The General's Daughter

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The General's Daughter
Image:Generaldposter.jpg The General's Daughter Film poster
Directed by	Simon West
Produced by	Mace Neufeld
Written by	Christopher Bertolini, William Goldman, Nelson DeMille
Starring	John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton, James Woods, Leslie Stefanson
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	18 June 1999 (US Theatres) 14 December 1999 (DVD)
Running time	116 minutes
Language	English
Budget	US$60,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

The General's Daughter is a 1999 film starring John Travolta. The plot concerns the mysterious death of the daughter of a prominent general. The movie is based on the novel by the same name written in 1992 by Nelson DeMille, and was directed by Simon West.

[edit] Summary

When Captain Campbell (Leslie Stefanson), a general's daughter and army captain in psychological operations, is found murdered, two Warrant Officer investigators with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division (John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe) are brought in to investigate. Captain Elisabeth Campbell was found staked down with tent poles, strangled, and presumably raped. But what the investigators find is even more bizarre, relating back to her days at West Point and involving General Joe Campbell (James Cromwell) himself and his chief of staff (Clarence Williams III). Elisabeth's one confidant, Col. Moore (James Woods), also ends up as an apparent suicide and is assumed to be the culprit. Cover-ups and sexual scandals rampage throughout the film. Timothy Hutton appears as the base provost marshal, Colonel William Kent.

It turns out that Captain Campbell had been gang raped by fellow trainees during a training exercise while a cadet at West Point. She was separated from her group and was raped many times. Furthermore, her father, fearing that the assailants would never be caught, acts upon the advice of another general and decides to cover up the incident. While Elisabeth is recovering in a hospital, the General forces his daughter to cooperate by persuading her to forget that it happened. This denial of justice psychologically warped Elisabeth, causing her to partake in various violent sexual activities which culminated in an act of defiance that finally goes too far.

Colonel Kent happens upon Captain Campbell after her father had left her naked and tied to tent stakes (in a reenactment of the rape, designed to elicit a response from her father, the General). Kent, who has a sexual history with Elisabeth, strangles her after his advances are spurned. The film concludes with Travolta and Stowe uncovering the circumstances of the original rape and the cover-up, swiftly bringing the original assailants to justice and finally confronting the murderer in a dramatic scene. The film ends with the General finally being brought to justice for the original cover-up and misconduct concerning his daughter's murder.

Travolta happens to meet Campbell briefly before her death when his car suffers a flat tire along a road on the base and Campbell offers assistance.