A Few Good Men
A Few Good Men is a 1992 American legal drama film based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play. It was written by Sorkin, directed by Rob Reiner, and produced by Reiner, David Brown and Andrew Scheinman. It stars an ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, J. T. Walsh, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Kiefer Sutherland. The plot follows the court-martial of two U.S. Marines charged with the murder of a fellow Marine and the tribulations of their lawyers as they prepare a case. Produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, the  film was released by Columbia Pictures on December 11, 1992, and premiered on December 9, 1992, at Westwood. It received acclaim for its screenwriting, direction, themes, and acting, particularly that of Cruise, Nicholson, and Moore. It grossed more than $243 million on a budget of $40 million, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Plot. At the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, Private William Santiago is a weak Marine, has poor relations with other Marines, and has broken the chain of command to ask to be transferred away. Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson advocates that  Santiago be transferred; however, Base Commander Colonel Nathan Jessup orders Santiago's platoon commander, Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick, to "train" Santiago. Santiago dies shortly afterwards. Marines Harold Dawson and Louden Downey are accused of his murder and face a court-martial. While it is believed that the motive in Santiago's murder was retribution for naming Dawson in a fenceline shooting into Cuba, Naval investigator and lawyer Joanne Galloway suspects Dawson and Downey carried out a "code red" order: a violent extrajudicial punishment. Galloway wants to defend them, but the case is given to lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, a callow lawyer  with a penchant for plea bargains. Galloway is bothered by Kaffee's blasé approach, and Kaffee resents Galloway's interference. Kaffee and Galloway question Colonel Jessup and others at Guantanamo Bay. Under questioning, Jessup claims Santiago was set to be transferred the next day. When Kaffee negotiates a plea bargain with the prosecutor Captain Jack Ross, Dawson and Downey refuse, insisting that Kendrick gave them the "code red" order and that they never intended Santiago to die. Dawson sees Kaffee as dishonorable by pursuing a plea bargain over defending their actions. Kaffee plans to have himself removed as counsel as  he sees the trial as pointless. At the arraignment, Kaffee unexpectedly enters a plea of not guilty. He explains to Galloway that he was chosen to handle the case because he was expected to accept a plea, and the matter would be kept quiet. Markinson meets Kaffee in secret and says that Jessup never ordered a transfer for Santiago. The defense establishes that Dawson had been denied promotion for smuggling food to a Marine who had been sentenced to go without food, painting Dawson in a good light and proving "code reds" had been ordered before. However, Downey, under cross -examination, reveals he was not actually present when Dawson received the supposed "code red" order. Markinson, ashamed that he failed to protect a Marine under his command, commits suicide before he can testify. Without Markinson's testimony, Kaffee believes the case lost. He returns home in a drunken stupor, lamenting that he fought the case instead of taking a deal. Galloway encourages Kaffee to call Jessup as a witness, despite the risk of being court-martialed for smearing a high-ranking officer. Jessup spars with Kaffee's questioning, but is unnerved when Kaffee points out a contradiction in his testimony : Jessup stated his Marines never disobey orders and that Santiago was to be transferred for his own safety. Kaffee asks why Santiago was in danger if Jessup ordered his men to leave him alone. Disgusted by what he sees as Kaffee's impudence towards the Marines, Jessup extols the military's importance, and his own, to national security. Finally, Jessup bellows with contempt that he ordered the "code red". Jessup tries to leave the courtroom but is arrested. Dawson and Downey are cleared of the murder and conspiracy charges, but found guilty of "conduct unbecoming" and will be dishonorably discharged . Downey does not understand what they did wrong; Dawson explains that they had failed to defend those too weak to fight for themselves, like Santiago. Kaffee tells Dawson that he does not need to wear a patch on his arm to have honor. Dawson sheds his previous contempt for Kaffee, acknowledges him as an officer, and renders a salute. Kaffee and Ross exchange kudos before Ross departs to arrest Kendrick. Cast notes: Production. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin was inspired to write the source play, "A Few Good Men," from a phone conversation with his sister Deborah, who had graduated from Boston  University Law School and signed up for a three-year stint with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps. She was going to Guantanamo Bay to defend a group of Marines who had come close to killing a fellow Marine in a hazing ordered by a superior officer. Sorkin wrote much of his story on cocktail napkins while bartending at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. He and his roommates had purchased a Macintosh 512K; when he returned home, he would empty his pockets of the napkins and type them into the computer, forming a basis from which he  wrote many drafts"." In 1988, Sorkin sold the film rights for his play to producer David Brown before it premiered, in a deal reportedly "well into six figures". Brown had read an article in "The New York Times" about Sorkin's one-act play "Hidden in This Picture," and he found out Sorkin also had a play called "A Few Good Men" that was having off-Broadway readings. Brown was producing a few projects at TriStar Pictures, and he tried to interest them in adapting "A Few Good Men", but his proposal was declined due to the lack of star  actors. In 1990, "Variety" announced