A FEW GOOD MEN (1992) FULL LENGTH REACTION

A Few Good Men- Thank you so much for your fantastic reaction to A Few Good Men for me, Timothee! I had a lot of fun watching this fantastic movie again with you, and your reaction to it was great! A lot of fun for me to watch! I am so happy that you really enjoyed this movie as well! A Few Good Men is a movie that was inspired by a very true story about an actual Code Red that took place at Guantanamo Bay. When a Marine named Lance Corporal David Cox and nine other enlisted men tied up a fellow Marine and severely beat him for snitching to NCIS, or the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Cox was acquitted, and later honorably discharged. In 1994, David Cox mysteriously vanished, and his body was found three months later, riddled with bullets. And to this day, his murder sadly remains unsolved. Aaron Sorkin's idea for writing this movie first came from his sister, who in real life experienced a very similar incident at Guantanamo Bay from the perspective of Demi Moore's character, as a female JAG attorney. In this incident, the victim was similarly assaulted by nine Marines and was badly injured, but did not die. Sorkin initially turned this whole idea into a play, and then this screenplay, which became his first ever movie. Aaron Sorkin once said he enjoyed working for Rob Reiner, even though the director had ordered him to make countless, rigorous revisions of his screenplay. One major revision Rob Reiner wanted Aaron Sorkin to make, was that unlike in the play, there was actually a doctored logbook that is the smoking gun which gives Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee the break he needs to win the case, However, Rob Reiner insisted that Tom Cruise's Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee win the case on courtroom skills alone. And I absolutely agree with Rob Reiner's decision for these changes to the story. Seeing Tom Cruise's, Daniel Kaffee win by his own skills as a lawyer alone is partly why I love his character as much as I do. And now... I'm not at all a fan of Tom Cruise. I think he is so arrogant, cocky, and full of himself, which I feel always comes across in all of his characters. I dislike him very much as a human being, for many reasons. And not just because I dislike his acting. There are very few movies I can still watch of his because I love the movies' overall storylines, and because I still love the rest of his movies' casted actors. Thus, automatically making Tom Cruise's character my least favorite character in his movies. Movies such as all of the Mission Impossible movies, and even Top Gun: Maverick. Not the original Top Gun movie. I hated his character in the original, but he improves by a lot in this sequel as far as his humility goes, which I really appreciate. With all of this being said... His role in A Few Good Men is one of the very rare exceptions in which I actually really love his character. Because for the first time, in my opinion... I feel like Tom Cruise's cockiness and arrogance feels more like an act for the sake of his character, than as his true personality. And I really appreciate this about him and his character. I think he's fantastic in this movie! His role here in A Few Good Men is by far my favorite role of Tom Cruise's. Just as this is also my favorite role for Jack Nicholson too! I just happen to like Jack Nicholson far more as an actor, and in a great number more of his movies! The scene in the end where Tom Cruise's and Jack Nicholson's characters fight back and forth while Jack is on the stand being questioned by Tom... Phenomenal acting!! This is definitely my favorite moment throughout this movie for sure!! Regarding your comments about the lawyer characters in these movies picking a fight with the defendants, or people they're interrogating on the stand in order to get them to confess, being a popular trope in law movies and courtroom dramas... Maybe you're right that this has become a popular or common trope. But most of the courtroom dramas that I can think of off the top of my head, came out after A Few Good Men. After 1992 when this movie was made. Movies such as The Firm, also starring Tom Cruise, A Time to Kill, The Chamber, Runaway Jury, The Lincoln Lawyer, etc... So, I believe that a lot of the inspiration for so many scenes like this in movies, actually came from Tom Cruise's interrogation scene with Jack Nicholson in the end, And of course... The rest of the cast throughout this movie are fantastic too! I love Demi Moore and Kevin Pollak as Tom's team of defendants. Just as I love Kevin Bacon as the Prosecutor, as well as Kiefer Sutherland, J.T. Walsh (Colonel Markinson), James Marshall (Private Downey), and Wolfgang Bodison (Lance Corporal Dawson). They're all really fantastic throughout this movie!! Now... I really appreciate that there was no love story included within