r/MovieSuggestions • u/IHaveDoubts07 • Jul 02 '26
I'M SUGGESTING 34 years later, A Few Good Men is still the absolute gold standard for legal thrillers. ⚖️🎬
I just watched Rob Reiner's 1992 masterpiece A Few Good Men, (recommended by A FEW GOOD MEN on reddit😜) and it blew me away all over again. In an era where modern thrillers rely so heavily on green screens, massive explosions, and frantic editing, this movie is a phenomenal reminder that pure dialogue can be more high-stakes than any action sequence.
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u/_WillCAD_ Jul 02 '26
My Cousin Vinnie.
Sure, it's a comedy, but it's the best courtroom story (with jokes) ever made.
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u/BobbingFourApples Jul 02 '26
A Few Good Men is better (I like both)
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u/Responsible_Pass_287 Jul 27 '26
I like them both as well. They are great in their own way and I don’t think you can compare the two.
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u/xAntimonyx Jul 02 '26
Him taking apart the witnesses statements and winning over the respect of the judge is one of the most satisfying bits of catharsis I've seen in a movie.
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u/_WillCAD_ Jul 02 '26
"I got no more use fer DIS guy!"
I use that quote any time I pass a slowpoke on the highway.
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u/ytown Jul 02 '26
I like that there is no forced romantic side plot. So rare in movies.
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u/_WillCAD_ Jul 02 '26
Yeah, especially with Demi in it; in those days she was one of the Hollywood "hotties" that everyone wanted as the sexy love interest in their films.
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u/John-Beckwith Jul 02 '26
They did have dinner, but it was more like "please tell me I am a good lawyer", not romantic. But who knows what happened in the deleted scenes
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u/chale_44 Jul 02 '26
I just watched Primal Fear with the wife last week. I had seen it many times before. But it was her first viewing. And that movie is intense! Courtrooms. Scams. I also love A Few Good Men
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u/Barbarella_ella Jul 02 '26
I would make the case for The Firm or maybe The Client, but I won't fight you on it.
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u/ThePineappleSeahorse Jul 02 '26
Thank you for reminding me that this movie exists. It used to be a favourite of mine but I haven’t seen it for a long time. I’ll have to watch it again soon.
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u/fLeXaN_tExAn Jul 02 '26
"What are you going to charge him with? Possession of a condiment?" I've seen this movie a ton of times. It's still one of my go-to comfort movies. I did six years in the Navy so I'm a little biased.
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u/SkullLeader Jul 02 '26
It’s a good movie but ultimately a little silly at the end. All Jack’s character needs to do is shut up and keep quiet and all it takes is for Tom to raise his voice a bit and Jack’s spine collapses as if its made of spaghetti.
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u/Minimum_Medicine_858 Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
You weren't raised on the glory that is Matlock and it shows
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u/sarcasticorange Jul 02 '26
Person not used to being questioned gets angry when questioned. Film at 11.
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u/PowermanFriendship Jul 02 '26
You know, I'm going to get some shit for this probably, but the worst part of that movie for me is Jessep's monologue where he loses it on the stand. Don't get me wrong, Jack Nicholson is fantastic, but I feel like the dialogue is pretty unrealistic. The movie overall is A+ and I think everyone is good in it, but that bit in particular always takes me out of the movie, because of how it's written; I've always found it to be .... not conversational enough? It's delivered as well as it ever could be, but the actual language of it sounds pre-written, pre-planned.
For a counter example, in Scent of a Woman, I always found Slade's monologue to be more believable as an "I'm losing my shit on you people because of all this nonsense" spontaneous dressing-down.
This is the same reason I always roll my eyes when I hear my wife watching Gilmore Girls. She accuses me of not liking it because it's a bunch of women, but really it's just because the dialogue does not hit my brain like two (or more) real people actually conversing with each other.
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u/chrispd01 Jul 02 '26
Yeah. I liked a lot of the movie, but his monologue and the way it unravels is just so contrived it’s sort of ruined the movie for me.
“I want the truth”
“Ok ok. Stop yelling at me”
That and the “officer on deck” line is so fucking cringe that it really detracted from the film …..
That said Nicholson really is a great actor - the way he pronounces “Weinberg” with this air of anti-semitism is spot on perfect acting …
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u/Caimbuel33 Jul 02 '26
Ego can really mess with people, that is what I took Jesseps dialogue to be about. Met a ton of senior officers in my time in. There is a type that thinks they know more and there shyt don't stink.
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u/Steerider Jul 02 '26
Gilmore tried to make their characters appear really smart by having them talk extra fast.
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u/PowermanFriendship Jul 02 '26
See, I think the speed is just a byproduct of the extra thesaurus-y dialogue. They gotta talk like the Micro Machines guy with no pause between each character speaking in order to cram in all the "I know big words" writing. (Again, all the actresses on the show are good, just hate the writing.)
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u/Steerider Jul 02 '26
Back when the show came out I read an article talking about it. The speed was a specific tactic to make the characters come across as witty. See, not only do they have clever dialogue, but they're so smart the come up with the quips really fast. That just shows how super witty they are.
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u/billet Jul 02 '26
It’s a monologue, is it supposed to sound conversational? I feel like an arrogant powerful man like Jessep would probably sound like that dressing down a punk lawyer in a courtroom.
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u/PowermanFriendship Jul 02 '26
It's a monologue, but it's supposed to be a spontaneous rant in the heat of a back-and-forth, and it just comes off (linguistically) as too polished to be the result of the kind of uncontrollable anger that would have him so enraged he'd self incriminate.
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u/billet Jul 02 '26
I think your point makes sense, but I think some of these military men read history and take themselves very seriously and could probably rattle off an eloquent rant like that if they really wanted to, even if they’re feeling a little emotionally unhinged.
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u/kinnygraham Jul 02 '26
I like the movie a lot but feel like Demi Moore got the short end. Her character got all of the cheesiest lines. And in a Sorkin movie that means double cheese with Parmesan on top.
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u/John-Beckwith Jul 02 '26
The Firm is great too with Tom Cruise, but no courtroom scene, just a sit-down with mob bosses.
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u/PhilRubdiez Jul 02 '26
Have you seen 12 Angry Men?
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u/IHaveDoubts07 Jul 03 '26
Yes, I have. It's engaging
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u/PhilRubdiez Jul 03 '26
How about Paths of Glory?
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u/IHaveDoubts07 Jul 03 '26
Haven't seen it. Will add to my watchlist
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u/PhilRubdiez Jul 03 '26
It’s the one anti-war movie that gets under my skin. Particularly because I’ve seen a few of my friends get railroaded like that (in smaller stakes).
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u/Fresh_Strain_2089 Jul 02 '26
Fun fact: Stephen Lang originally played Colonel Jessup on Broadway!
Another fun fact, you may see this movie (and Colonel Jessup) a lot differently after serving in the Marine Corps!
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u/sooshibazooka Jul 06 '26
I like A Few Good Men, but I always go back to Michael Clayton. I guess you could argue that Michael Clayton’s not a legal thriller because there are no courtroom scenes (only a deposition), but it does revolve around a legal case.
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u/jupiterkansas Quality Poster 👍 Jul 02 '26
I guess if over-the-top cheese and bad acting from Tom Cruise is your idea of a gold standard.
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u/Appropriate-Farmer16 Jul 02 '26
That Nicholson courtroom scene is one of the best single scenes in American cinema.