A Few Good Men

A FEW GOOD MEN (15)
D: Rob Reiner
Columbia/Castle Rock/Manhattan Project (David Brown, Rob Reiner & Andrew Scheinman)
Usa 🇺🇸 1992
138 mins

Drama

W: Aaron Sorkin [based on his play]
DP: Robert Richardson
Ed: Robert Leighton
Mus: Marc Shaiman
PD: J. Michael Riva
Cos: Gloria Gresham

Tom Cruise (Lt. J.G. Daniel Kaffee), Demi Moore (Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway), Jack Nicholson (Col. Nathan R. Jessup), Kevin Bacon (Capt. Jack Ross), Kiefer Sutherland (Lt. Jonathan Kendrick), Kevin Pollak (Lt. Sam Weinberg), James Marshall (PFC Louden Downey), Wolfgang Bodison (Lance Corp. Harold W. Dawson), J.T. Walsh (Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson), Christopher Guest (Dr. Stone)

A quite excellent ensemble courtroom drama with solid performances from all involved.
Two fanatical marines training at Guantanamo Bay are arrested following the death of another marine and the case to defend them is assigned to cocky, youth hotshot military lawyer Lt. Daniel Caffee (Cruise), the Navy's go to man for plea bargaining so a potentially controversial case won't go to trial when it is discovered that the two marines were given orders to carry out admonishment (aka a 'Code Red') upon the victim, which went tragically wrong, resulting in the death, and senior officials at the base covered up their involvement in the wrongdoing, setting up the two young marines as scapegoats.
Refusing to accept a murder or manslaughter charge, the two marines face trial with Kaffee, Lt. Cmdr. Joanne Galloway (Moore) and Lt. Sam Weinberg (Pollak) representing them and their only possible chance to win the case is to subpoena highly decorated officer Colonel Nathan Jessup (Nicholson) to prove his guilt of ordering illegal practices of 'Code Red's' on his military base.
Aaron Sorkin's excellent screenplay is littered with sparkling dialogue, fleshed out by realistic characters, all of whom have their own motives and dilemmas to their involvement in the case.
All the cast do justice to a great drama, but the scene-stealing turn by Jack Nicholson gives the film it's classic scenes, especially in the closing stages when he takes the witness stand for a battle of wits with rookie lawyer Kaffee.
One of the best films of 1992.
8/10

Kevin Bacon & Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men
Kevin Bacon & Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men