this movie between Tom Cruise's and Demi Moore's characters. Which was actually one of Aaron Sorkin's major conditions upon his agreement to write this movie's screenplay/script. He wouldn't have agreed to write for this movie otherwise. And I really appreciate this about him as a screenwriter. Because it's rare not to have a love story in a movie of some kind. Maybe there are slight hints of a romance brewing between Tom's and Demi's characters, but this wasn't what Aaron Sorkin wrote and wanted, and Rob Reiner absolutely agreed when he came onboard the project. And I see their relationship as more of just a close friendship myself. Two dear friends going to dinner and hanging out together. Which I really like and appreciate about this movie. Tri-Star Pictures produced the film with Aaron Sorkin writing the screenplay adaptation of his play. Tri-Star executives instructed Aaron Sorkin to make several changes to the story including a sex scene between Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) and Jo Galloway (Demi Moore). As this was Aaron Sorkin's first screenplay, he did write a sex scene in. However, he had strong reservations about doing so, since this does not occur in his play version. In Aaron Sorkin's words... "Nobody at Tri-Star was talking about a romance, by the way. We were just talking about these two people going to bed." When Rob Reiner came aboard to direct, he used his clout against the studio and told the young Aaron Sorkin to toss the screenplay and start over. Rob Reiner, who had seen the play and loved it, felt adding in a sexual encounter added nothing to the story and was just a cheap Hollywood thrill tactic. An unnamed executive gave Aaron Sorkin a note... "If Tom Cruise and Demi Moore aren't going to sleep with each other, why is Demi Moore a woman?" He responded, "I said the obvious answer... 'Women have purposes other than to sleep with Tom Cruise." He claimed the incident was his worst experience as a screenwriter. Towards the end of this movie, we have a scene where Tom Cruise's, Kevin Pollak's, and Demi Moore's characters are working together to figure out how to get Jessep to confess he ordered the Code Red, and Daniel Kaffee suddenly gets the idea that allows for him to nail Jessep. In this scene while filming, Tom Cruise makes an incredible Jack Nicholson impersonation, when his character is quoting Colonel Jessep. However, this moment was not actually scripted. Tom Cruise improvised this impersonation, and everyone loved it so much, they decided to keep it in, and never cut away from filming. Demi Moore's and Kevin Pollak's reactions are 100% genuine. And lastly... Regarding the overall case and the case's damning outcome for Nicholson's, Sutherland's, Marshall's, and Bodison's characters... I do not in any way condone the actions of these characters. Especially Nicholson's and Sutherland's actions. However, I do absolutely understand their justifications of their actions, given that we do tragically live in a world where men and women must sometimes act in ways that are despicable to us all so that we can live on. It doesn't make what they do any less evil or despicable. But I can absolutely understand why men and women feel justified in doing actions such as those that are seen within this movie. And both Downey and Dawson absolutely deserve to be set free because they had been ordered. But they also deserved to be dishonorably discharged, given that they did fail to protect someone who pleaded with everyone for help, and because their actions tragically and unwittingly led to his death. And I love and very much appreciate that Dawson came to understand this by the end of the movie, and that him coming to understand this allows for him to give Daniel Kaffee the respect and salute he truly deserves. I love this end moment between Kaffee and Dawson! As for Jessep's and Kendrick's actions... They both absolutely deserve to lose their ranks and careers, and they absolutely deserve to go to prison for their roles in the death of the poor Marine. Because I do not believe that they did all they did to cover up their despicable actions that led to this Marine's tragic death, just to try to justify their actions and make us understand why they do as they do. Or even just to try to save their careers. I believe that they did as they do, because they love the power they hold, and because they arrogantly believed they could get away with doing whatever they want, because of their power and ranks. And this is wrong in so many ways. And seeing Jack Nicholson's character go down in the end after this movie's most incredible court room battle of wits... The best courtroom fight I've ever seen in any courtroom drama... Absolutely marvelous!! :) Thank you so very much once again for watching A Few Good Men for me, Tim! I am happy you loved it like I do! :) Sincerely, Heidi

Heidi Elizabeth Marcum