The problem is that it’s too hard to believe that any truly honorable military commander would have ordered that Code Red behavior rather than just transfer or discharge the problem recruit. The substance of his speech is part of the core of what the military is about, but it comes ill off the lips of a man who ignored evidence that there were more than disciplinary reasons why a marine was not up to standard, especially when he includes getting that marine killed as part of “the way I provide” the defense that is so obviously necessary.

In case it’s not clear, I also have a love/exasperation relationship with Sorkin’s writing. He really fell down on the job by the time he got to Studio 60–in The West Wing, at least, political diatribes were a part of life, coming as they were from political operatives. They also had some subtlety and wit. In Studio 60 they were forced and rehashed and far more shrill, not to mention rather out of place in trying to build a sketch show, and seemed to be leveled at anybody who’d ever insulted Sorkin personally rather than sticking to ideas and principles.

On the other hand, it is fairly profitable.

His shows are interchangeable. No matter what show it is, it’s all about Aaron Sorkin.

“Look at me! Look how smart, clever and witty I am!”

Yes, Aaron. Anyone who’s spent 5 minutes watching anything you’ve done knows that you think very highly of yourself.

I’d sooner go to the dentist than sit through anything with his name on it.

There’s no need to wish for Sorkin to create such a hero. He already has. Sorkin has unwittingly created the hero in Col. Jessup (and not Tom Cruise’s star character), just as Kubrick created the hero in Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and not Private Joker in ‘Full Metal Jacket.’

Think about it. When you and the vast majority of movie-goers watch these two movies, what are the lines and charcters they remember and champion most? Why, it’s Jessup’s “You want me on that wall, you need me on that wall!” and Hartman’s “You are nothing but unorganized, grab***tic pieces of amphibian ****” and the like.

Because, though Sorkin and Kubrick (et al) see the thi9ngs thhese characters say and do as repulsive, most Americans simply do not. THey see through the sheen of presentation and recognize the characatures being fed to them and see something else. Strong, assertive, masculine and courageous.

Because the bottom line is that we DO need them on that wall, and we DO need Marine recruits brokken down to their lowest common denominator to be built back up before plunging into warfare, where there are no screenwriters or congressmen to write and complain in the heat of battle.

We do not see the Hartmans and Jessups as the psychotics they are presented to us as. We sinmply don’t.

And that’s why with both of these contemporary films, neither is remembered by the consuming public for the lofty, lefty reasons the screenwriters, producers and directors intended. Ratrher, they are remembered for the men – the characters – whom they tried to sully in two overarchingly anti-military movies.

And this reality makes me smile as a veteran Marine. Most of us still get it, no matter who incessantly the anti-military, anti-conservative messages are thrown at us in popular culture. Our brains still function independently.

Sorkin and Kubrick make me smile, not frown. And I doubt they even get it. All the merrier.

Semper Fi.