Kiefer Sutherland's 1992 courtroom drama has jumped to No. 7 on HBO Max's US movie chart just as Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning lands in theaters, with a Broadway revival of the original play opening October 29.
Thirty-four years after it first hit theaters, Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men is having a moment on streaming. The 1992 courtroom drama, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland, is currently sitting at No. 7 on HBO Max's Top 10 movies chart in the United States, according to Screen Rant. It's slotted behind Backrooms, Evil Dead Burn, Coraline, Corpse Bride, The Departed and Supergirl, and ahead of Scooby-Doo, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Shining.
The timing isn't hard to read. Sorkin's The Social Network sequel, The Social Reckoning, just opened in theaters, and it's dragging eyeballs back toward his older work. A Few Good Men was based on Sorkin's 1989 play of the same name, and it remains one of his most quoted scripts. "You can't handle the truth!" has outlived most of the people who first heard it in a cinema.
The film was a genuine hit when it came out, grossing $243 million worldwide and picking up four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Nicholson. It still holds a Certified Fresh 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Sutherland played First Lieutenant Jonathan James Kendrick, one of the officers called to testify in the court-martial of two Marines accused of murder.
A Broadway revival lands the same month
Streaming numbers aren't the only reason A Few Good Men is back in conversation. The original stage play is being revived at Lincoln Center Theater in New York, currently in previews with opening night set for October 29, per Screen Rant. Tom Blyth takes on the role Cruise made famous, Bradley Whitford steps into Nicholson's, and John Zdrojeski plays the Sutherland part.
It's an odd little convergence. A courtroom drama Sorkin wrote in his twenties is drawing a new audience on two fronts at once, right as his latest script, about the mess Mark Zuckerberg's platform helped create, opens in multiplexes. Sorkin hasn't commented on the overlap, and nothing suggests it was planned.
Kiefer Sutherland, for his part, has built something of a reputation in legal drama since. His 2023 film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial earned him a Critics' Choice nomination, and his Fox series 24 remains his most recognisable credit. Whether any of that pulled viewers back to A Few Good Men this week is impossible to say for certain. What's clear is the chart position, and the fact that three decades on, Sorkin's courtroom still has an audience.
The Broadway run opens October 29. Whether A Few Good Men holds its HBO Max spot past that date is the next thing worth watching.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.