and is a well composed period piece.
  • SirPant
    November 12, 2009
    SirPant
    It was good but it suffers from too much schmaltz, I like Cuba Gooding Jr. but really struggle to think of a really good film he's been in.
  • MrsInsomnia
    June 30, 2009
    MrsInsomnia
    An amazing film.I would love to became someday as decisive and strong as that man was in his life !
  • CloudStrife84
    March 10, 2009
    CloudStrife84
    Quite gripping and inspiring, and even more so as its based on a true story. I haven't seen all that many movies with Cuba Gooding Jr, but this was, hands down, the best and most stellar performance I've ever seen by him. He's even as good as to outshine Robert De Niro, which is ... read morepretty impressive in itself. An altogether solid and involving biopic that is well worth the watch.
  • thmtsang
    January 31, 2009
    thmtsang
    Cuba Gooding Jr's character Carl is the first African American to become a master diver in the US Navy.

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Critic Reviews

Robert Cashill
June 18, 2008
Robert Cashill, Newsweek

This seaman's tale languishes in shallow waters. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
January 1, 2000
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Men of Honor leaves you wanting to know more, and that's not a bad thing. Full Review

Richard Schickel
January 1, 2000
Richard Schickel, TIME Magazine

There's something refreshing about its utterly unembarrassed embrace of the familiar.

A.O. Scott
January 1, 2000
A.O. Scott, New York Times

By the time its clunking climax rolls around, the film has built up enough honest good will that you can forgive its tear- jerking pomp. Full Review

Michael Wilmington
January 1, 2000
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

A would-be inspirational biographical movie that really works.

Lou Lumenick
January 1, 2000
Lou Lumenick, New York Post

An inspiring, must-see movie-going experience that will have audiences cheering in their seats.

Lawrence Terenzi
January 1, 2000
Lawrence Terenzi, Mr. Showbiz

Ultimately, Men of Honor is sunk by its own melodramatic falseness, and it stands as a well-meaning yet lacking tribute to a courageous man.

Sean Means
January 1, 2000
Sean Means, Film.com

A bad movie about a great man.

Geoff Pevere
January 1, 2000
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

De Niro may be the only thing standing between Men Of Honor -- itself a tipoff of a title, for who really wouldn't rather see Men Of Shame? -- and complete stuffed-shirt dullness. Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
January 1, 2000
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

[Interracial-buddy flicks] are back, and while they've gotten more sophisticated in some ways, they haven't necessarily gotten any better. Full Review

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    • Mac Carl's Father: Get in there and fight! Break some of their ole rules if you have to. And when it gets hard, and it will, don't you give up on me!
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Men of Honor Trivia

  • Which actor has starred in all of the following:- - Boyz n the Hood - Jerry Maguire - Men of Honor - The Tuskegee Airmen - Rat Race  Answer »
  • In the movie 'Men Of Honor', starring Robert DeNiro & Cuba Gooding Jr, what was the name of the course Cuba's character was attempting to pass?  Answer »
  • Movie where the words "ASNF A Son Never Forgets" was etched on the side of an old radio  Answer »
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