A Few Good Men

In this episode, we pay tribute to Rob Reiner and talk about one of his best films, A Few Good Men. We talk in length about the plot and characters of the film. We also summarize the filmography of Rob Reiner. 

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:15

Ever put your life in another man's hand put his life in yourself. We followed.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

We followed the code.

SPEAKER_05 1:05

That is a tragedy. But he is dead because he had no code. He is dead because he had no code.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Hello, and welcome to Cinema Chat with David Heath. I am your host, David Heath, and I am happy to talk with you today about really good movies. This is a podcast where we talk about movies from every era and just about every genre. And we thought we'd put together a uh tribute to uh the recently departed Rob Reiner. And what I was thinking was, hey, I haven't really talked about any of his movies on the podcast yet. And um thought maybe I'd explore some of them as we go along. Uh, but I I want to talk about the movie specifically, A Few Good Men. Um, I tend to think this is the best of the Rob Reiner movies. I don't know. What do you think? But uh it's uh from 1992, directed by Rob Reiner. Uh it was uh pushed through his uh Castle Rock uh company, and it stars uh really big cast, uh Tom Cruise, Tami Moore, uh Kevin Bacon, uh Kiefer Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jack Nicholson, uh Kevin Pollack. Uh so loosely based on a true story about two Marines that uh uh uh accidentally kill an another another Marine and an incident just gone wrong. The main part of the plot is this that uh the two Marines uh enter the barrier uh air barracks and they uh get in the room of the uh uh Marine uh Santiago, who is killed, and they just accidentally kill him in a hazing incident, and it turned out that it was what they call a code red. Uh say that in quotes, uh code red, which uh essentially is uh act, you know, a physical action or punishment taken against a uh soldier or and that uh or a marine that has um uh you know some consequences, uh, but they're not but it's not really an official punishment. It's just uh kind of an a way for them to make a make a statement or put a point across and punish somebody without it being official. Well, um the punishment was for the fact that he that Santiago the the had broken protocol or broken the code um you know and uh didn't didn't go up the chain the way he's supposed to. He was uh evidently uh uh uh traumatized by being involved with uh the uh uh group that he was in, and he wanted out. Rather than letting him out, uh uh Colonel Jessup, played by the great Jack Nicholson, which is by the way, this one of his really great roles, amongst all of his great roles, but uh uh he refused to uh transfer him and because he didn't go up the chain properly. And so he wanted to teach him a lesson, which is essentially what the code red does, just teaches people a lesson. Um and unfortunately, this particular time it just goes horribly, horribly wrong. Uh the two Marines follow the order to you know for the you know to complete the code red, and and then he then the unfortunately the other Marine dies, Santiago dies. The film is essentially about code of conduct involving the Marines specifically. Uh the text revolves around code red, and the subtext questions you know, how crazy or not the whole set of ideal ideals uh that the military, and in this case specifically, the the Marines, uh, follows. Is is a is the code of contact out of control, um, or is it necessary as Colonel Jessup played by Jack Nicholson had you have you believe? Well, uh Demi Moore is his her character is tapped to uh head up the the case, uh however uh it's felt, um including um by herself, that she can't necessarily handle the whole case uh herself. So uh she has you know the care of Kevin Pollock's character uh to help. Uh but ultimately, of course, Tom Cruise comes in. And um the idea is that they they to me more is it feels like there's something going wrong here. What what happened here? Why why did this man die? It's more than there's more than meets the eye here, and more than what's on paper on the story. And Tom Cruise place a lawyer that is uh the king of you know hey of uh plea bargains, and he wants to uh plea bargain everything out, and he we are led to believe that he has never actually been inside a courtroom uh to fight a case, which is uh probably why it was suggested by the uppers to have him be involved in the case. They thought, well, he'll plea bargain it down, and the case will move along and everybody's life will just go on. Uh the big trouble is uh to me, more character feels like, hey, there's more to it. And the two men that are accused uh do they resist the idea of plea bargaining uh because they feel like they don't want to uh they don't want to admit they did anything wrong when they are following orders and they and they would rather they would rather go to go to prison forever as opposed to just being simply dishonorably discharged and admit that they did wrong. The automat the uh the the main thing is that they didn't want to admit it. Well oh the let's talk about the characters. Uh you know, these characters are so they're so well well rounded. It's it's it's it's awesome. We'll talk about the characters, um, and then we'll talk about the um uh the the script and some other things about the movie, and uh and we're of course are going to talk about Rob Reiner. Uh but uh the characters here, you got Tom Cruise who is brash. Imagine that. Tom Cruise playing some of this brash uh in 1992, brash and cocky. