A Few Good Men

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A Few Good Men
Image:Few good men ver2.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by Rob Reiner
Produced by David Brown
Rob Reiner
Andrew Scheinman
Written by Aaron Sorkin
Starring Tom Cruise
Demi Moore
Jack Nicholson
Kevin Pollak
Kevin Bacon
J.T. Walsh
and
Kiefer Sutherland
Music by Marc Shaiman
Cinematography Robert Richardson
Editing by Robert Leighton
Steven Nevius
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) December 11, 1992
Running time 138 min
Country Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
Language English
IMDb profile

A Few Good Men, a play by Aaron Sorkin, was acclaimed on Broadway and was subsequently made into a successful film in 1992. It tells the story of military lawyers at a court-martial who uncover a high-level conspiracy in the course of defending their clients, United States Marines accused of murder.

Contents

[edit] The play

The play was originally presented at the Heritage Repertory Theatre of The University of Virginia's Department of Drama.

The original Broadway stage production opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York on November 15, 1989 in a production directed by Don Scardino, designed by Ben Edwards, and with music by John Gromada. It starred Tom Hulce as Lt. Kaffee, Megan Gallagher as Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway and Stephen Lang as Col. Jessup. (Replacement actors included Timothy Busfield and Bradley Whitford as Kaffee, Perry King, Michael O'Hare, and Ron Perlman as Jessup, and Pamela Blair as Galloway. Joshua Malina also appeared.) It ran for 497 performances.

The national touring company performed through 1992 with Michael O'Keefe as Lt. Kaffee, Alyson Reed as Lt. Cmdr Galloway, and Paul Winfield as the judge.

A revival of the play starring Rob Lowe in the role of Lt. Daniel Kaffee and Suranne Jones as Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London in late August 2005 for preview showings, followed by a 3 month run in early September 2005. The stage show was directed by David Esbjornson.

Jensen Ackles appeared as Lt. Kaffee alongside Lou Diamond Phillips as Col. Jessup in a production of the play at the Casa Mañana Theatre, in Fort Worth, Texas from June 5 to 10, 2007.

[edit] The film

The film version was made by Castle Rock Entertainment, Columbia Pictures and New Line Cinema. It was produced and directed by Rob Reiner with David Brown and Andrew Scheinman also as producers, Jeffrey Stott and Steve Nicolaides as co-producers and William S. Gilmore and Rachel Pfeffer as executive producers. The screenplay was by Aaron Sorkin from his own play.

The film stars Tom Cruise as LTJG Daniel Kaffee, Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan R. Jessup, Demi Moore as LCDR JoAnne Galloway, Kevin Bacon as Capt. Jack Ross, Kiefer Sutherland as Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, Kevin Pollak as LTJG Sam Weinberg, J.T. Walsh as Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson, and Wolfgang Bodison as LCpl. Harold W. Dawson. Noah Wyle and Cuba Gooding, Jr. also have minor roles in the film, and Aaron Sorkin makes a cameo appearance.

[edit] Plot synopsis

The plot summary in this article or section is too long compared to the rest of the article.
Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

An inexperienced Navy lawyer, LTJG Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise), son of late Lionel Kaffee (who held the positions of Attorney General and Navy Judge Advocate General), leads the defense in the court-martial of two Marines, PFC Louden Downey (James Marshall) and LCpl Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), who are accused of murdering a fellow Marine of their unit, PFC William T. Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo), while stationed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The movie is based on a Gitmo case tried by former LT Don Marcari (now in private practice in Virginia Beach, VA), former LT Chris Johnson (now in private practice in Los Angeles) and former LT David Iglesias (who was the US Attorney from NM before being fired in 2006).

