I know an Air Force Colonel. A woman. A Few Good Men is her favorite film. It inspired her to pursue an illustrious career in the U.S. military.
The power of filmmaking, folks. Wonders abound.
The Behavior of Several
The title makes no sense.
‘A few’ = three.
But this is A Couple Good Men & A Good Woman. Quite the oversight for the prestigious writing-directing team.
Even viewers who haven’t seen The West Wing can sense Aaron Sorkin’s fingerprints early on. This is pre-West Wing Sorkin—witty, loaded dialogue delivered with pacing that never lets up. He and director Rob Reiner would reunite three years later for The American President (1995), the test run for Sorkin’s future in television.
Top 6 Sorkin Writings
- The Social Network (2010)
- Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
- Molly’s Game (2017)
- Moneyball (2011)
- Steve Jobs (2015)
- A Few Good Men (1992)
Six of the best films ever made. Using words & ink. Sorkin may be our finest living screenwriter.
His first piece, thirty years later, still holds up!
Guantanamo Bay
Gitmo. Is that the one where the watermelons grow?
Heard of it a million times, never retained anything on the location. Until now.
But only a small portion of this courtroom drama is set on the marine base. Guantanamo feels a lot less bay-like afterward. The scenes set on the military base leave an impression of sadness and desperation.
The film opens strong with the color guard—rifle tosses, clean camera work, tight sound. It’s a fast immersion into military tradition, and the stakes get serious quick. A tribute to the fallen.
Our protagonist is Tom Cruise’s Lieutenant Kaffee who wrestles with personal doubt.
It’s the external tension—the legal maneuvering, the moral lines—that holds the viewer. The film asks: What is truth? When is justification justified?
Demi Moore as Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway is the deuteragonist.
Kevin Pollack is excellent, the tritagonist, Lt. Sam Weinberg. He delivers a meaningful performance. He refuses to rise to Cruise’s energy – to the film’s benefit. His clean delivery grounds the audience.
Moore, on the other hand, perhaps makes the mistake of trying to meet Cruise’s intensity head-on. There’s a level of self-consciousness in her acting I hadn’t noticed before—not until seeing The Substance. Her scenes with Cruise hum with tension, but her performance strains when she tries to match his rhythm. She’s strongest when still—when she leads with principle, not pace.
Despite that, I’ve enormous respect for the woman’s career.
Her decision to take on this challenging role helped inspire a woman to become a Colonel in the Air Force.
That matters.
Her cap—like Cruise’s, like Sorkin’s—is full of feathers.
Nicholson plays the antagonist, Colonel Jessup, with a chilling balance of calm and menace. You sense his entitlement before he ever raises his voice. The man is dangerous because he believes in what he’s done. He doesn’t just lie—he reframes his actions as necessary.
The One Bad Man
Because while the legal case is complex and the ensemble deep, this is really a film about one bad man. Jessup’s early dialogue is delivered in such a measured tone, we’re not sure whether to distrust or admire him. He doesn’t exude chaos—he exudes control. That’s what makes him dangerous. He believes himself righteous.
And yet, what makes us turn on him isn’t the legal gray area—it’s the moment he machismos a line about “nothing better than getting a blowjob from a superior officer,” while Galloway’s his captive audience. She’s forced to sit through it. That’s the moment his mask fully drops.
The hazing, the lies, the cover-up—they stack up. But that moment reveals he doesn’t deserve the power he holds. He doesn’t respect the rank he hides behind.
That’s when we want him punished. That’s when the facts better fall in line, because the audience is ready for justice.
The film is dense with legalese and military jargon, but that’s part of the texture. Sorkin’s dialogue keeps the momentum—even when we’re not sure what’s at stake, we stay locked in. Kaffee and Galloway may be sharp lawyers, but they’re still feeling each other out. We’re watching that tension build.
Early signs of Sorkin’s walk-and-talks are here too. The characters roam through hallways, hit grounders to the infield, eat apples—always moving. Always talking. It’s real, kinetic. It’s what makes the film so alive.
Cruise brings relentless energy. He’s magnetic. Demi Moore holds her own, even if there’s strain. Pollack’s steady; reliable.
And Nicholson? He’s seamless.
Even when we know precisely where the plot is heading, the most effective films keep us engaged thruout the foreseen unraveling.
The ethics of hazing and forging flight manifests. The nuances of physical fitness exams.
These materially factual details don’t need to line up perfectly when the film ends.
We know justice has been delivered to an individual who desperately needed it.
Facts be damned.
We can feel the evidence.
★★★★ ★★★★
Shorter versions at IMDb and Letterboxd.
