What is your Favorite Scenes From A Few Good Men

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I love how intense Tom Cruise is during the softball scenes.

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I love how a general (Nicholson) who's seen combat and has been buttoned up and regal this whole trial all of a sudden breaks when Cruise's character starts screaming at him.

After being in the military for a while, I wonder how many military folks Aaron Sorkin spoke with before writing the play. He got the Marine ethos down pat, but some of the stuff is completely eye rolling.

The “cocksucking” conversation that they have with a female officer is farcical even for the early 90s. Not to mention a colonel isn’t a general. Let’s say a colonel is the Marines top guy at Gitmo, the idea that he’d have to type of power to alter flight logs, etc. is nonsense.

I start to agree with Jessup in a lot of ways. Paraphrasing- You enjoy the freedom I provide and then dare to question the manner in which I provide it

Damn right Jessup. I feel you.

My favorite scene is when they are arguing about the evidence they have and Tom Cruise says "Oh that's right, you were sick the day they taught law at law school" right after the guy had his timing all wrong on their run and when they met etc.

Any Nicholson scene is great and deserves its own category.

For a non-Nicholson scene, I think the establishing scene for Caffey where he is fricking around playing softball while destroying the prosecutor in a plea bargain deal does a lot.

It establishes that Caffey is very canny but also that he is a lazy frick and will do the least amount of work possible so he can do what he really wants to do instead.


It helps set up that, once they decide to go to trial, that Caffey will be extremely competent in the law even if he doesn’t have trial experience.

For such a relatively minor role I always though Keifer Sutherland nailed the character. I always thought it was funny that it was Jesup who broke on the stand not Kendrick.

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After being in the military for a while, I wonder how many military folks Aaron Sorkin spoke with before writing the play. He got the Marine ethos down pat, but some of the stuff is completely eye rolling. The “cocksucking” conversation that they have with a female officer is farcical even for the early 90s. Not to mention a colonel isn’t a general. Let’s say a colonel is the Marines top guy at Gitmo, the idea that he’d have to type of power to alter flight logs, etc. is nonsense. I start to agree with Jessup in a lot of ways. Paraphrasing- You enjoy the freedom I provide and then dare to question the manner in which I provide it Damn right Jessup. I feel you.

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I'm a Marine and you really nailed it with this post. I love AFGM and the parts with Marines are all awesome, and like you said, really nailed the ethos and culture (it's not really like that anymore, sadly... but that's for another thread), but there are so many completely incorrect military things too that the most basic review should have caught. Like "saluting an officer when he leaves the room"...lol what? Marines don't even salute indoors. Also "conduct unbecoming a Marine" isn't an actual charge under the UCMJ. Multiple other examples It's just a mess from that regard.

Still absolutely love the movie though.