Santiago, as it is revealed, exhibits substandard performance as a Marine. He complains of health conditions that his superiors are ignoring, and is generally disliked by everyone in his company for not being able to live up to the name of a United States Marine. He has gone out of his way to request a transfer off the base, even going so far as bargaining for one in exchange for blowing the whistle on fellow Marine, LCpl Dawson, for an "illegal fence-line shooting" to the NIS (Naval Investigative Service). Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson), the base commander and a powerful, highly decorated senior Marine officer, being considered for the position of Director of Operations for the National Security Council, is shown reading the letter to two subordinate officers; Lt Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh), and 1st Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland). Jessup and Kendrick are incensed that Santiago would do this, and Markinson is the only one who wants to go ahead with transferring Santiago off the base. However, Jessup gives a speech about their duty as officers to train those who defend their nation, ending with a sarcastic reference to "surrendering our position in Cuba". He then makes the decision not to transfer him. Markinson questions it and, after Lt. Kendrick is dismissed, is reprimanded for questioning Jessup's authority in the presence of another officer. It is revealed that Markinson and Jessup have a long history with each other; they attended the academy at the same time, and then did two tours of Vietnam together, but Jessup had risen in rank faster.

Lt. Cdr. JoAnn Galloway (Demi Moore) wants to be the defendants' lawyer because she suspects that the Marines were carrying out a "Code Red" order, a military colloquial term for extrajudicial punishment, from their commander, but she needs the approval from a captain of the JAG division first. The captain, however, realizes that if a "Code Red" is mentioned in court, the case will receive unwanted publicity. In order to spare the reputation of the Marine Corps, the U.S military, and Col. Jessup, the captain sends the case directly to Danny Kaffe as lead counsel. Kaffe is known for pleading out in his cases, and never setting foot into a court room. Lt. Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollack), more serious and studious than Kaffe, is assigned as assistant counselor. Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) a U.S Marine himself, is the prosecutor for the case, and he plays baseball with Kaffe. Kaffe tells Ross that he will accept a 12 year sentence for the men for involuntary manslaughter and drop the charge of "Conduct unbecoming of a U.S Marine", but Ross rejects it, and counters that he will require them to plead guilty to murder with a 20 year sentence. Kaffe asks Ross what he knows about Code Red, and Ross warns Kaffe not to open up a can of worms, and that he'll give the men the requested 12 years for involuntary manslaughter. Before going to Cuba, Sam and Danny are walking Sam's daughter in her stroller, and Danny tells Sam about his meeting with Ross, but he's starting to believe his clients' innocence because Jack relented so easily. JoAnn tells Danny that she is Downey's lawyer, having received permission from his only living relative, an aunt, and will be working the case with him. She is convinced of the men's innocence, and wants Danny to go to trial for them.

On visiting the Naval Base, the legal team is told that Santiago had been destined for immediate transfer off the base (a lie created by Jessup to avoid prosecution, since his ill-conceived notion of training and punishing Santiago had led to his accidental death). To avoid detection, Jessup makes Markinson sign a retroactive transfer order on the morning of the defense counselors' arrival, and even has flight log records altered to show that he could not have had Santiago flown to the United States any sooner than had been "planned" - Santiago died at approximately 00:30 and Jessup claimed he was due to be on the first available plane to the United States at 06:00; the next available flight had been at 23:00 the preceding evening (1 hour before Santiago died). Danny has suspicions regarding the commanders' version of Santiago's death. Jessup and Kendrick, in turn, believe that the counselors are weak, unwilling to stand post to protect their country themselves. Shortly after the visit, Markinson goes U.A.

