Facework strategies and the achievement of multiple goals in a court martial cross-examination in the film A Few Good Men

Following recent trends of research into television and film language that is being undertaken in various sub-disciplines of linguistics (Piazza et al. 2011), this article describes the nature of the interaction that takes place in the cross-examination of Colonel Jessep in the film ‘A Few Good Men’. The dialogue is from the last scene of the film and it exemplifies how the attorney manages to get the truth out of an uncooperative witness. It is not, however, only the outcome of the interaction itself that is of interest, but the process through which this is reached. By analyzing in detail the facework strategies enacted by the participants in the interaction towards themselves and others …