A Few Good Men (1992)

Director:

Rob Reiner

Writers (WGA):

Aaron Sorkin (play)
Aaron Sorkin (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 December 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

In the heart of the nation's capital, in a courthouse of the U.S. government, one man will stop at nothing to keep his honor, and one will stop at nothing to find the truth.

Plot:

Neo military lawyer Kaffee defends Marines accused of murder; they contend they were acting under orders.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Murder | Courtroom | Guantanamo Bay | Military Lawyer

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 14 nominations

Cast

Tom Cruise	...	Lt. Daniel Kaffee
Jack Nicholson	...	Col. Nathan R. Jessep
Demi Moore	...	Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway
Kevin Bacon	...	Capt. Jack Ross
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Lt. Jonathan Kendrick
Kevin Pollak	...	Lt. Sam Weinberg
James Marshall	...	Pfc. Louden Downey
J.T. Walsh	...	Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson
Christopher Guest	...	Dr. Stone
J.A. Preston	...	Judge Julius Alexander Randolph
Matt Craven	...	Lt. Dave Spradling
Wolfgang Bodison	...	Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson
Xander Berkeley	...	Capt. Whitaker
John M. Jackson	...	Capt. West
Noah Wyle	...	Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L | France:Unrated | South Korea:15 | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | Germany:12 | Ireland:15 | Norway:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | USA:R | Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

The movie's line "You can't handle the truth!" was voted as the #92 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kaffee is reading the inventory of Santiago's belongings during the trial, he refers to "three khaki shirts." Earlier in the film, when in Santiago's room, there are five khaki shirts hanging on the rod.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Drill Master: Forward, march!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Meat Pie (2005)

Soundtrack:

NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME

"Fast-Food, Slick-Ass, Persian-Bazaar"

Guantanamo Bay is, apart possibly from the 38th Parallel in Korea, the only place left on earth where the US Military still confronts hostile Stalinism, eyeball to eyeball. Ceded to the USA after the Spanish-American War of 1898, Guantanamo is America's only outpost on the island of Cuba. Marines guarding the perimeter of the naval base are under immense pressure. Here in the Cold War's last remaining hotspot, they are responsible for protecting the Free World.

A border incident has occurred. A marine sentry has fired a 'live' round in the direction of the communists. One of his colleagues has informed on him, bringing on himself a 'code red'. The 'code red' is an unofficial disciplinary measure, imposed by a marine squad when a member offends against the unit's esprit de corps. Having been gagged, bound and beaten, the marine dies at his colleagues' hands. There will now be a court-martial.

Demi Moore plays Lieutenant-Commander Joanne Galloway, a lawyer in the Navy's Internal Affairs Department. A deft plot device has her rehearsing to herself a request to be assigned to the case as she walks across the parade ground, efficiently conveying necessary information to the viewer.

Dan Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is a smart, flippant, good-looking young Navy lawyer. His father was a renowned jurist, and Dan feels the burden of his father's reputation. Indeed, his casual, tongue-in-cheek attitude to the law is his way of avoiding comparison with his father. You can't fail if you don't even try.

Kaffee is assigned to defend the two marine privates accused of killing the informer. Why a junior officer should be given conduct of such a serious case is baffling, unless of course the Marine Corps wants these men to be found guilty, in order to protect somebody more important...

Colonel Nathan Jessep is fascinating. Jack Nicholson always turns in a magnetic performance, but this one is special. He makes his character by turns urbane, self-assured, sarcastic, professional and menacing.

Gradually, Demi and Tom start to pull together and to function as a defence team. The 'code red' doctrine is exposed as a pernicious practice.

If the film is a stock courtroom drama pretty much like all the others, it certainly has qualities which set it apart. Three outstanding performances from the stars, Nicholson, Cruise and Moore, make it a bit special. The denouement is very hard to believe, but there are things in the film which linger in the memory and compensate for the exaggerations of the plot.

The opening credits roll over lovingly-filmed images of a precision-drill rifle squad in action. The viewer is, from the very start, placed emotionally in the context of a severe, inflexible discipline which is both admirable and unnerving. Kaffee indulges in some sparkling legal jockeying. Though he may lack trial experience, we feel that he will defend these men ably. He is nobody's fool. The flirtatious bickering between Kaffee and Galloway is well done. Jessep's walk to the witness stand is a moment of high drama, with Nicholson filmed from a low angle, emphasising the formidable authority of the man.

This clever, highly-polished film finally convinced me that Cruise can act. As for Demi, I am still unable to figure her out. What is it about her that remains stubbornly unsympathetic? She has abundant intelligence and talent, and is exquisitely beautiful, and yet is is impossible to warm to her. Does she get these parts because of her dark personality, or do the roles colour our perception of her?