Kaffee attempts to establish that the defendants were in fact acting under the orders of Col. Jessup and Lt. Kendrick. The two Marines on trial claim that they were ordered to give the victim a "Code Red". Kaffe asks Downey and Dawson what really happened, because Kendrick had said that he ordered his men not to harm Santiago in any way. Dawson testified that this was true, but that after Kendrick had dismissed the men he came into Dawson's room and told them to give Santiago a Code Red. Upon hearing this, Danny tells Jack that he will subpoena Markinson, but Jack informs him that Markinson is experienced in counter-intelligence, and that he won't be found. Not wanting to go to trial, Jack tells Danny that he'll drop the charges to second degree involuntary manslaughter, and that he'll drop the conspiracy and conduct unbecoming charges, they'll get sentence for two years, but will be home in six months. An incredible deal, but Dawson and Downey are the ones who decides if they want it or not. JoAnn tells Danny that she wants to go to trial because they're innocent, which annoys Danny because he knows it's an unbelievable deal. When Danny tells Dawson and Downey about the deal, Dawson refuses telling Danny that they joined the Marines for a purpose in their lives, and that if they plea guilty for something that they believe that were innocent of, they'll be dishonorably discharged from the Marine Corps, and they'll have nothing of themselves, no honor. He believes Danny is weak, and is disgusted that they would allow him to wear a uniform. Danny is angry about that, and Dawson begins to show him disrespect by not coming to attention when Danny leaves the room (Kaffee shows his ignorance of military protocol, in that Marines do not salute unless wearing a cover; Marines are not allowed to wear a cover indoors unless they are armed). He tells Sam that he doesn't want to be their lawyer anymore, and asks Sam how to do that, Sam tells him that the next morning, when the judge asks how his defendants plea, to tell the judge that he wants a new counselor assign to them. However, the next morning Danny's conscience won't let him do it, and when the judge asks him how his clients plead, he tells the judge, not guilty, and Danny is now in his first trial.

Image:A Few Good Men at Haymarket Theatre London.jpg
The cast of A Few Good Men at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 2005

Over the course of the story, Kaffee comes into his own as an attorney. His relationship with Lt. Cdr JoAnn Galloway evolves as well, there is friction between them the instant they meet. She believes that he does not care about his clients and that he settles cases quickly because he is afraid to actually argue in court. He thinks she is interfering with his handling of the case. They come to realize that they both want to learn the truth, and find a way to work together to achieve this, eventually gaining each other's respect. Although there are some flirtatious moments between Galloway and Kaffee, they don't become romantically involved. Despite Kaffee's outward bravado of confidence, he secretly believes that there is no hope of winning the case, but doesn't want to give up because of his father's legacy, who was an excellent trial lawyer, and because of his disdain for Col. Jessup, and also because he wants to prove to others and himself that he does have honor. On that day's trial, Jack finds out that Downey wasn't actually in the room with Dawson when Kendrick had given the Code Red order to Dawson, something that the defense team didn't know about. When Markinson unexpectedly shows up in the back seat of Danny's car after a bad trial day, Kaffee sees a ray of hope and plans to put him on the stand as a witness to the true course of events. Unfortunately, Markinson, due to feelings of shame and guilt, and knowing that he would have to submit blame on Jessup, commits suicide before he can give his testimony in court. He gets completely dressed up in his Marine blue dress uniform, writes a letter to Santiago's parents telling them that William died for one reason only, and that was because he(Markinson) was too weak to stop it from happening, then he puts his gun in his mouth and shoots himself.

Danny meets Jack in a bar, and tells him that he has Markinson. He's now confident that he'll win, but Jack tells Danny that if he accuses a military officer without cause that he'll be in contempt, and that he will be liable to a court martial. Jack then tells Danny that he's losing, and that he got bullied by everyone in that court room, including a dead man's ghost (referring to Danny living in the expectations of his father). That last statement hit home with Danny, and he's so upset and angry that he doesn't know what to say back to Jack, so he yells out, "You're a lousy fucking softball player, Jack!" He goes home with a bottle of Jack Daniels, and he's obviously drunk. He's upset about not knowing about Downey not being present with Dawson in the room when Kendrick gave the order, and he's just found out that Markinson had killed himself. He knows he's going to lose because now the only way to win would be to have Jessup admit he ordered the Code Red, which seems impossible. After yelling at JoAnn, who leaves feeling insulted and humiliated, Danny talks about his father to Sam. He tells Sam that he thinks that his father would have really enjoyed seeing him graduate from law school, he would have liked that a lot. To counter-act the drawback of the death of what was to be his star witness, Kaffee is eventually persuaded by Galloway to subpoena Jessup.

