A Few Good Men

Realism of A Few Good Men

Byron D. Nowells

Embry-Riddle University

Abstract

This essay paper explores the ideas and concepts of rationality of the movie A Few Good Men. It will show you how different segments and scenes throughout the movie illustrate rational thinking among the major characters played and what actions they took to show us different rational behaviors. Six key characters make up this film. These characters are, Lt. Daniel Kaffee, Cpl. Harold Dawson, Pfc. William Santiago, Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway, Col. Nathan Jessup and Lt. Jonathan Kendrick. I will explain each character and scenes in which they show us there rational behavior throughout the movie’s plot.

In this military courtroom drama based on the play by Aaron Sorkin, Navy lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is assigned to defend two Marines, Pfc. Louden Downey (James Marshall) and Lance Cpl. Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), who are accused of the murder of fellow leatherneck Pfc. William Santiago (Michael de Lorenzo) at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kaffee generally plea bargains for his clients rather than bring them to trial, which is probably why he was assigned this potentially embarrassing case, but when Lt. Commander JoAnne Galloway (Demi Moore) is assigned to assist Kaffee, she is convinced that there's more to the matter than they've been led to believe and convinces her colleague that the case should go to court. Under questioning, Downey and Dawson reveal that Santiago died in the midst of a hazing ritual known as "Code Red" after he threatened to inform higher authorities that Dawson opened fire on a Cuban watchtower. They also state that the "Code Red" was performed under the orders of Lt. Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland). Kendrick's superior, tough-as-nails Col. Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson), denies any knowledge of the order to torture Santiago, but when Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) confides to Kaffee that Jessup demanded...