Actors - A Few Good Men

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	Actors - A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men, written by Aaron Sorkin, was a Broadway play and subsequently a 1992 film drama that tells the story of military lawyers at a court-martial who encounter a high-level conspiracy in the course of defending their clients, United States Marines accused of murder. The film version, directed by Rob Reiner, starred Tom Cruise as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Jack Nicholson as Col. Nathan R. Jessep, Demi Moore as Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, Kevin Bacon as Capt. Jack Ross, Kiefer Sutherland as Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, Kevin Pollak as Lt. Sam Weinberg, J.T. Walsh as Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson, and Wolfgang Bodison as Lance Cpl Harold W. Dawson. Aaron Sorkin also makes a cameo in the film.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Jack Nicholson), Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Sound.

The original stage production starred Tom Hulce as Lt. Kaffee and Stephen Lang as Col. Jessup. A stage adaptation of the film starring Rob Lowe in the role of Lt. Daniel Kaffee and Suranne Jones as Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, opened at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London in late August 2005 for preview showings, followed by a 3 month run in early September 2005. The stage show was directed by David Esbjornson.

Plot synopsis

An inexperienced Navy lawyer, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, son of Lionel Kaffee who held the positions of Attorney General and Navy Judge Advocate General, leads the defense in the court-martial of two Marines accused of murdering a fellow Marine, PFC Willy Santiago. Kaffee attempts to portray the accused as men following orders — a defense he acknowledges was inappropriate for the Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials and for William Calley after the My Lai Massacre, but that he feels applies to his two young low-ranking charges.

The defense tries to establish that the defendants were acting under the direct orders of their commanding officer, Col. Jessep, a powerful Marine officer being considered for the position of Director of Operations for the National Security Council. The two Marines claim that they were ordered to give the victim a "Code Red" -- a form of hazing unofficially sanctioned by higher-ranking officers designed to make soldiers pay attention to orders and rules. Kaffee suspects that he was specifically chosen to defend the Marines due to his history of quickly settling cases, which would remove the cloud of suspicion that could potentially mar the Colonel's chances of advancement.

Over the course of the story, Kaffee progresses from a novice lawyer to an experienced Navy attorney. His relationship with Lt. Cmdr. Galloway evolves as well. There is friction between them the instant they meet. They get on each others' nerves. She thinks that he doesn't care about his clients and that he settles cases quickly because he's afraid to actually argue in court. He thinks she is interfering with his handling of the Santiago case. They come to realize that they both want to learn the truth and give their clients a vigorous defense, and they know that they will have to work together to achieve this. Although there are some flirtatious moments between Galloway and Kaffee, they don't become romantically involved. What is more important is that they learn to cooperate and respect each other.

Kaffee is shown to have a high level of common sense and sharpness, which helps him win the case by proving that Jessep ordered a "Code Red" -- in retaliation for the Marine going outside the chain of command as a whistlebower -- by angering Jessup and getting him to confess the truth in anger. The two marines are found not guity of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but guilty of behavior unbefitting of a Marine, and given a dishonorable discharge from the Marines.

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