A Few Good Men

• Cat.no: CDR 94593
• Cert: 15
• Running time: 132 minutes
• Year: 1992
• Pressing: 1998
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 24 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Surround
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Italian, Greek,Hebrew.
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Price: £19.99
• Extras : Scene index, Columbia TriStar trailer (clips of many films comingto DVD).

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Director:

Rob Reiner

(The American President, Ghosts From The Past, Stand By Me, The Sure Thing, This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally)

Producers:

Screenplay:

Aaron Sorkin (based on his play)

Music:

Cast:

Lt. Daniel Kaffee: Tom Cruise (Cocktail, Days Of Thunder, Far & Away, The Firm, Interview With The Vampire, Jerry Maguire, Legend, Mission: Impossible, The Outsiders, Rainman, Risky Business, Top Gun)
Col. Nathan R. Jessup: Jack Nicholson (Batman (1989), Blood And Wine, Chinatown, The Crossing Guard, Easy Rider, Hoffa, Little Shop Of Horrors (1960), Man Trouble, Mars Attacks!, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining, The Two Jakes,The Witches Of Eastwick, Wolf)
Lt. Cdr. JoAnne Galloway: Demi Moore (The Butcher’s Wife, Disclosure, Ghost, G.I. Jane, Indecent Proposal, The Juror, Nothing But Trouble, Now And Then, The Scarlet Letter, Striptease)
Capt. Jack Ross: Kevin Bacon (Apollo 13, The Big Picture, Diner, Footloose, Friday The 13th, JFK, Murder In The First, The River Wild, She’s Having A Baby, Sleepers, Tremors)
Lt. Jonathan Kendrick: Kiefer Sutherland (Bright Lights Big City, The Lost Boys, A Time To Kill, The Three Musketeers, Young Guns, Young Guns 2: Blaze Of Glory)
Lt. Sam Weinberg: Kevin Pollak (Casino, Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, Ricochet, The Usual Suspects)
Pfc. Louden Downey: James Marshall (All She Ever Wanted, The Unspoken Truth)
Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson: J.T. Walsh (Backdraft, The Big Picture, Breakdown, Hoffa, Needful Things, Nixon, Red Rock West, The Russia House, Sniper, TV: “Dark Skies”)
Dr. Stone: Christopher Guest (Little Shop Of Horrors (1986), The Long Riders, This Is Spinal Tap, TV: “The Simpsons”)
Lance Cpl. Harold W. Dawson: Wolfgang Bodison (The Expert)
Capt. Whitaker: Xander Berkeley (Barb Wire, Candyman, The Killing Jar, Safe)
Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes: Noah Wyle (The Last Days Of Paradise, TV: “E.R.”)
Cpl. Carl Hammaker: Cuba Gooding, Jnr. (Boyz In The Hood, Jerry Maguire, Outbreak, The Tuskagee Airmen)
Man in Bar: Aaron Sorkin

AFew Good Men begins with two marines murdering a third who is believedto be ready to rat on the more experienced one, a marine who allegedly firedacross the Cuban fenceline into enemy territory at his ‘mirror’, the enemymirroring his position who may or may not have been ready to shoot back.

The type of ‘punishment’ dished out to Santiago was a ‘Code Red’ which wentwrong resulting in the private’s death. Those two marines are in trouble, butso is the officer who authorised the ‘Code Red’ and Lt. Daniel Kaffee has tofind out who was responsible for this.

This is a strong drama with an engaging, coherent plot which unfolds at asteady pace. The opening credits are also a marvel to watch with a gun-twirlingdisplay that beggars belief on first viewing.

A great film has an equally-great cast with a three-strong lead from TomCruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson, the latter of which hasvery few scenes, but steals all those that he appears in.

The supporting cast are certainly no small fry either compromising ofKevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Pollak, Twin Peaks‘James Marshall and the late J.T. Walsh, one of the finestactors who never quite made the Hollywood A-list.

There’s also support from This Is Spinal Tap‘s Christopher Guest,a fresh face to film from Wolfgang Bodison, Air Force One‘spresidential aide, Xander Berkeley, Noah Wyle aka Dr. John Carterin the award-winning TV series E.R., Cruise’s Jerry Maguireco-star, Cuba Gooding, Jnr., plus a cameo from the film’s author,Aaron Sorkin as ‘Man in Bar’.

The picture quality is near-perfect with only a few small artifacts during theopening chapter while Santiago is murdered, plus in the establishing shot atthe start of chapter 10, most of which would go unnoticed by most people.The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, is enhancedfor 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higher resolution – and theaverage bitrate is 3.93 Mb/s, which is quite low but still serves this releaseincredibly well.

The sound comes in one format: Dolby Surround. This being a drama, the soundis only really used for dialogue, Marc Shaiman’s musical score and ambience.

Strangely, Chapter 21 has a couple of mins where the vocals are out of syncwhile Jack Nicholson is on trial, but it ends just before he gives an answer.

It’s confusing that the main menu has a “Play trailer” option as you’d expectit to be the trailer for this particular film, but it’s not. It’s a collectionof clips from various Columbia TriStar films coming soon to DVD.

Languages/Subtitles :

There’s just the one language on this disc – English – plus subtitles inEnglish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Cantonese, Italian, Greek and Hebrew.The English subtitles condense the dialogue a fair amount, losing some ofCruise’s sarcastic character.

Menu :

The interactive menu is excellent and just dragging the mouse pointer overan option highlights it.

The main menu also appears very quickly. However, on playing the film it isthen that time is taken up with the Columbia TriStar logo and copyright info.

Overall, this is an excellent drama with a top-line cast, a gorgeous transferand pleasing sound. It could have used some more extras, but what we have hereis certainly worth the asking price.

FILM : *****PICTURE QUALITY: ****½SOUND QUALITY: ****EXTRAS: *½——————————-OVERALL: ****

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.