9 / 10
Official trailer
A Few Good Men is Rob Reiner’s 1992 American courtroom drama and one of the strongest works in the contemporary courtroom subgenre.
Tom Cruise plays Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, a Navy JAG lawyer assigned to defend two Marines accused of killing a fellow Marine at Guantanamo Bay. Jack Nicholson plays Colonel Nathan Jessep, the base commander whose role in the death emerges across the trial. Demi Moore plays Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway. Kevin Bacon plays the prosecuting attorney. Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay, adapting it from his stage play.
Castle Rock produced the film, and it grossed approximately 243 million dollars worldwide.
This is the courtroom movie I’d hand to anyone who thinks courtroom movies are dull. Sorkin’s people talk fast and fight with every sentence, Cruise is better than he has any right to be, and when Nicholson finally takes the stand I sit up like somebody barked an order at me.
The work depends on the famous interrogation sequence between Cruise and Nicholson, and Reiner builds a courtroom procedure around it that sets up the moment through accumulated foundation. I think that patience is why the climax hits so hard. Sorkin’s dialogue stays sharp across the whole film, the performances support it instead of competing with it, and the result is a prestige courtroom drama that justifies its reputation. It’s the principal commercial Sorkin adaptation and the film most audiences associate with his voice.
The Cruise Performance
Tom Cruise’s performance as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee works in his star tone without abandoning the dramatic requirements of the role. The character begins the film as a privileged Harvard Law graduate avoiding the legacy of his prosecutor father and ends it as a competent attorney who has earned his courtroom standing through committed work. Cruise traces the transformation through accumulated moments instead of through dramatic conversion.
The performance engages with considerable monologue material that the Sorkin screenplay requires.
The interrogation sequences with Nicholson, the late-night strategy sessions with Moore and Pollak, and the closing argument material all require the actor to carry extended dialogue at a level that contemporary courtroom drama rarely supports. Cruise delivers the material without breaking the character coherence. The performance shows the actor’s capacity to work within disciplined screenplay structures instead of only in star vehicles built around his particular qualities.
I like Cruise best in the late-night strategy sessions with Moore and Pollak, where the star wattage drops and Kaffee looks like a young lawyer who knows he could lose.
For Writers
Star performers can work within disciplined screenplay structures when the material supports their developed capabilities while requiring committed dramatic work. Apply this to fiction. Consider whether your established characters can work within disciplined structural requirements or whether they break the structures around them. The strongest characters work within structures instead of against them.
The Nicholson Performance
Jack Nicholson’s performance as Colonel Nathan Jessep occupies approximately fifteen minutes of total screen time. The role’s reputation exceeds the actual screen time by orders of magnitude. Nicholson plays Jessep through accumulated authority that the dramatic situation requires. The character’s Marine bearing, his particular vocal cadence, and his characteristic refusal to recognize civilian authority all develop the character through accumulated observed behavior.
The famous you-can’t-handle-the-truth exchange has a cultural standing few film moments match, and I think Nicholson deserves every bit of it. He plays the moment without any awareness that it’s famous, as a proud man cornered into saying what he believes, and it gives me chills. Later imitators have rarely matched that discipline. It’s the scene I’d point to if anyone asked why this film gets a 9, and it shows how brief screen presence can hit harder than a whole film’s worth when an actor commits completely.
For Writers
Brief presence can produce more dramatic impact than extended screen time when the contribution commits fully to the dramatic situation. Apply this to fiction. Consider whether your dramatic moments require extended development or work more effectively through concentrated brief presence. The investment in brief but fully committed moments often produces more lasting impact than extended moderate engagement.
The Sorkin Dialogue
The Sorkin dialogue across A Few Good Men represents the writer’s principal commercial work alongside The Social Network (2010) and the political dramas. The dialogue maintains specific rhythmic patterns that later Sorkin productions would refine. The legal procedural exchanges, the late-night strategy sessions, and the climactic confrontation all work at the writer’s characteristic tone without breaking the dramatic structure.
The dialogue also works as a structural device. The accumulated exchanges build the legal foundation that supports the climactic interrogation, and the screenplay refuses to compress the procedure to a manageable scale, so the audience learns the law alongside the attorneys. Sorkin trusts me to keep up, and I’m grateful for it. Plenty of courtroom films would’ve skipped straight to the shouting, and this one makes me earn it.
For Writers
Strong dialogue can carry multiple structural functions at once instead of only conveying immediate dramatic information. Apply this to fiction. Consider whether your dialogue carries only immediate dramatic content or works at multiple levels. The strongest fictional dialogue develops character, advances plot, and establishes thematic content together.
Craft Note
Reiner’s directorial approach required major preparation in how the Sorkin theatrical material would translate to feature film tone. The original stage play had worked at smaller scale than the film could accommodate. The director and writer worked together to expand the procedural foundation while preserving the dialogue intensity. Stage-to-film adaptation requires preservation of dialogue strengths combined with expansion of visual and structural elements that stage couldn’t accommodate.
Is A Few Good Men as good as people say?
It’s a 9, and Nicholson’s fifteen minutes would nearly justify that on their own.
Cruise brings dramatic weight without losing his star shine, Sorkin’s dialogue works on several levels at once, and Reiner’s patience with the procedure makes the famous explosion hit like a verdict. My only real complaint is that Moore’s Galloway deserved more of the film than she gets. If you care about courtroom drama, Cruise or Sorkin, this is the one to see.
