Line #23 YMMV/AFewGoodMen


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Not many people know that the movie is based on a play written by Sorkin himself -- even when it's stated during the early credits.
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3	** Some people take Jessep's courtroom rant as a TakeThat towards the kind of [[StrawCharacter limousine liberals]] (who would never dream of joining the military themselves) who sit back [[ArmchairMilitary and criticize armed might]] and the use of violence against other countries while living their lives under the guard of those same people who they disdain.
4	** Kaffee responding to Jo's ReasonYouSuckSpeech by saying "Wow, I'm sexually aroused." It could be seen as casual misogyny that might have seemed cute in TheNineties but would be seen [[ValuesDissonance much more harshly decades later]]. On the other hand, Jo had spent the entire film up to that point insulting Kaffee despite her own well-earned reputation as a terrible lawyer, threatening to go over his head to get him removed from the case, and just generally getting in his face despite having no direct authority over him or his case. It's possible Kaffee intentionally said something that he knew was horribly inappropriate to let her know that he found her unimpressive and unintimidating.
5	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The Drill team at the beginning of the movie. However it could be interpreted as establishing how disciplined Marines are.
6	* CatharsisFactor: After how much of a smug; rigid jerk he's been and [[spoiler:after being coaxed into confessing that his actions caused Santiago's death too, seeing Jessup get charged and arrested]] is rather pleasing to say the least.
7	* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Something is rather... ''off'' with Downey. He seems to struggle with the concept of basic morality and constantly requires someone else to tell him what to do.
8	* HarsherInHindsight: The movie centers around a torture and killing at Guantanamo, years before the base became notorious for "enhanced interrogations". One Al Qaeda suspect was even reported to have died of a heart attack, basically Private Santiago's cause of death in the film.
9	* HilariousInHindsight: This isn't the last time that Creator/TomCruise played [[Film/TopGunMaverick a navy officer who gets scolded for not liking/understanding sailing]]
10	* HoYay: Kaffee and Ross. They seem to know each other pretty well and there's the whole scene with the former sucking on his doughnut-dust-covered finger while the latter stares him down. And then some of the final lines:
11	-->'''Ross:''' Strong witnesses.\
12	'''Kaffee:''' And handsome too, didn't you think?
13	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Colonel Jessup ordered the hazing that led to Santiago's death.]]
14	* MemeticMutation: People have made Mountain Dew jokes because of Kaffee demanding to know if Jessep "ordered" the "code red"
15	%%** "You fucking people..."
16	%%** '''YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!'''
17	%%** '''''"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!"'''''.
18	* MisaimedFandom: The number of viewers who admire Jessep's MotiveRant is staggering. Sure, he's meant to have depth and isn't a CardCarryingVillain, but when he argues that he shouldn't be accountable to the law on account of his service to the country, you're not supposed to ''agree'' with him. Part of the problem is that the film doesn't include Kaffee's rebuttal from the play where he points out exactly what he's saying. Often ignored is that Jessep is fundamentally a coward -- he blusters about "honor" and "code," but he's more than happy to let two Marines burn in order to protect his career.
19	* {{Narm}}:
20	** Kaffee has a tendency to explosively swear at people out of nowhere when slighted.
21	--->'''Kaffee:''' Cutie-pie shit will not win you points with me. I get paid no matter how much time you spend in jail.\
22	'''Dawson:''' ''(derisively)'' Yes, sir. I know you do, sir.\
23	'''Kaffee:''' FUCK YOU HAROLD!!!
24	** Also:
25	--->'''Ross:''' You got bullied into that courtroom by the memory of a dead lawyer.\
26	'''Kaffee:''' [[LameComeback YOU'RE A LOUSY FUCKING SOFTBALL PLAYER JACK!!!]]
27	** In the TV edit, it's "FORGET YOU, HAROLD!!!". It's like a preteen flipping off someone using their ring finger.
28	* OneSceneWonder:
29	** Colonel Jessep only appears in a few scenes, but he makes the most of each of them.
30	** Commander Stone only has one scene but Christopher Guest makes quite an impact, making his character utterly loathsome despite not doing anything villainous on screen and making it enjoyable to see Kaffee make him squirm on the witness stand.
