Details

Release year: 1992

Storyline

A military lawyer intends to prove that two US Marines charged with murdering a fellow Marine were only following their base commander's orders.

Top credits

Directors

Rob Reiner

Writers

Aaron Sorkin

Cast

Tom Cruise — Lt. Daniel Kaffee
Jack Nicholson — Col. Nathan R. Jessep
Demi Moore — Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway
Kevin Bacon — Capt. Jack Ross

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Awards

0 wins & 4 nominations

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Did you know

• Jack Nicholson repeated his famous courtroom monologue as Colonel Jessep off-camera several times so Rob Reiner could film the reactions of other actors and actresses from various angles. Nicholson's memorable on-camera performance was filmed last, but according to Reiner and the other cast members, Nicholson gave it his all every take as if he was on camera. Nicholson said he was "quite spent" by the time he finished. In an interview, Kiefer Sutherland was quoted as saying, "I don't think any of us realized how hard Jack Nicholson worked to be Jack Nicholson."

• The original play was inspired by an actual Code Red at Guantanamo Bay. Lance Corporal David Cox and nine other enlisted men tied up a fellow Marine and severely beat him for snitching to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Cox was acquitted and later honorably discharged. In 1994, David Cox mysteriously vanished, and his bullet-riddled body was found three months later. His murder remains unsolved.

• Writer Aaron Sorkin got the story idea from his sister, who in real life experienced a very similar incident at Guantanamo from the "Lieutenant Commander Galloway" perspective as a female JAG attorney. In that incident, the victim was similarly assaulted by nine Marines and was badly injured, but did not die. Sorkin initially turned the idea into a play, and then this screenplay, which was his first.