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Directors: Simon West Screenplay: Christopher Bertolini and William Goldman, based on the novel by Nelson DeMille Starring: John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Woods, Timothy Hutton, James Cromwell, Clarence Williams III, Leslie Stefanson Running Time: 118 minutes Studio: Paramount MPAA Rating: R |
A straight-forward murder mystery shrouded in Hollyweird psychology and sexual perversion. John Travolta stars as Warrant Officer Paul Brenner investigating the bizarre circumstances surrounding Captain Elizabeth Campbell's (Leslie Stefanson) murder. Aiding his investigation at Ft. McCallum in Georgia is rape expert and Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill (Madeleine Stowe). Complicating the case are two factors: Capt. Campbell has had relations with every man on the General's staff... and the General is her father, Lt. General "Fighting" Joe Campbell (played to regular Army precision by James Cromwell).
Other than the military setting, there's not much to distinguish The General's Daughter from any other murder mystery. Even the sexual backdrop isn't that provocative in these post-Seven, 8MM, Basic Instinct days. What is "truly excellent," though, is the intellectual cat-and-mouse game played out between Brenner and Colonel Robert Moore (James Woods), one of Elizabeth Campbell's colleagues -- essentially her mentor -- in Psychological Operations. The first extended scene between Travolta and Woods in Moore's office carries most of the movie's psychological complexity, and is superbly actred by Woods and Travolta. They dance a complicated pas de deux around the truth, attempting to trip each other up. Here is where the scripting is at its most taut and intelligent, and is, I believe, where William Goldman's fingerprints can be found on the screenplay. (Christopher Bertolini is the other screenwriter.) Kudos to Simon West, too, for he demonstrates in this sequence that he can direct actors (note Wood's great reaction shots and West's framing) as well as exploding planes (West also directed Con Air). If only the rest of the movie had lived up to the level of this scene... As though to point out the difference, an awkward, testosterone-driven interrogation of one of Sunhill's attackers (to warn her off the investigation) is filled with violence and profanity. The difference is way too broad, even though it is meant to demonstrate the levels of complexity within Travolta's character.
After about an hour of filling in Elizabeth Campbell's background and Brenner's improbable personal history with all of the major players (he served under General Campbell in Vietnam, he was personally involved with Sunhill, he's an associate of Colonel William Kent -- Timothy Hutton -- and he had even met Elizabeth Campbell two days before her death), evidence begins to land in Brenner and Sunhill's laps. A medical file mysteriously appears and leads them to West Point and an incongruously-helpful psychiatric officer. There's another block of helpful information a few scenes later, which leads to a tense, nicely-done "showdown" in the General's office, followed by a silly, melodramatic Hollyweird confrontation on the training grounds.
