'A Few Good Men' (1992)
A retrospective movie review by Walter Frith
Member of the 'Internet Movie Critics Association' http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/5713/index.html
and
Member of the 'Online Film Critics Society' http://ofcs.org/ofcs/
As of 1997, Jack Nicholson has won three Academy Awards. In 1975 as Best Actor in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' even though Nicholson should have won for 'Chinatown' in 1974 and Al Pacino should have won for 'Dog Day Afternoon' the year that Nicholson won for 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', but that's the way things go. Nicholson has also won in 1983 for Best Supporting Actor in 'Terms of Endearment' and in 1997, again for Best Actor in 'As Good As it Gets'. Nicholson's only other Oscar nomination in the 90's so far has been for Best Supporting Actor in 1992's 'A Few Good Men'. Nicholson's portrayal of a deranged and fanatical Marine named Col. Nathan Jessep is largely the strength that holds 'A Few Good Men' together for its entire run of 138 minutes. As a courtroom drama for much of its running time, it has the potential to fizz out quickly but Nicholson's appearance in the movie's climax is the film's defining moment. Whenever a movie runs over two hours in length, I always get nervous, fearing over length but that doesn't occur in this film in which Nicholson appears only in four key scenes but they are the most powerful in the film.
The film opens on a U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where two Marines are seen bursting into the room of another where they gag him with electrical tape, tie his hands and feet with it and stuff a rag into his mouth. As we cut to the opening credits list, we are treated to a sequence of drills performed by a squadron of Marines in full formal dress who perform some fancy movements with their rifles. As the film begins its basic run, we discover that the opening sequence has led to the death of the Marine ambushed and legal counsel is assigned to represent the two other Marines charged with the crime of murdering him. Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) asks for the job but the assignment goes to Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) who has only been out of law school and in the Navy a short while. Kaffee's specialty is plea bargains. He is reluctant to go to court. His investigation of the case leads him to go to court eventually to defend the Marines charged with murder.
Kaffee's colleague and the lead prosecutor is Capt. Jack Ross (Kevin Bacon) who is extremely convincing in this film and the matching of court skills between Bacon and Cruise is one of the film's greatest strengths. There are no dirty tricks involved between the two in order for one to win his case. They are friends through and through the trial, and this, while not that noticeable at first, is one of the film's greatest assets. One scene in a bar during the trial even has Ross admitting to being Kaffee's friend and he advises Kaffee that his conduct in court could land him a court-martial.
After reading a plot outline from any description of the film, it would lead you to believe that 'A Few Good Men' has its share of good guys and bad guys. Partly true, and partly false because the characters perceived to be the villains believe in what they're doing from an extreme position taken in their military duties and also believe they aren't guilty of any crime because of their "code" in protecting their country.
Jack Nicholson's counter parts on the base in Cuba are Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (the late J.T. Walsh) and Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland), a nasty redneck of a Marine who would probably shoot you if their was an improper mark on your uniform. J.T. Walsh is probably the film's weakest character, not because of his skill as an actor, but because he is over shadowed by many other popular superstars.
Tom Cruise and Demi Moore are joined by co-counsel Sam Weinberg (Kevin Pollak) who is the pillar of strength for both of them and a voice of intelligent reason at the times that are the most tense. Director Rob Reiner keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and the film doesn't have a single boring spot and the screenplay by Aaron Sorkin, based on his play, isn't full of surprises but is full of snappy dialogue and in the film's final resolution, Sorkin sets out to resolve what was originally discussed by the characters earlier in the film. It's not a conventional court room drama but one with an off beat texture. The most interesting thing about Sorkin's script is that even though the plot lacks depth, it still requires your full attention as it looks and feels like putting pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.
Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, 'A Few Good Men' is a film with universal appeal as its main focus isn't only about finding the truth, it's about the main character, Tom Cruise's lethal performance as a Navy officer and lawyer, and his willingness to earn the respect of his peers. Something we all want.
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