A few good men case analysis
Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel "Danny" Kaffee (Tom Cruise), is an inexperienced U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General 's Corps lawyer who leads the defense in the court-martial of two Marines, Private First Class Louden Downey (James Marshall) and Lance Corporal Harold Dawson (Wolfgang Bodison), who are accused of murdering a fellow Marine of their unit, PFC William Santiago (Michael DeLorenzo), at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, which is under the command of Col. Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson).
Santiago compared unfavorably to his fellow Marines, had poor relations with them and failed to respect the chain of command. He went above his superiors to bargain for a transfer in exchange for blowing the whistle on Dawson for firing a possibly illegal shot towards the Cuban side of the island. When the transfer request is seen by the base 's senior commanders, there is a heated argument between Santiago 's commanding officer, Lt Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland) who asserts that he can handle the situation, and Jessup 's executive officer, Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) who casts doubt on Kendrick 's ability based on a past incident. Markinson advocates that Santiago be transferred immediately for safety reasons before the request gets out, but Jessup says that this would set a bad precedent which could cost lives. Jessup also states that officers have a responsibility to ensure that all personnel are trained, so he orders Kendrick to ensure that Santiago shows significant improvement on the next evaluation report, or he would be held personally responsible. When Dawson and Downey are later arrested for Santiago 's murder, Naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore) suspects that they were carrying out a "code red": a euphemism for a violent extrajudicial punishment.
Galloway requests to defend them but the case is given to Kaffee, who has a reputation for arranging plea bargains. There is initial
Santiago compared unfavorably to his fellow Marines, had poor relations with them and failed to respect the chain of command. He went above his superiors to bargain for a transfer in exchange for blowing the whistle on Dawson for firing a possibly illegal shot towards the Cuban side of the island. When the transfer request is seen by the base 's senior commanders, there is a heated argument between Santiago 's commanding officer, Lt Jonathan Kendrick (Kiefer Sutherland) who asserts that he can handle the situation, and Jessup 's executive officer, Lt. Col. Matthew Andrew Markinson (J.T. Walsh) who casts doubt on Kendrick 's ability based on a past incident. Markinson advocates that Santiago be transferred immediately for safety reasons before the request gets out, but Jessup says that this would set a bad precedent which could cost lives. Jessup also states that officers have a responsibility to ensure that all personnel are trained, so he orders Kendrick to ensure that Santiago shows significant improvement on the next evaluation report, or he would be held personally responsible. When Dawson and Downey are later arrested for Santiago 's murder, Naval investigator and lawyer Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway (Demi Moore) suspects that they were carrying out a "code red": a euphemism for a violent extrajudicial punishment.
Galloway requests to defend them but the case is given to Kaffee, who has a reputation for arranging plea bargains. There is initial