ⓘ Details

Movie TitleA Few Good Men

Release DateDecember 11, 1992

TaglineIn the heart of the nation’s capital, in a courthouse of the U.S. government, one man will stop at nothing to keep his honor, and one will stop at nothing to find the truth.

Runtime138 minutes / 2 hours 18 minutes

DirectorRob Reiner

Screenplay Written ByAaron Sorkin

Based OnAaron Sorkin’s 1989 stage play A Few Good Men

Is It a Remake?No. It is a film adaptation of Aaron Sorkin’s stage play.

BudgetApproximately $33–41 million, depending on source

Box OfficeApprox. $141.3 million domestic / approx. $243.2 million worldwide

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👥 Main Cast

Tom CruiseLt. Daniel Kaffee

Jack NicholsonCol. Nathan R. Jessep

Demi MooreLt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway

Kevin BaconCapt. Jack Ross

Kiefer SutherlandLt. Jonathan Kendrick

Kevin PollakLt. Sam Weinberg

J. T. WalshLt. Col. Matthew Markinson

James MarshallPfc. Louden Downey

Wolfgang BodisonLance Cpl. Harold Dawson

J. A. PrestonJudge Julius Randolph

Michael DeLorenzoPfc. William Santiago

Noah WyleCpl. Jeffrey Barnes

Cuba Gooding Jr.Cpl. Carl Hammaker

Xander BerkeleyCapt. Whitaker

Matt CravenLt. Dave Spradling

Christopher GuestDr. Stone

Joshua MalinaTom

Aaron SorkinLawyer at Bar

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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture: David Brown, Rob Reiner & Andrew Scheinman

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actor: Jack Nicholson

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Film Editing: Robert Leighton

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Sound: Kevin O’Connell, Rick Kline & Robert Eber

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Motion Picture: Drama

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Drama: Tom Cruise

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Supporting Actor: Jack Nicholson

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Director: Rob Reiner

⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin

⭐ AFI ranked “You can’t handle the truth!” among its top movie quotes and named the film one of its top courtroom dramas.

⭐ No Academy Award win was verified for the film.

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📖 Short Plot Summary

After a young Marine dies at Guantanamo Bay, two fellow Marines are charged with murder. Navy lawyer Daniel Kaffee, known more for plea bargains than courtroom heroics, is assigned the defense alongside the determined JoAnne Galloway and the levelheaded Sam Weinberg. As the team digs deeper, the case points toward a brutal unofficial punishment called a Code Red and the command culture that may have ordered it. To save his clients, Kaffee must confront powerful Marine officer Nathan Jessup in court and force the truth out of a man who believes his authority is above question.

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❝ Key Quotes

“You can’t handle the truth!” — Col. Nathan R. Jessep

“I want the truth!” — Lt. Daniel Kaffee

“You need me on that wall. You want me on that wall.” — Col. Nathan R. Jessep

“Did you order the Code Red?” — Lt. Daniel Kaffee

“I’m gonna rip the eyes out of your head and piss into your dead skull.” — Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway

“These are the facts of the case. And they are undisputed.” — Capt. Jack Ross

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💡 Trivia

Director

A Few Good Men was directed by Rob Reiner.
The screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, adapting his own stage play.
The film came during Reiner’s remarkable run that included This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., and Misery.
Reiner turns a dialogue-heavy courtroom drama into a tightly paced thriller built on performance, moral pressure, and escalating cross-examination.
AFI later recognized the film as one of the great courtroom dramas in American film history.

Cast / Casting

Tom Cruise stars as Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a talented but underachieving Navy lawyer forced to step up.
Jack Nicholson plays Col. Nathan R. Jessep and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Demi Moore plays Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, whose insistence on pursuing the truth drives the case forward.
Kevin Bacon plays Capt. Jack Ross, the prosecutor and Kaffee’s courtroom opponent.
Kiefer Sutherland plays Lt. Jonathan Kendrick, whose rigid Marine code becomes central to the case.
Aaron Sorkin appears briefly as a lawyer in the bar scene.

Soundtrack / Score

The score was composed by Marc Shaiman.
The music supports the film’s military tension, courtroom stakes, and moral drama without overwhelming Sorkin’s dialogue.
Shaiman won an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for Top Box Office Films for his work on the film.
The score gives the movie a polished, patriotic, and suspenseful courtroom-thriller feel.
The film is remembered more for its spoken dialogue than musical moments, which is exactly what happens when Sorkin dialogue meets Nicholson volume control.

Location

The story centers on a court-martial connected to the U.S. Marine base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Key dramatic action takes place in Washington, D.C. legal and military settings.
IMDb lists filming locations including Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Los Angeles-area locations.
AFI notes production details tied to Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment.
The military and courtroom settings create a pressure cooker: one part chain of command, one part legal chess match, one part “please do not yell at Jack Nicholson unless you have a plan.”

Behind-The-Scenes

The film was produced by David Brown, Rob Reiner, and Andrew Scheinman.
Robert Richardson served as cinematographer, Robert Leighton and Steve Nevius edited the film, and J. Michael Riva served as production designer.
The film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures.
Box Office Mojo lists the domestic opening at $15,517,468 and total worldwide box office at $243,240,178.
The film received four Academy Award nominations but did not win.
Sorkin’s original play was reportedly inspired by a real legal case involving his sister, who served as a Navy JAG attorney.

Nostalgia

A Few Good Men became one of the defining courtroom dramas of the 1990s.
“You can’t handle the truth!” became one of the most quoted movie lines of all time.
The film captures a classic early-1990s studio-drama energy: huge stars, sharp dialogue, grown-up stakes, and a finale built almost entirely around one witness losing his cool.
Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, and Kevin Pollak give the film a stacked ensemble feel.
For many viewers, this is the movie that made cross-examination feel like a heavyweight boxing match with legal pads.

Easter Eggs

The title comes from the Marine Corps recruiting phrase “We’re looking for a few good men.”
AFI ranked “You can’t handle the truth!” at #29 on its list of top movie quotes.
AFI’s 10 Top 10 list ranked the film #5 in the courtroom drama category.
Kaffee’s arc mirrors a classic Sorkin protagonist pattern: a smart person who hides behind ease and cynicism until forced to care.
The final courtroom exchange works because the case does not turn on a hidden clue as much as on Jessep’s inability to resist declaring his worldview out loud.

Misc.

A Few Good Men is rated R.
AFI classifies the film as drama, while Box Office Mojo lists the genres as drama and thriller.
The film received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Sound.
Rotten Tomatoes’ critics consensus praises the movie as an old-fashioned courtroom drama powered by its star performances.
Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists the episode as Episode 176, with Don rating it 3.25, Ken rating it 4.25, Jon rating it 3.75, and an overall rating of 3.75.

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