Kaffee is shown to have high intelligence and reasoning skills, which help him win the case. The key turning point is Kaffee's successful attempt to proving that Jessup ordered the "Code Red" by subtly provoking Jessup and causing him to voluntarily confess the truth in court in a moment of anger. Frustrated overall with the proceedings, Jessup leaves the stand and is ready to depart the courtroom when the judge orders him not to. Jessup is charged with the crime stemming from the incident. He does not believe the charges and lunges at Kaffee, realizing that he's been taken down from his mantle and his career possibly destroyed. Jessup is detained and led out of the room. The two Marines are then found not guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but are found guilty on the charge of "conduct unbecoming a United States Marine" by the court, and subsequently are dishonorably discharged from the Corps. In the movie's final scene, PFC Downey is shocked and angered by the sentence, asserting that Jessup's confession demonstrates that they did nothing wrong. LCpl Dawson, reflecting momentarily, realizes and points out that they did wrong and failed in their duty to fight for those unable to fight for themselves, like Pvt. Santiago. As they leave, Kaffee tells Dawson that he doesn't need to wear a badge to have honor, upon which Dawson relents to recognizing Kaffee as an officer and salutes him, something which he previously refused to do as he believed Kaffee to be a coward.

On the level of moral philosophy, the drama examines questions of duty, honor, patriotism, justice, and the rule of law.

“

Jessup: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!

”

[edit] Movie Cast

[edit] Awards and Nominations

[edit] Academy Awards

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards:

[edit] Golden Globe Awards

The film was nominated for five Golden Globe Awards:

[edit] Trivia

  • The line "You can't handle the truth!" was voted the twenty-ninth greatest American movie quote of all-time by the American Film Institute.[1]
  • The play was sent to producers while it was being performed on stage as a sample of Aaron Sorkin's writing ability. It was never intended to be used as screenplay material.[citation needed]
  • It is the debut of Wolfgang Bodison (Harold Dawson) who was not an actor, but a film location scout.
  • The Silent Drill at the film's beginning was not done by Marines. It is actually the Texas A&M University Fish Drill Team
  • The two marines are charged with and found guilty of "Conduct Unbecoming a United States Marine". There exists no such crime in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The closest crime to this would be "Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" or Article 133 of the UCMJ, which applies to only commissioned officers, or those holding appointed office in the US military. The two defendants were enlisted Marines, neither officers, nor held to "gentlemen" standards as such. As enlisted Marines, they are held to conduct standards of any military personnel, but not to the extent of an officer who by definition has moral, legal, and higher decision-making authority. In reality, they would have been served dishonorable discharges on general dishonorable conduct. In reality, the two Marines tried at Court-Martial, of the 10 enlisted Marines involved, were acquitted at court-martial, and were subsequently awarded administrative discharges under other than honorable conditions by an administrative review officer, not by a legal proceeding.
  • The second baseball game that Daniel Kaffee watches during the movie is an actual game played between the Baltimore Orioles and the Minnesota Twins on June 17, 1991, halting the Twins' 15 game win streak
  • Marines do not salute whilst indoors, unless under arms (ie, carrying a weapon and wearing cover)
  • "Ten-hut" is not a Naval term. The actual equivalent would be "Attention on Deck!".
  • The movie is based upon the trials of Navy JAG attorneys Don Marcari, now in private practice in Va. Beach, Chris Johnson, in practice in LA California and former New Mexico United States Attorney David Iglesias.
  • The term "Code Red" has never been used to describe extrajudicial punishment in the US Marines; and was never used at the US Naval Base Guantanamo Bay during the period in question to describe or refer to any kind of activity. The most commonly used term in that respect is actually "blanket party".

[edit] References

  1. ^ AFI Quotes

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Films directed by Rob Reiner
This Is Spınal Tap (1984) · The Sure Thing (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Princess Bride (1987) · When Harry Met Sally... (1989) · Misery (1990) · A Few Good Men (1992) · North (1994) · The American President (1995) · Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) · The Story of Us (1999) · Alex & Emma (2003) · Rumor Has It... (2005) · The Bucket List (2007)
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