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The General's Daughter Movie Review

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Sci-Fi/Fantasy Comedy & Personal Dramas Action Dramas
Actors: John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Woods, Timothy Hutton, James Cromwell
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The General's Daughter
Captain Elisabeth Campbell, a respected Psych-Ops officer, is found naked, dead, and staked to the ground on the urban warfare practice range of Fort MacCallum, Georgia. She happens to be the daughter of Lieutenant General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Campbell (Cromwell). Two Army CID detectives and ex-lovers, Warrant Officers Paul Brenner (Travolta) and Sara Sunhill (Stowe), are assigned to investigate and plunge into a mess of secrets, divided loyalties, and coverups. Things get more confusing when an autopsy reveals the victim was NOT sexually assaulted. Some mighty fine actors and crackling dialogue (William Goldman shared uncredited writing work) are wasted in this smarmy and slick potboiler that dwells a little too eagerly on rape, bondage, and violence. Woods is especially compelling as a mentor and colleague of the victim who is fingered as a suspect. Christopher Bertolini based his script on a novel by Nelson DeMille, and director Simon West (Con Air, Tomb Raider) plans a movie based on the classic TV series "The Prisoner" as his next project, unfortunately.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of The General's Daughter
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
How difficult to spot villain? - Difficult, but some clues given
Time/Era of Movie: - 1980's-1999
Spying & Terrorists Yes
Murder Mystery? Yes
What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot? - 80%
Murders of set profession? - soldiers
Taboo Sex Story? Yes
Kind of story: - incest (ick!) - rape (yech!)

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - government investigator
Age: - 40's-50's
Events of movie makes character more... - sad - tougher - cynical
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Female
How much in movie? - 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 60's-90's
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged

Setting
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately messy visuals of dead
Movie makes you feel... - frustrated
How many deaths in film? - 3-4
Sex/nudity in movie? Yes
What kind of sex: - actual description of sex - seeing breasts - seeing nude female butt - seeing full frontal--women
How much use of techno gadgets? - 2 ()
Kind of violence: - mental battles - hand to hand - guns - knives
Unusual forms of death - asphyxiation - perforation--bullets
Any profanity? - A lot of foul language
Is this movie based on a - book
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