The Silence (1975 film)
Encyclopedia
The Silence is a 1975 made-for-TV movie about James Pelosi, a West Point cadet who was charged in 1971 with cheating on an exam. He remained at West Point but was subjected to "The Silence" – a policy that ostracized cadets who broke the Honor Code.
At the time, West Point's "Honor Instruction" stated that a cadet who broke the Honor Code and did not leave the Academy "will not be allowed to have roommates. He will eat at a separate table. He will be addressed only on official business and then as Mister."
This TV dramatization doesn't judge Pelosi's guilt or innocence. Rather, it depicts his version of the incident and the systematic ostracism that followed his decision not to resign from the Academy. Pelosi stuck out "the silence" for 19 months, until his graduation from West Point in 1973.
Scriptwriter Stanley R. Greenberg based the drama on interviews he had with Pelosi.
"The silence" was abolished by the Corps of Cadets in 1973. Many attribute that decision to Pelosi's experience.
The movie was first shown on NBC
on November 6, 1975.
At the time, West Point's "Honor Instruction" stated that a cadet who broke the Honor Code and did not leave the Academy "will not be allowed to have roommates. He will eat at a separate table. He will be addressed only on official business and then as Mister."
This TV dramatization doesn't judge Pelosi's guilt or innocence. Rather, it depicts his version of the incident and the systematic ostracism that followed his decision not to resign from the Academy. Pelosi stuck out "the silence" for 19 months, until his graduation from West Point in 1973.
Scriptwriter Stanley R. Greenberg based the drama on interviews he had with Pelosi.
"The silence" was abolished by the Corps of Cadets in 1973. Many attribute that decision to Pelosi's experience.
The movie was first shown on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on November 6, 1975.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Richard Thomas Richard Thomas (actor) Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,... |
Cadet James Pelosi |
| George Hearn George Hearn George Hearn is an American actor and singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.-Early years:Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hearn studied philosophy at Southwestern at Memphis, now Rhodes College before he embarked on a career in the theater, training for the stage with actress turned acting... |
Captain Nichols |
| Percy Granger | Captain Harris |
| John Kellogg John Kellogg (actor) John Kellogg was an American actor in film, stage and television. Some sources, including ancestry.com, state that his given name was Giles Vernon Kellogg, Jr.... |
Court President |
| Cliff Gorman Cliff Gorman Cliff Gorman was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version.... |
Stanley R. Greenberg |