that the film would be financed by Groupe Canal+ and Brown's company World Film Services. Brown received a call from Alan Horn at Castle Rock Entertainment, who was anxious to make the film. Rob Reiner, a producing partner at Castle Rock, opted to direct. Reiner and Sorkin spent eight months rewriting the script as a screenplay. William Goldman did an uncredited rewrite; Sorkin liked them so much he incorporated them into the stage version. One of the most significant changes was the removal of a forged logbook that served as the trial's "smoking  gun" in the original play. The film had a production budget of between $33 and 40 million. Tom Cruise was cast as Lt. Kaffee on March 22, 1991, and was given a $12.5 million salary. Demi Moore was cast as LtCmdr. Galloway after waiting in line for her audition despite being eight months pregnant. Wolfgang Bodison was a film location scout when he was asked to take part in a screen test for the part of Dawson. James Woods auditioned to play Col. Jessup but was beaten for the role by Jack Nicholson. Nicholson was paid $5  million for 10 days of shooting, earning $500,000 a day. Nicholson said "it was one of the few times when it was money well spent," although he later criticized Columbia Pictures for moving the film's release date to directly compete with his other film "Hoffa". The film starts with a performance of "Semper Fidelis" by a U.S. Marine Corps marching band, and a Silent Drill performed by the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Fish Drill Team (portraying the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon). Several former Navy JAG lawyers have been identified as the basis for  Cruise's character Lt. Kaffee. These include Don Marcari, now an attorney in Virginia; former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias; Chris Johnson, now practicing in California; and Walter Bansley III, now practicing in Connecticut. However, in a September 15, 2011, article in "The New York Times", Sorkin was quoted as saying, "The character of Dan Kaffee in "A Few Good Men" is entirely fictional and was not inspired by any particular individual." Cruise modeled his performance after the Church of Scientology's chairman David Miscavige, with whom he is friends. Cruise also insisted on using the church's Clearsound sound reproduction  technology, which he claimed captured his voice better. Filming began on October 21, 1991, at the Arlington Memorial Bridge in Washington D.C. The film's Guantanamo Bay scenes were filmed in Southern California at Crystal Cove State Park, Fort MacArthur, and Naval Air Station Point Mugu. Although 200 off-duty Marines were allowed to serve as extras for the film, the U.S. Department of Defense denied the production permission to film at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The courtroom scenes were filmed at Culver Studios in Culver City, California. Reception. Box office. "A Few Good Men" premiered at the Odeon  Cinema, Manchester, England, and opened on December 11, 1992, in 1,925 theaters. It grossed $15,517,468 in its opening weekend and was the number-one film at the box office for the next three weeks. Overall, it grossed $141,340,178 in the U.S. and $101,900,000 internationally for a total of $243,240,178. Critical response. On Rotten Tomatoes, "A Few Good Men" has an approval rating of 83% based on 65 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "An old-fashioned courtroom drama with a contemporary edge, "A Few Good Men" succeeds on the  strength of its stars, with Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, and especially Jack Nicholson delivering powerful performances that more than compensate for the predictable plot." On Metacritic the film has a score of 62 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of fewer than 60 films in the history of the service to earn the score. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" said, "That the performances are uniformly outstanding is a tribute to Rob Reiner ("Misery"), who directs with  masterly assurance, fusing suspense and character to create a movie that literally vibrates with energy." Richard Schickel in "Time" called it "an extraordinarily well-made movie, which wastes no words or images in telling a conventional but compelling story." Todd McCarthy in "Variety" magazine predicted, "The same histrionic fireworks that gripped theater audiences will prove even more compelling to filmgoers due to the star power and dramatic screw-tightening." Roger Ebert was less enthusiastic in the "Chicago Sun-Times", giving it two-and-a-half out of four stars and finding its major flaw was revealing the courtroom strategy to  the audience before the climactic scene between Cruise and Nicholson. Ebert wrote, "In many ways this is a good film, with the potential to be even better than that. The flaws are mostly at the screenplay level; the film doesn't make us work, doesn't allow us to figure out things for ourselves, is afraid we'll miss things if they're not spelled out." "Widescreenings" noted that for Tom Cruise's character Daniel Kaffee, "Sorkin interestingly takes the opposite approach of "Top Gun"," where Cruise also starred as the protagonist. In "Top Gun", Cruise plays Mitchell who is  a "hotshot military underachiever who makes mistakes because he is trying to outperform his late father. Where Maverick Mitchell needs to rein in the discipline, Daniel Kaffee needs to let it go, finally see what he can do." Sorkin and Reiner were praised in gradually unveiling Kaffee's potential in the film. Awards and honors. Other honors. The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: Home media. "A Few Good Men" was released on VHS and Laserdisc by Columbia TriStar Home Video on June 30, 1993, and released on DVD on October 7, 1997. The VHS was  again released along with a DVD release on May 29, 2001, and later a Blu-Ray release followed on September 8, 2007. The Double Feature of the film and "Jerry Maguire" was released on DVD on December 29, 2009, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. A 4K UHD Blu-Ray release occurred on April 24, 2018.