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Uh but yeah, he plays a guy that uh is very competent, but he's not one of those guys that wants to, he's not an all-or-nothing guy. He's a he's a plea bargain plea bargainer. He does he gets everybody off on lesser charges. He's just the best at it. When they approach Colonel Jessup in the beginning of the of the f film, or toward the beginning of the film, the beginning of their investigation, um you see to me more wanting wanting questions answered, and you see Tom Cruise wanting to just wrap it up and because you know what we know what he wants. He wants us to plead this out and not have any uh real problems with the case. But again, we have uh the matter of the defendants and uh you've got Demi Moore also part of cancel that just absolutely don't want to they don't want to just say, oh yeah, we throw their arms up and say, yeah, we well we lose, and we'll just go ahead and plead it down. And Demi Moore is also competent, but she uh challenges Tom Cruise several times throughout the movie, and uh, you know, just absolutely is relentless with the idea that you know, hey, we can fight this and we can win. Uh but uh we also have Kevin Bacon who is the lead attorney for the government, and he and Tom Cruise are friends in in the movie coming into this, and you know, but it's determined, but but he's determined to uh uh put these two defendants away. Yeah, and you know everybody wants to win. Uh Keith Sutherland, who you hear in the trailer as well, plays a defiant witness uh for the prosecution and and against the defendants, and he believes in in duty and honor. He's not gonna back off from that. Uh he uses the phrase unit core god country. So that's what he values as a unit core god and country. Well he's one of those uh Kertones uh characters. Uh he's one of those guys that takes service very seriously. And it it's the movie again, it just strows that line of like saying this is not okay that the Marines or the military, you know, could participate in activity uh such as a code red, you know, just punishing uh a soldier for you know doing something and being kind of an off-the-record thing. It's n not okay. But also implicating the importance of of such kind of actions, or in the supposed importance of those actions. But uh another guy that takes uh the job very seriously, but in a different way, is uh played by J.T. Walsh, uh a fellow colonel, although he's outranked by Jack Nicholson's Jessup character. J.T. Walsh plays a pivotal role in this because he plays somebody that initially challenges Jessup and uh Jack Nicholson and and says, hey, you know what? This we probably should do something different. Well, Jack Nicholson just says, Oh, uh too bad. We're not we're not shipping the guy out to somewhere else. You know, it is what it is, and we're gonna do this kind of thing. And uh J.T. Walsh is uh plays a guy with he often plays bad guys, mean guys, you know, like breakdown, like with Kurt Russell, uh just like an absolute monster of a person. Um, but here he plays somebody who takes uh his job as a military officer very seriously, but in a different kind of way than Jack Nicholson does. Uh Jack Nicholson is uh we're gonna do what we do, and kind of a rogue kind of guy, uh well, definitely a rogue uh officer, but but uh JK Walls is more by the book, um and um you know, spoiler alert, uh he's supposed to be uh a star witness uh for the defense, and he ends up uh committing suicide. He he shoots himself and you know, because he can't stand the fact that he helped let all this happen. And but at the same time, he could have helped the the two men the two defendants could have helped them get off, but he didn't do it that way. And so he feels deep remorse, to say the least. Um Cubic Jr. also makes an appearance in this. This is before Qunning Jr. was a big star, you know, at least not a huge star. A couple years later, he would uh star with Jerry with uh Tom Cruise again and Jerry McGuire, and at that point he was his star was rising. Um but uh yeah, uh Kiwi Goodney Jr. makes uh makes an appearance here and and um and then we of course have uh the great Jack Nicholson, uh, which much is made of his courtroom uh scene, and which by the way, he had ten days on the set. Um and uh so they just kept um they kept at it. You know, they worked real hard on those 10 days. Matter of fact, uh the the courtroom scene, uh supposedly, I the from what I understand did a little bit of research, that that the uh the moment where he says you you can't handle the truth, uh he supposedly did that 30 times. Um and then during some reshoots uh uh when Jack Nicholson was off the set and had gone home or whatever he was doing going to the Lakers game, um supposedly Kevin Pollack sat in for him because the whole idea was to get reactions from the different corners of the of the courtroom. Uh if you see the camera moving, uh so they had to constantly have him say you can't handle the truth. Um so uh and uh Kiefer Sutherland said that Jack Nicholson did it the exact same way 30 times. And so that's pretty that's pretty pretty wild to to be able to have that much uh have that much energy to do that 30 times. Um but again they did they had they wanted to do some more uh courtroom reaction, uh so they so they um did it even more than 30 times. They shot that scene more than 30 times. Absolutely incredible. Or at least the that m that line of the of the of the film. So it's one of those things that you look at movies and and you you we we think that this is all done in a vacuum and you know, and hey, it's a two-hour movie. What does it take? Like two and a half hours to shoot it? No. Not even close. Um you know the it's uh the the good measurement uh the the is that each minute of a film usually takes one full day to uh to to shoot. That's supposedly when you know you're doing okay, um, except when you're in a small budget film and you don't have the that kind of time. Uh so I've talked with directors on this podcast where they had a lot less time than that. Uh you know, sometimes movies are done in seven days or maybe even three days if if um if people you know have don't have the the money, the budget, or the time to uh hire people. Um but much is made, and rightfully so, of that courtroom scene uh with Jack Nicholson. And um, you know, but I think that the scene earlier in the film, you know, there are a lot of movies that have uh and and the and but by the way, Few Good Men is not formulaic at all. It's not. Um it definitely has a has some character arcs and it has some uh story, the the plot the you know evolves perfectly. Uh I think this is pretty close to a perfect film, but it it's not formulaic. Having said that, there are a lot of movies, uh certainly action movies, uh, that uh have a really great uh scene toward the beginning, um like a battle scene kind of thing, and then they'll amp it up and give you something bigger and better at the end, uh the climax. And and um and that happens here in a few good men, only instead of action, it's just talk.