31	* RetroactiveRecognition:
32	** Percy from ''Series/{{Nikita}}'' is Kaffey's supervisor in one scene. [[HilariousInHindsight He even mentions something called "Division".]]
33	** Also, Noah "[[{{Series/ER}} Dr. Carter]]" Wyle as Barnes.
34	** Creator/CubaGoodingJr, who would be back in a Navy courtroom in ''Film/MenOfHonor'', plays one of the Marines in Santiago's platoon.
35	** Creator/ClarkGregg played Jack Ross during the play's original theatrical run and also understudied Daniel Kaffee.
36	* SignatureScene: The climactic interrogation of Colonel Jessep and his VillainousBreakdown on the stand, including his often ([[BeamMeUpScotty mis-]])quoted "[[YouCantHandleTheParody you can't handle the truth]]" MotiveRant.
37	* SpiritualAntithesis: To ''Film/ScentOfAWoman'' which came out the same year. Here, we also have a young man who's naïve and inexperienced and deals with a tough ColonelBadass (played by a major LargeHam of an actor) regarding the unjust punishment of a boy for ratting out his peers. It also culminates in a trial where the colonel delivers a moving speech about honor and courage. Except, instead of inspiring the young man to not give his peers up no matter what and shaming the court for punishing him for his integrity, here the colonel is ultimately a cowardly individual who was ready to let his underlings take the blame for what they did on his orders, and his speech is self-aggrandizing and hollow. The younger man uses the colonel's emotional outburst to get him to confess his crime and he ends up getting convicted. The colonel is also a womanizer, bur whereas Lt. Col. Slade had respect for the women he courted, Col. Jessep is crass and misogynistic.
38	* StrawmanHasAPoint:
39	** In the following exchange:
40	--->'''Kaffee:''' You and Dawson, you both live in the same dream world. It doesn't matter what I believe. It only matters what I can prove! So please, don't tell me what I know or don't know. I know the LAW.\
41	'''Galloway:''' You know nothing about the law. You're a used- car salesman, Daniel. You're an ambulance chaser with a rank. You're nothing. Live with that.
42	** The movie wants us to side with Galloway here when she insinuates that Kaffee is just being a lazy coward, but the thing is, Kaffee is ''right.'' There's a saying in the legal community, "A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client," because it's impossible to be objective if you have a personal stake in the outcome. It doesn't matter what Kaffee's personal beliefs are, his job is to represent his clients to the best of his ability. Dawson has refused a generous plea bargain against his attorney's advice, in favor of a courtroom trial that could land him in prison for life, despite being guilty of the crime he's accused of, and Downey goes along with it because he'd follow Dawson off a cliff. Kaffee is rightly frustrated at that.
43	* UnintentionallySympathetic: Kaffee's drunken blow-up at Galloway over cross-examining Jessep is depicted as reflecting poorly on him. However, more than one viewer has noted that, from his perspective, Galloway has completely demolished their case through making a rookie blunder, and her bright idea to fix things involves ''Kaffee'' basically risking his future and career by goading a high-ranking star officer into admitting guilt on the stand, basically a long shot move that risks him being cited for contempt and charged with slandering the reputation of a senior officer without evidence if it falls apart. All while Galloway herself basically gets to sit back and let Kaffee take all the risk and heat of doing so. And on top of that, she gets very self-righteous and confrontational on the subject, calling him a coward when he naturally baulks at doing so.[[note]] Granted, she wanted to take the case herself. [[/note]] To sum up: Galloway's completely screwed up the case through her own ineptitude, put Kaffee in a position where ''he'' has to risk everything to fix it while facing no risk herself, and is doing so in a very high-and-mighty fashion. It's hard not to see where Kaffee's coming from just a little.
44	* ValuesDissonance: Both Kaffee and Jessep's sexual remarks to Galloway would be seen as inappropriate and borderline sexual harassment today. It's even acknowledged in some of the play performances, where Kaffee apologizes to Galloway after seeing Jessep's behavior. Even worse for Kaffee. He made a sexually harassing comment to an Internal Affairs officer who outranked him - to her face. Her reminding him that she's IA is what touched off the comment in the first place. In 1990 he could get away with this. Today, one phone call from her and he's out of a job.

Context YMMV / AFewGoodMen