A Few Good Men
Unclear and Present Danger
Jamelle Bouie
4.7 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 23 December 2025
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John marked the unfortunate death of Rob Reiner by watching his 1992 military legal thriller A Few Good Men. In their conversation, they discuss Reiner’s career, the underlying liberalism of a film like A Few Good Men, and the continued relevance of Jack Nicholson’s performance as Colonel Nathan Jessup.
After this, we’ll be off for a few weeks, but then we’ll see you again in the new year with an episode on Murder at 1600. We’ll then finish out 1997 with an episode on G.I. Jane. It’s been a busy and chaotic 2025 for both Jamelle and John, but they both hope the schedule will return to some regularity for 2026.
And do not forget the Patreon, where in addition to a twice-monthly show on the political and military thrillers of the Cold War, we do a weekly politics show. Our next Patreon movie episode will be on the 1984 adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Little Drummer Girl, starring the late, great Diane Keaton.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Did you assault Santiago with the intent of killing him? |
| 0:03.0 | No, sir. |
| 0:04.0 | What was your intent? |
| 0:05.0 | To train him, sir. |
| 0:06.0 | A few good men is a masterpiece. |
| 0:08.0 | The first true classic of the 90s. |
| 0:11.0 | It's a drama of compelling power. |
| 0:13.0 | This is Tom Cruise at his best. |
| 0:16.0 | Jack Nicholson gives his finest performance, and Demi Moore has never been better. I want the truth! You can't handle the truth! |
| 0:24.3 | A few good men, a Rob Reiner film. |
| 0:28.1 | At theaters now. Hello and welcome to Unclear and present danger, the podcast about the political and military thrillers in 1990s and what they say about the politics of that decade. |
| 0:55.7 | I'm Jamel Bowie. I'm a columnist for the New York Times opinion section. |
| 0:58.8 | I'm John Gans. I'm going to see if I can get this right because it's been a little while. |
| 1:02.7 | I write a column for the nation. I write the substack newsletter on Popular Front and I'm the author |
| 1:09.3 | of when the clock broke, conmen, conspiracists, and I'm the author of When the Clock Broke, Conman, |
| 1:11.7 | Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s. I did it. Congratulations. Thank you. |
| 1:17.6 | We're recording this in December 18th, and so by the time you hear this, Christmas will not have |
| 1:22.1 | happened yet, or holiday celebrations will not happen yet, so if you need a present for the |
| 1:27.3 | politics-loving book |
| 1:28.6 | reader in your life, John's book, it's great. Yeah, please, please buy it. It's a great gift |
| 1:35.1 | for a history buff, for a politics junkie, for a young person who's interested in learning |
| 1:41.4 | more about the country. Yes, very much, though. |
... |
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