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A Few Good Men (1992)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 4/04, 1/05, 3/07, 4/22, 6/22

FewGMen
3/07: The performances of A Few Good Men are thoroughly outstanding.

Jack Nicholson gives a classic Oscar-worthy performance as Colonel Nathan Jessup, and he has an unforgettable, timeless line during the electrifying courtroom scene: "You can't handle the truth!"

Tom Cruise is brilliant. People can hate him all they want, but I know a good actor when I see one. I love how he kept it strictly professional with Demi Moore. Unfortunately, the film is a bit too long and sometimes winding. The momentum might get going and then drags. The story can be hard to understand, especially when many people's names are involved.

All in all, I'll need to see A Few Good Men again for a better opinion because it's a film that deserves to be rated at least '9'.

4/22: A Few Good Men is a remarkable military courtroom thriller picture.

It's hard to decide which is better: this or Anatomy of a Murder. While Jack Nicholson may have been Oscar-nominated for Best Supporting Actor, it's a surprise that Tom Cruise wasn't. Next to Ron Kovic in Born on the Fourth of July, Tom Cruise gives the best performance of his career, right down to his ad-libbed impersonation of Jack Nicholson. Watch how he shook his hand while drinking a glass of water and then regaining his composure before facing Colonel Jessup again. His lawyerly demeanor is also better than what he showed in The Firm.

The "I want the truth! You can't handle the truth!" scene is, without doubt, the most powerful of the film. Earlier, Daniel Kaffee saw Jessup's true colors after he was dressed down by him and then stored the moment in the back of his head. He had a workable strategy around it for the longest time but remained unsure if he was willing to risk his career by taking advantage of Jessup's personality flaw. Once Kaffee saw an opening during his line of questioning in court, he went for the jugular like a bulldog. It's a calculated move, hence the tipping point of A Few Good Men to receive a '10' from me.

Elsewhere, the acting is uniformly impeccable. Demi Moore, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, and Wolfgang Bodison...it's very strong stuff. Of course, all the credit goes to Aaron Sorkin for penning a great screenplay which first ran on Broadway in 1989 before it was picked up by Hollywood. For Demi Moore, it's probably the best performance of her career, a rarity when she actually figured out what acting was supposed to be all about. I'm glad that no romance came to fruition between her character and Kaffee because this is supposed to be about professionalism. The funniest moment is when Kevin Bacon went back to the table with the book in his hand and Tom Cruise surprisingly took it away from him while walking past him.

Back to the beginning, I must question the need for revealing the meeting among Jessup, Markinson, and Kendrick. Now, I've seen the movie five or six times, and the scene always throws me off. Why do this order: Santiago is found murdered first, Kaffee is then told about the case, the aforementioned meeting, and the rest of the film? They should've either made the meeting to be the very first scene shown or, better yet, transformed it into a presumption by using Markinson as the holdout to confirm that the meeting did happen. In the meantime, Kaffee forgot to ask his clients the most important question: how was the rag procured?

By the way, the title sequence of the military performance, especially with the guns, is quite good which was done by the U.S. Marine Corps marching band and the Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets Fish Drill Team.

All in all, a top five of the courtroom genre, A Few Good Men is among the best movies made.

6/22: Tom Cruise yelled, "I want the truth!"

And Jack Nicholson responded with "You can't handle the truth!" when it comes for everybody to realize that the erstwhile Top Gun star can clearly act.

All in all, the superb performances, strong script, and fine direction have turned A Few Good Men into a winner.