Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a US military lawyer, defends two US marines charged with murdering a fellow marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The needle of suspicion, however, points to a... Read allLt. Daniel Kaffee, a US military lawyer, defends two US marines charged with murdering a fellow marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The needle of suspicion, however, points to a colonel.Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a US military lawyer, defends two US marines charged with murdering a fellow marine at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. The needle of suspicion, however, points to a colonel.
- Nominated for 4 Oscars
- 10 wins & 30 nominations total
- Tom
- (as Josh Malina)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe 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.
- GoofsA Judge Advocate has the same qualified immunity as any other attorney arguing a defense. The premise that he could be subject to Court Martial for Professional Misconduct if he accuses Jessop and Kendrick of a crime is preposterous. He could be prosecuted however for failing to do so if it was necessary in the defense of the accused and if he, in good faith, believes that they may be guilty of said crime.
- Quotes
Judge Randolph: [to Kaffee from the judge's bench] Consider yourself in contempt!
Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, did you order the Code Red?
Judge Randolph: You don't have to answer that question!
Col. Jessup: I'll answer the question!
[to Kaffee]
Col. Jessup: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I'm entitled to.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I WANT THE TRUTH!
Col. Jessup: YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
[pauses]
Col. Jessup: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, *saves lives*. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a *damn* what you think you are entitled to!
Kaffee: Did you order the code red?
Col. Jessup: I did the job I...
Kaffee: [interrupts him] *Did you order the Code Red?*
Col. Jessup: *You're God damn right I did!*
- ConnectionsEdited into The Arrivals (2008)
- SoundtracksHound Dog
Written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Performed by Big Mama Thornton
Courtesy of MCA Records
#10 Direction: Reiner perfectly paces a 2+ hour film, giving all the cast freedom to actually act and develop the story beautifully without any scene dragging.
#9 Cinematography and score: excellent scenes and music; making you believe you are there.
#8 Despite your feeling on Cruise (God, I hate people who judge his couch-jumping to his talent on film) he delivers a perfect transfer from 80s hot-shot/top-gun to real acting. Watch him challenge Jessep in the closing.
#7 It simply had the unfortunate timing of coming out the same year as 'Unforgiven' and 'Scent of a Woman' and lost best pic. Both of those were excellent movies and it would be tough for any voter.
#6 All actors given time to show depth, creativity and originality. I absolutely loved Moore, Bacon, Sutherland, Pollak and Cruise.
#5 In addition, even though everyone's performance was spectacular and Nicholson's was a brief one, he still stole his scenes and strongly deserved an Oscar. (I mean, c'mon 'You can't handle the truth!' scene was worth an award.)
#4 The Dialogue. Please, the main characters were good enough at bantering back and forth, but just witness the conversation between Cruise and the newspaper man.
#3 Chess = Courtroom. If Cruise's Kaffee performance wasn't evidence the direct correlation between chess and courtroom, I don't know what will. (i.e. Where's the mess-hall?)
#2 How many movies since 1950 have you seen end with "The End"? They seemed to know this would be a classic, without excessive violence, language, no sex or nudity.
#1 Everything, and I mean EVERY THING in this movie worked but simply judge it on one of the BEST SCENES of any movie ever: "You can't handle the truth!"
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Cuestión de honor
- Filming locations
- Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Point Mugu, California, USA(Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $41,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $141,340,178
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $15,517,468
- Dec 13, 1992
- Gross worldwide
- $243,240,178
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