SPEAKER_06 21:44

That was delicious, thank you. What I just said, Colonel, I do have to ask you a couple of questions about September 6th. Shoot. On the morning of six, you were contacted by an NIS agent who said that Santiago tipped him off to an ill fetched money.

SPEAKER_07 22:30

We agreed that for his own safety, Santiago should be transferred off the days.

SPEAKER_06 22:36

Santiago was safety transferred.

SPEAKER_07 22:40

On the first available flight to the States. Oh 600 the next morning. Five hours too late, as it turned out.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

So here we got Tom Cruise, who really is reticent and intimidated by Colonel Jessop. You can tell that there's some definite fear there. But he asks questions. And of course, this is a lie by the colonel as by Jack Nicholson saying, well, we were going to ship him out. And clearly that was a lie. He was lying completely.

SPEAKER_08 23:31

Colonel, the practice of code reds is still confirmed by officers on these things.

SPEAKER_07 23:44

Take caution in your tone, Commander. I'm a fair guy because fucking heat is making me absolutely crazy. You want to ask me about code reds on the record, I tell you I discourage the practice in accordance with the commander's directive. Off the record, I tell you it is an invaluable part of close infantry training. And if it happens to go on without my knowledge, so be it. I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice, and take your chances. I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4,000 Cubans who are trying to kill me, so don't think for one second that you can come down here. Flash a badge. Make me nervous. Of course. You have to ask me nicely. You have to ask me nicely. See, Danny, I can deal with the bullets and the bombs and the blood. I don't want money. And I don't want metals. What I do want is for you to stand there in a baggy white uniform with your hard mouth and send me some fucking courtesy. You gotta ask me nicely.

SPEAKER_06 25:58

Sorry.

