Col. Nathan R. Jessep: Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and 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 that 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 then as the backbone of a life trying to defend 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 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 that you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.
In the scene where Tom Cruise is yelling at/questioning Dawson at the jail in the witness room, immediately after Cruise gets up in Dawson's face and says, "I'm the only friend you've got," Cruise is supposed to simply turn and walk away. But you can see from the angle behind Dawson that Cruise' first step is a step down, indicating that he was on a pedestal of some sort to bring their heights closer together. See more...
All of Jack Nicholson's scenes were filmed in only 10 days. See more...
Directed by Rob Reiner, starring Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Pollak, Tom Cruise, J.T. Walsh, James Marshall, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland, Christopher Guest (add more)
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.
When the drill team is performing at the beginning of the movie, they begin with fixed bayonets. Without returning them to their sheaths, they are missing during the rest of the routine. [While the drill team is conducting movements in a column formation, they have fixed bayonets. However, when we see the drill team conducting movements without bayonets, they are in completely different types of formations. It is very likely that they unfixed their bayonets prior to changing their formations.]
When Markinson kills himself he puts his weapon to his left temple, however when Kaffee recounts the story he says Markinson "put his pistol in his mouth. . ." [Information can be distorted when passed person to person. It is very doubtful that Kaffee would have been allowed into the room (or autopsy room) to view the body. Kaffee could have simply been told that Markison shot himself in the head and assumed the rest.]
Corrected by Rlvlk
The Judge who presides over the court martial is played by the same actor who played the judge in the court martial of the A-Team. [Hardly trivia. He has also played a military person in several other movies such as Air Force One which isnt really trivia.]
The man who Demi Moore (Jo) first addresses the case to, and tells her she's "too important at her current assignment" also plays a Naval lawyer of high rank on the TV show Jag. [Not really trivia. Many actors play the same kind of role in different shows like good guy or bad guy.]
Private Santiago is killed on September 5th or 6th. Let's say it takes a week to ten days before they go to court. That's about September 15th. The trial starts three weeks later. That's October 6th. A few days later is when Jo screws up in court, and Danny says they should take the night off, because they've been working non stop for three and a half weeks. So now it's about October 10th. That same night, Danny is watching a baseball game, and the Twins are playing the Orioles. At the time the movie was filmed, there was just one round of playoffs before the World Series, so the Series would have already begun by October 10th. Both the Twins and the Orioles are in the American League, so they couldn't have been playing each other then. [Danny may very well be watching a recording of a game between the Twins and the Orioles. My dad is a major Green Bay Packer fan and has tons of their games on tape.]
During the trial, Danny says Lt. Col. Markinson shot himself with a .45, but in the suicide scene, Markinson's gun is a Beretta 9mm, the standard-issue U.S. military sidearm. [Character mistake, and since he heard this information second hand, it may not even be his mistake in the first place.-The Beretta is also available in .45 it was his personal weapon.]
At the end of the scene where Danny and Sam are walking down the street pushing Sam's child in a stroller they are both on the sidewalk. Danny opens his car door and looks back at Sam and Sam is now up a flight of stairs with the stroller. [There is a short amount of time Sam is out of the picture and it is long enough for him to have carried the stroller up the steps.]
In the opening scene with the Marines marching, many of the Marines have blood stripes (those are the red stripes going down the dress blues). The problem is that a few of the guys are Lance Cpls and under- you must be a Cpl. to receive your blood stripes. [Having just watched the opening scene, there are very few marines in the drill team with blood stripes on their trousers. However. all of the PFCs and Lance Corporals are wearing trousers without blood stripes.]
In the scene where Markinson surprises Danny in the backseat of his car you can tell he is not really driving the car because it is a straight road and he is constantly turning the wheel back and forth. [Danny drives an old car from the 60s that has never been restored, so the steering would be VERY loose. Even on straight roads you would have to move the steering wheel a lot just to make small corrections. ]
Danny is at softball practice when Commander Galloway confronts him about the case. Since it is early October when the story takes place, they would not be playing softball. [Why can't you play softball in October? I spent 20 years in the military and there was always a Fall and a Spring softball league. Many games were played in October.]
