A Reel 20: A FEW GOOD MEN

“You can’t handle the truth!”

 

 

This month marks the 20^th anniversary of Rob Reiner’s A FEW GOOD MEN

Adapted for the big screen by Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote the stage-play of the same name, A FEW GOOD MEN was a genre-setting, military-courtroom drama which has ripple effects to this day. Centered around two U.S. Marines charged with murder and their lawyer who defends them, A FEW GOOD MEN explored issues of law and order and military ethics in a clever mash-up.

Rob Reiner, fresh off the success of his film MISERY (1990), put together an all-star cast. It’s headliners were Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore, but often forgotten are the supporting cast; Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollack, Kiefer Sutherland, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Noah Wyle (who would go on to television fame in ER).

The film was a critical and commercial success, and would go on to receive four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Jack Nicholson. Nicholson’s screen-time was limited to a handful of scenes, but his impact was immediate and memorable enough to rightfully earn that nomination, and also a ranking in the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Movie Villains. AFI would also rank the film in its Top Courtroom Dramas, and Top 100 Movie Quotes.

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As a former soldier and a fan of courtroom dramas, this Blogger instantly took a liking to A FEW GOOD MEN, and the film is always used as a reference when making a legal, or military ethics argument. The film is not only put together extremely well (the law-books never seem more exciting), but it carries important messages that last in and out of the armed forces.

“You don’t need to have a patch on your arm to have honor.”