SPEAKER_07 26:02

No problem.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

Okay. Now here's the thing about that scene is is it's j it's just as good as the courtroom scene. Uh it's such a tension builder. Uh it it creates the scenario where you've got this uh y methinks thou protest too much kind of thing. And uh you see the look in Tom Cruise's eye that's like, eh, there maybe there's something here. Um but later in the movie you hear Demi Moore say, You didn't care about getting the hold hold of the transcript order. What you wanted is to get a reaction from Colonel Jessup to see how he would feel about getting that, and and he he got it's probably sort of what he thought he was going to get. But um Jack Nicholson's character in this is so fantastic. I I the the fact that he had 10 days on this and had such a huge impact, uh it just really shows you what a legend Jack Nicholson is, just an absolute monster of an actor. Just he's a total beast here. He's just great. Love it, love it, love it, love it. You know, of course, everybody's heard you can't handle the truth. You know, the big problem with with that scene is it be it's become kind of cartoon-ish. And people forget, you know, just how great everything is great that line is, because it it's become a meme, you know, and you know, if you watch his temperament on the set on the stand while he's testifying, you can see him getting increasingly uncomfortable, uh increasingly angry. And um one of the parallels that I see is very interesting is The Cain Mutiny. It's that's a movie we'll probably talk about in detail at some point. Uh I've I have it on my list to cover the Kane Mutiny, but uh he's a very similar character as Humphrey Bogart's character in the Kane Mutiny. Just think about it for a second, and and that's kind of what it kind of the way he is in that movie. Uh yeah, you even it's different different uh uh problems, different set of emotional problems, um, but it's it's still uh you know, still valid. Um now if you give me in uh what makes this film really great. Well, there are a lot of things. There's some excellent performances, um, as we detailed. Uh one of the interesting things I wanted to say, I I mean I forgot to mention, you know, you you got Tom Carez, Demi Moore, uh, and um and Kevin Bacon and Keeper Solan, who are are all kind of rat uh not Rat Pack, but Bratpack adjacent. You know, they're not uh I g I guess Demi Moore I guess you'd say she's Bratpack, but all four of them are Bratpack adjacent. You know, they've all they all played in these teenage movies in the 80s uh with uh directly with Brat Pack members. And uh so I thought that was uh interesting that um you know they're all grown up here. Um but in any case um what makes the King Good Men Great? Uh yeah, these performances are are fantastic, particularly Jack Nicholson's. Um, you know, they're all just absolutely fabulous. Uh, you know, we don't want to forget uh JT Walsh uh and and his nuanced performance, and and Jay Preston, the great Jay Preston, who's still with us, played the judge, and he's so good. Um and Kevin uh Pollack also uh is really good at easing some of the tension uh between the two lawyers, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore. And um he brings a little bit of comic relief to the movie. Uh so uh it's it's it's not it doesn't go over the top. Um it's just enough to kind of be uh nudge the movie into having a little bit of comic relief. Uh but uh the thing, you know, the editing in this is so fantastic. The the conversations between uh the characters are are all just wonderful. Everything about that is wonderful. And of course, um it's written by Aaron Sorgan, uh, who uh has gained tremendous notoriety since uh writing for this movie. Uh of course he wrote for the West Wing uh series. Uh he also wrote for uh uh The American President, Moneyball, uh Steve Jobs, and uh and won an Oscar for uh best adapted uh screenplay for the social network, which is a lot of people's best of lists. Uh but Aaron Sorgan is just he is an absolute legendary uh uh writer, screenplay writer, just uh extraordinarily talented. Uh the movie made$140 million, or I'm sorry, uh made$240 million on a$40 million budget. Uh a few good men received good reviews and four Oscar nominations, including Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson, uh Best Sound Mixing, and Best Screenplay. Um to break this movie down, uh it's just um it's just a masterclass. It's a really great film, really great 90s film, and and I I as time has gone by, I have noticed that the 90s is a much better decade uh for movies than I probably thought of you know going on. It's kind of like uh 70s music. I mean I grew up in the 70s and um as a teenager in the 80s, and uh if you're a teenager in the 80s, you you hate the 70s. You know, you know, the 70s were just bad. Um as as a teenager in the 80s, you're like, oh, look at the way they dress all this stuff. You know, but in retrospect, uh looking back on it now, um, the 70s is one of my favorite decades for uh for films. And um, you know, I just didn't really give it very much credit, and then and the 80s have kind of gone down from for me a little tiny bit uh for films, and the 70s have gone up. And um, I'm realizing, oh wow, all these gritty movies from the 70s that are just so good. Uh but uh we did this podcast episode uh mostly uh to uh do a tribute to uh Rob Reiner, uh who um, as everybody knows, uh was murdered uh in 2025. And and I had been uh I had I can't believe I hadn't not done a podcast episode on any of his films. Um but you know Rob Reiner uh just uh I I know a lot has been said since he passed away, uh and people kind of know his record. You know, I uh the thing is, it's really hard to describe uh how big of a hot streak Rob Reiner was on as a director um when this movie came out. He was in the middle of a real hot streak. Uh he of course directed This Is Spinal Tap, which was his debut as a director, uh just uh absolutely wonderful mockumentary. If you haven't seen This Is Spinal Tap, um what what are you doing with your life? It's it's it's such a great movie. The the sequel, which they made last year, uh uh you know, uh Rod Bynard uh was merged shortly after the promotion of that film, unfortunately. Um but that one's pretty good too. It's it's it's not not as good, but uh this is a spinal tap. It's just an absolutely masterclass. It's a masterclass uh on on uh mockumentaries. Um he did the sure thing in 1985, which I think is kind of a masterclass of teenage 80s comedies uh with uh starring John Cusack. Um Stand By Me, a movie that just uh most people adore. Uh just an absolutely wonderful movie. And and uh so he did that, and then he did The Princess Bride, which is adored by everyone and loathed by no one. Uh if you don't like The Princess Bride, I don't know. I just don't know how um you can communicate with anybody else in in life. Um it's it's obviously such a great movie. When Harry Met Sally, uh masterclass and romantic comedy. Um I I I feel like when Harry Met Sally didn't invent the romantic comedy, um, but it changed the romantic comedy. Romantic comedies had a huge injection and had a huge say-so in in the box office in the 90s um and um and in the 2000s. Uh going up to, I don't know, somewhere around 2010, 2012, uh, they started to lose steam. And um the ones that were made at that time were probably not really as good. But you know, the 90s were just flooded with with uh rom-coms. Uh and uh when Harry Met Sally is just uh an example of a movie that um really changed uh films, you know. They there every once in a while you have uh a director that puts together a movie that is very successful, and so everybody wants to copycat it. And it was copycatted over and over and over again in the 90s, sometimes better than other times, but it just absolutely fabulous uh movie. Uh of course um he also directed uh Sleeps in Seattle, another masterclass in romantic comedy, and uh um directed misery, uh just uh a horror movie that uh I I actually struggle with thinking of it as a horror movie, but I guess it is um in a Stephen King adaptation. But um, you know, here you got, you know, I I've I've rounded off all these movies that are just one really doesn't have a lot to do with the other. Um, you know, The American President, uh, you know, Michael Douglas playing um The President and just uh a fabulous um fabulous fabulous film, and um, you know, and then of course Sleepless in Seattle. Uh this is a uh basically a 10-year run. Um that I'm not gonna say it's unequaled, because it's not unequaled, but there's but it's rarefied air, and there's peep there's only a handful of directors that can say, wow, I look what look what I did during that 10-year stretch, um, and just absolutely beat their chest about it. Because, you know, there's not a bad movie in that bunch, and um, you know, and of course his um uh the the his uh his kind of star, his star kind of, you know, I don't want to say fell a little bit because he kept he continued to drag movies, uh, you know, but this is a ten-year stretch. It's just like, wow. You know, talk about a hot streak. This is a hot streak. Uh but uh unfortunately we lost him in December of uh 2025. Um obviously the terrible terrible murder, but uh allegedly by his son. Uh terrible, terri it was terrible news, and I remember hearing about it in the beginning, and I and I I I it was surreal. It's like I I literally just watched an interview, and this is uh this happens a lot with people. And I just talked to the guy last week. Um, you know, I just I watched him in an interview like a week before, and and uh I just you know I just couldn't believe that um that happened. And it's just it's just so awful. And um, you know, we we live in a cruel world, unfortunately. Uh people don't always behave the way they need to, and it's just terrible. And uh yeah, this movie A Few Good Men is a reflection on that a little bit too. Um, you know, Few Good Men, just a fantastic movie uh by uh a fantastic director of real talent, and um, you know, of course his dad was Carl Reiner, and uh who just was extraordinarily talented too. Uh the Dick Van Dyke show, you know, he was responsible for uh most of that. And um The Jerk, which still to this day is my favorite movie with Steve Martin. Um but uh amongst lots of other movies. Uh but in any case, uh rest in peace, uh Rob Reiner, and um uh we're grateful for everything that uh he put on the screen um for us.

