A Few Good Men/Awesome

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • When Jack Ross tries to prove that Code Reds don't exist by showing that they're not in the GITMO Operations Manual. Awesomeness ensues.
  • Lt. Kaffee: Thank you for playing "should we or should we not FOLLOW THE ADVICE OF THE GALACTICALLY STUPID"!
    • Do you mean this was one of the actor's best breakdowns or something? Because Kaffee's drunken Jerkass outburst wasn't quite awesome, given the circumstances.
  • The climactic scene in which Jessep takes the stand: no music, no special effects or camera tricks, no spectacular feats of heroics; just the energy of Aaron Sorkin's screenplay and two powerhouse actors. The scene couldn't have been any more intense if the building had been on fire.
  • The final salute between Kaffee and Dawson, who throughout the movie treated Kaffee with disrespect because of his belief that Kaffee was a poor officer who just wanted to get rid of Dawson in the quickest way possible.

Kaffee: You don't need to wear a patch on your arm to have honor.
Dawson: Ten-hut! [salutes] There's an officer on the deck.

  • The Fridge Brilliance moment when you consider how Col. Jessup's character was painted in the whole film. In every scene he was depicted as enjoying being the centre of attention, almost monologuing theatrically in a very slow tone of speaking: the scene in his office (what with sarcastically calling his man to "get the President on the phone"), at the lunch (he was shown telling a story to the whole bunch, and the "you have to ask me nicely" incident), and in the court. In this light the brilliance of Kaffee's line of questioning became clear, as he was essentially denying Jessup to gain a momentum in their exchange, resulting in the latter unnecessarily insisting in his complete authority, ultimately spelling his doom. Especially apparent in:

Jessup: "I know what I said. I don't have to have it read back to me like—"
Kaffee: "*ignores* Why the two orders? Colonel?"

  • Kaffee, after getting Jessup to confess in open court, is nearly attacked by the enraged colonel who calls him "son" and tells him he weakened a nation. Kaffee, not remotely affected by Jessup's death threats, delivers a efficient and brutal comeback.

Kaffee: Don't call me "son". I'm a lawyer, and an officer in the US Navy. And you're under arrest, you son of a bitch.

  • Lieutenant Weinburg's tirade on why he hates the defendants, and why he thinks they deserve life in jail:

Weinburg: "They beat up on a weakling -- that's all they did! The rest is just smoke-filled coffee-house crap! They tortured and tormented a weaker kid! They didn't like him, so they killed him! And why? Because he couldn't run very fast!"

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/A_Few_Good_Men/Awesome?oldid=1082904"