The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988) starring Eric Bogosian, Jeff Daniels, & Brad Davis

This TV movie is an adaptation (originally staged as a play) of the court-martial segment from the novel The Caine Mutiny. The play premiered at the Plymouth Theatre in NYC on January 20, 1954. The original cast included Henry Fonda (Barney Greenwald), John Hodiak (Lt. Maryk) and Lloyd Nolan (Lt. Cdr. Queeg). James Garner appeared as a member of the court; he was the understudy to Hodiak. The play ran for 415 performances, closing on January 22, 1955. I know what some of y’all are thinking: there used to be smart movies on TV!? The script is V literate and gives most of us (civilians) insight into Naval protocol, attitudes, traditions, and conflicts btwn. personalities. As one viewer commented: “we see the usual [Robert] Altman technique of a lot of side conversations that are barely heard and added noises to make the film seem more naturalistic.”

Lt. Greenwald (Eric Bogosian- a theater actor/police capt. on L&O: CI) as the defense attorney sustains ambivalence; he does a good job, exuding caged-in intensity. As the defendant, Lt. Steven Maryk (Jeff Daniels) must decide whether his lawyer is capable or unreliable. The prosecutor, Lt. Cmdr. John Challee, is played by Peter Gallagher (a theater actor; D.A. on L&O: SVU). Lt. Cmdr. Queeg (Brad Davis) may be mentally ill; I hadn’t seen Davis before (he died at age 41 in 1991). Unlike in the remake (below), ethnicity/religion is mentioned (Greenwald is Jewish).

[1] Each “author” of the Caine mutiny is a plausible bad guy who lends slightly different emphases to instigators who escape blame for what they goad others into doing.

Davis’s Queeg raises the intriguing possibility that an officer might be flat-out nutty in a way difficult for psychiatrists to detect but easy for an attorney to expose. […] I agree that the caricature of the psychiatrist is hokey.

[2] …it is taught and claustrophobic for most of the story – being set in the court-martial room (a bit of the end of the play is at the post-trial acquittal party). The results is a different telling of the story, and one relying on the audience’s own evaluation of the truth or lies of the different witnesses.

…Queeg is first taken down a peg by Greenwald (Eric Bogosian) not on issues of fitness of command, but on his honesty.

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, & Jake Lacy

Some of y’all (cinephiles) may’ve heard re: this one, as it was the last film directed by William Friedkin (who passed away at age 86 in AUG 2023). Lance Riddick (Capt. Luther Blakely) also passed away before the movie’s release; he’s a strong screen presence and gives a fine performance. For insurance purposes, Guillermo del Toro was the back-up director. Friedkin completed filming in 14 days (wow); he was given just 15 days by the studio! This movie (which was released on VOD) has well-known faces, as well as some newcomers; I saw it 1st on a flight last Thanksgiving.

Queeg (Kiefer Sutherland) here is much older (unlike in the original play by Herman Wouk); he has a constrained way of speaking here. The defense counsel, Greenwald (Jason Clarke- a prolific Aussie character actor), hasn’t practiced law much; he is the most fleshed out character. The no-nonsense prosecutor, Challee, is played by a young/Latina woman (Monica Raymund). Maryk is played by boy-next-door actor Jake Lacy (w/ big eyes/open face); he has lately done more on streaming shows than movies. I was a BIT disappointed, as I wanted to know more re: Keefer (Lewis Pullman- son of Bill Pullman; recently seen in Top Gun: Maverick). Keefer ended up writing a novel (based on this incident); it’s revealed that he influenced Maryk’s decisions.

[1] The original Caine Mutiny was a Humphrey Bogart led movie from 1954, one that I love and sticks in my memory very well. This takes notes form that movie, but is not really a remake, just an intensified treatise on the ending with the court martial hearing drug out and the final denouncement of the young opportunist shown his comeuppance. Anyone familiar with the source material, movie or book it was based on would know this. […]

The underlying theme of The Caine Mutiny story is not “wow that guy went crazy” – it’s that well, even the best among us can crack. There is no villain, it is all perspective, and even though a wrong decision was made by Caine himself the question is were there ulterior motives involved by other people.

[2] Yes, the ending could have been lengthened and strengthened a bit to really let the viewer know, but then again, here we have a Captain that does some outlandish things, but was that enough to justify a mutiny? You have to really decide the verdict. […]

Some people may have problems with the way the Navy is portrayed in this film, in that they don’t understand that as the captain of a US Navy vessel, one is completely and ultimately responsible for every little thing that happens on or to that boat, good or bad, and that as a result, discipline, rank, and orders must be maintained…

-Excerpts from IMDb reviews