A Few Good Men
July 9th, 2009
The movie gave birth to the quote, “You can’t handle the truth!!!”, which was spoken by Col. Nathan Jessep, the commanding officer of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and a nominee to become the chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon, who was put to the stand in an investigation into the death of one of the Marines under his command. The said marine was given a “Code Red” which was a made up term for extrajudicial punishment which ended in his death resulting in the trial that had his fellow marines and superior officers under investigation for the said death. The main characters of the film were two lawyers, one of whom was the son of a decorated Navy lawyer holding the position of Attorney General and Navy Judge Advocate. The quote comes from a last ditch effort from the two main characters into getting the commanding officer to admit his role (which was authorizing the Code Red on the Marine who died) in the said killing ending up angering him and saying those famous words.
Note: All of the events in the film were fictional and there are no such terms and disciplinary actions within the said branch of military service.