Spoilers. It's a potentially interesting story. A young blonde Marine captain has an affair with her superior officer, discovers he is married, is handed the usual line of baloney from her lover ("I'm going to divorce her."), tries nonetheless to end the arrangement, is stalked by her balked and angry major, and plugs him a couple of times when he sneaks into her house armed with a pistol and knife and dressed in camouflage. There is a court martial, which provides a kind of framing story.The performances -- by Heche, Shephard, and Stoltz -- are actually quite good. Anne Heche has a peculiarly bland beauty. It seems as if someone had grabbed the tip of her nose and pulled all of her facial features forward, but this only adds to the impression of fragility in her appearance. Sam Shephard, who has penned some remarkable plays, is growing craggy but no less handsome. But he's a light actor, and a good guy. It's as hard to accept him as a deranged Marine as it would be to accept, say, Gary Cooper in such a role. Stoltz has had a strange career, beginning really with "Mask." A book should be written about how he managed to get from American Samoa to Hollywood. His appearance, pale and with shockingly red hair, doesn't suggest strength, although he imbues his character with determination through sheer talent. There are what we might call "directorial touches" expressed in the editing that are mostly a nuisance. Example: Stoltz is the defense counsel and is interviewing witnesses to a public altercation between the lovers. He asks a question. Witness number one answers it evasively. He asks a follow-up question. Cut to witness number two, who answers evasively. Stoltz asks question number three. Cut. Witness number three answers evasively. I can understand that courtroom dramas may need some pepping up, but puzzling the viewers about where and when we are isn't the way to do it. Anyway if it's well-enough done, trials and their preceding investigations don't need tricks to succeed.There may be some sort of gender-equality message embedded in this movie too. Heche can run the obstacle course faster than anyone in her command. I taught classes at Camp Lejeune for a while and never ran into prejudice against women but my students may have been a select group. I don't doubt that there are musclebound macho types in the organization who resent the intrusion of women into that male-bonded society. You have to watch your swearing and all that. And some of the men did refer to female enlistees as BAMs {I'll let you figure it out) but only jokingly. It was no worse than what they called each other. And Heche, after all, is a big girl, divorced and with two daughters. An officer in her position ought really to know better than to succumb to the advances of her superior officer, although, to be sure, power is an aphrodisiac, as Henry Kissinger once said. What was she thinking? What did she expect to happen? Cardboard romance culminating in official ritual? And Shephard's character was equally dumb. Driven by deeds that his glands, not his reason, put him up to, he begins boffing his subordinate and confusing the roles within that rigidly authoritarian structure. After sleeping with her, he has a public argument with her and shouts, "Don't you walk away. I am your COMMANDING OFFICER!" Well, Sam, you can't have it both ways. And you should have known that from the beginning. When Heche testifies at the trial, of course we get her take on what happened exclusively -- Sam now being dead and all. How's this? She's in bed. Big Sam attacks tiny Anne with a drawn pistol. They wrestle around. She manages to twist the pistol around and shoot him in the belly. Not to be turned away, Sam falls to the floor and begins to crawl towards a knife he has dropped, so she puts one in his back. This is what she tells the jury anyway, and she is the only surviving witness. Well, there are a few, umm, implausibilities here, but never mind.I've spent time pointing out what I thought were weaknesses in the film but it's an interesting enough story and is worth watching.

I thought the movie was very good with fine performances from the cast. Ann Heche never a favorite of mine gives a haunting performance as the marine captain accused of murdering her lover aptly played by Sam Sheppard. Eric Stoltz gives his usual excellent performance as Ann Heche's defense attorney. I would watch this film again. What I would like to know is, what is the title of the song that is played at the end of the movie as the credits are rolling and who sings it.Any information would be deeply appreciated.

Certainly this film has the ring of truth about it, as it purports to be based on actual occurrences at a Marine base. It deals with the attempted cover-up by the local Marine commander of unacceptable conduct by a Marine major which resulted in his being shot to death by his former girl friend, a Marine captain. The man and woman had been lovers, but the captain attempted to break off the relation when she discovered her boy friend was married. He continued to stalk her, going so far as to fire his side arm in her direction at one time. Finally he broke into her home, attacked her with a knife, and was shot twice with her service pistol and killed. The civilian prosecutor ruled the killing self defense, but the Marines decided to charge the captain with murder. The major, you see, was a decorated hero from Vietnam, and an old friend of the commanding colonel at the Marine base. The captain, too, had made some enemies in her motor pool command, rejecting some male advances in a very butch style.There is considerable psychological freight motivating and controlling the actions of the principal participants in this drama, which the very capable cast gets across nicely. The director and editor, however, seem determined to obscure the happenings as much as possible with frustrating flashbacks and shifting points of view. You're lucky if you know where you're at most of the time. Bear with them, though; it's a worthwhile story as the captain's court martial trial unfolds, and it seems every man's hand is against her, even her attorney at times. The verdict? Well, after all, this is rather a suspense story, so you'll have to see for yourself. There is a kind of "pacifist" message folded into the film, but forget about that. Sure, "war is hell", but sometimes it can't be avoided. We'll need those Marines then, even if they aren't always the best champions of fair play internally. As Kipling says in his poem "Tommy Atkins":"It's Tommy this and Tommy that, And Tommy wait outside. But, it's room for Mr. Atkins, When the troopship's on the tide."

This movie reminded me of the live dramas of the 1950s- not like the recent "Failsafe", which seemed more of a stunt than anything else, but a TRUE moral drama that is both engaging and thought-provoking. Anne Heche is more than credible as the army officer having an affair with her superior, played by Sam Shepard, and Eric Stoltz is wonderful as her lawyer defending her against the military establishment. I found myself waiting for THEIR affair to begin, if only because they look so good together. This movie is apparently based on a true story, and it's a relief to be asked to think about real issues for a change. Directed by Christopher Menaul, who also did The Passion of Ayn Rand (with Stolz) and the Prime Suspect series, this is a movie with panache and style and is absolutely worth seeing.