SPEAKER_02 41:50

Um casting Jack Nicholson in that role and watching him do his thing. We've had um we've had Kevin Bake and Noah Wiley on the show talk about the the the big scene, obviously. Yes, you can't handle the truth, but and we've heard it from their perspective of watching an actor, and you're an an actor and director. What was that like from your perspective?

SPEAKER_03 42:13

Well, it was interesting because uh, you know, we have a big courtroom, and uh, you know, Jack has this long, long monologue. And I said to him before, I said, look, uh I'll give you a choice. Either I can shoot if you want to shoot ready now, I'll shoot you right now. If you want some time to work on it, rehearse it, I will shoot all the reaction shots first, and then we turn the camera around on you and you know, whatever. He said, Well, don't you, you know, shoot the reaction shots and now give me the so you know I got Tom Cruise cut away, give me more, Kevin Bacon, the, you know, I got uh, you know, Kevin Pollock, I mean, you know, the judge, the jury. I'm doing all the reaction shots. And every time he's off camera, he gives exactly the same performance that you see that's on camera. And after two or three, I said, I go off to him, I said, Jack, you know, maybe uh you want to stay a little bit because I mean he's full out in every one, and he's off camera. He's just don't get that much of a change to do a great part. And then we turned the camera around on him, and it was the slave, the slame, nailed that he did every time.