A Few Good Men (1992) or, You Can't Handle the Truth!

2/10/2019

A Few Good Men (1992) or, You Can't Handle the Truth!

♥♥♥♥♥

Swept in the red, white and blue, this star-lining poster for Rob Reiner's A Few Good Men effectively showcases the film's impressive pedigree

A suspicious murder of a Marine in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba is attempted buried with a superficial, young military lawyer, until his female superior insists that he probes this potential rotten apple further.

A Few Good Men is written by Aaron Sorkin (The American President (1995)), based on his own 1989 Broadway script, with contributions by William Goldman (All the President's Men (1976)), and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Rob Reiner (Stand By Me (1986)), whose 7th film it is. The fine script keeps focus on the ball, - the sneaking romance between the two young leads thankfully never gestates, - and Tom Cruise (Risky Business (1983)) and Jack Nicholson (Man Trouble (1992)) are both fantastic here, raising the film to greatness.
A Few Good Men's handsome cast also includes Demi Moore (Passion of Mind (2000)), Kevin Pollak (Three Christs (2017)), J.T. Walsh (Hidden Agenda (1999)), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Zoolander (2001)) and Kevin Bacon (My Dog Skip (2000)). A Few Good Men treads right on the edge of what seems realistically credible with some of the lines that get spouted by the energetic cast, but it stays good, and in closing this is a remarkably effective and entertaining high-stakes drama.

Related posts:

Rob Reiner: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - A helluva movie! (actor)
The Bucket List (2007) or, We All Deserve Better
Misery (1990) - Bates ignites an iconic villain in Reiner's rock-solid King adaptation

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 33 mil. - 40 mil. $ (different reports)
Box office: 243.2 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned at least 6.08 times its cost)
[A Few Good Men premiered 2 December (New York) and runs 138 minutes. Sorkin reportedly gathered ideas and notes for the film on cocktail napkins while working as a New York bartender, eventually selling the script for "well into six figures". Nicholson was paid 5 mil. $ for his performance, and has stated; "It was one of the few times when it was money well spent." Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Washington DC from October 1991 - January 1992. The film opened #1 to a 15.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent the next 2 weeks atop as well, following with 6 more weeks in the top 5 (#2-#1-#2-#2-#4-#5), grossing 141.3 mil. $ (58.1 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to two notches lower than this one. The film was nominated for 4 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson) to Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, Editing to Unforgiven, Picture to Unforgiven and Sound to The Last of the Mohicans. It was also nominated for 5 Golden Globes, won a National Board of Review award and other honors. Reiner returned with North (1994). Moore returned in Indecent Proposal (1993), Cruise in The Firm (1993), Nicholson in Hoffa (1992). A Few Good Men is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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2/10/2019

A Few Good Men (1992) or, You Can't Handle the Truth!

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