In the first scene with Danny and Jo, in her office, one button on his shirt is buttoned, unbuttoned, and buttoned again. Also, there is a stain on his shirt, and then it's gone, and the apple gets bigger as he eats it. [ If any button on Kaffee's uniform was undone, his shirt would be halfway open. The buttons stay the same and the stain is always there. It just looks different as camera and light angles change.]
At the end, Dawson and Downey were convicted only of "conduct unbecoming a U.S. Marine," a charge they would not have received a Dishonorable Discharge for; they would probably have received a General Discharge, or at worst a Bad Conduct Discharge. [The discharge is not directly related to the charge. The court-martial decides what type of punishment to hand down. Clearly since Santiago died, they felt the Dishonorable Discharge was warranted.]
Corrected by Grumpy Scot
Prior to leaving for Cuba, Demi Moore (who is wearing whites) reminds Cruise (whom is wearing khakis) that the uniform requirement for the base is whites. Upon their arrival in Guantanamo, Demi is wearing khakis and Cruise and his partner are wearing whites. [Demi Moore never mentions the uniform requirement is whites. Kevin Pollack mentions prior to their arrival in Cuba to wear whites. It wasn't because it was a requirement, but because of the heat.]
After Dawson and Lt. Caffey have their heated argument Lt. Caffey storms out of the interrogation room. He stops at the door and asks Dawson why he isn't saluting a superior officer leaving the room. The fuming Dawson gets up and defiantly jabs his hands in his pockets. Dawson is actually following correct procedures. Military prisoners are not allowed to salute anyone. [This is more a mistake on Lt. Caffey's part, whether deliberate or not. He knows that Dawson should not salute him, but he wants to make a point about outranking Dawson.]
Corrected by Twotall
In the scene where Danny comes in drunk after the bug scene with Downey not being at the meeting, Danny comes in a door from the back of the apartment. Nobody EVER came in that door and they never do again. In fact, no matter how hard you look, you can't find that door again anywhere. [Actually, you can see the door in the first scene when the lawyers are working together, when Demi Moore is walking around on the phone.]
When Danny and Sam go to visit Jo for the first time for the briefing about the case, Danny gets up to leave and walks out quickly, and exits to the right. Sam is still talking to Jo about "being careful down there." If you concentrate to the doorway, you can see Danny pass by the door again because he turned the wrong way. [Character mistake, not an editing mistake.]
When Danny,Sam and Jo arrive on Guantanamo Bay Naval base,they are met by the driver who recommends they put on camouflage jackets so their dress whites won't be spotted by Cuban snipers distinguishing them as high ranking targets.They comply and as you see them drive away,right there on the top of their heads,bright white dress hats can be seen clear as day. After such precaution, you would think the driver would tell them to take off their hats as well. [U.S. Military are not allowed to take off their uniform hats while outside. The Marine driver would know this, and not ask them to remove their hats.]
Toward the end of the movie two Air Force service men enter the courtroom and are announced as upcoming witnesses as they were working the ground crew at Andrews Air Force Base on the night in question. Potential witnesses are never allowed into a courtroom BEFORE they testify. [Caffey had no intention of using these men as witnesses, so the fact that they were in the courtroom is a sign of this. He only used their presence to scare Col. Jessup.]
Danny's hypothesis that Santiago had a coronary condition that was missed by the doctor is flawed. Any such condition would be detected at autopsy. [The hypothesis is that the condition was missed during Santiago's regular examinations, given while he was still alive. Nothing in the scene indicates that the doctor failed to detect the condition at autopsy. Since there is a cover-up underway it makes sense that the doctor would alter the autopsy report (as he did when he stated the cause of death to be poison) and omit anything that would undermine his "conclusion" that Dawson and Downey poisoned Santiago.]
When Danny aproaches Jack with the news that the defendants were given an order, he introduces Jo to Jack. However he just introduces her as "Downy's Lawyer Jo" Ten seconds later Jack refers to her as Commander. How did he know this? [She is wearing a uniform with her patches & pins, a member of the armed forces knows how to identify rank by this means.]
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