The General's Daughter (1999)
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An undercover agent must navigate a web of military secrets and personal betrayals to solve the murder of a high-ranking general's daughter.
The story
Chief Warrant Officer Paul Brenner, an undercover agent of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (CID), masquerades as First Sergeant Frank White to broker an illegal arms trade. While at Fort MacCallum, Georgia, he meets Captain Elisabeth Campbell, the daughter of the base commander, Lieutenant General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Campbell. The following evening, Elisabeth is found murdered. Brenner and rape specialist Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill are brought in to investigate the crime scene. As they delve into Elisabeth's past, they discover her grades plummeted at West Point and find evidence of a secret room containing video and BDSM equipment.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Chief Warrant Officer Paul Brenner, an undercover agent of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division Command (CID), masquerades as First Sergeant Frank White to broker an illegal arms trade. While at Fort MacCallum, Georgia, he meets Captain Elisabeth Campbell, the daughter of base commander Lieutenant General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Campbell. After Elisabeth is murdered, Brenner and rape specialist Warrant Officer Sara Sunhill begin an investigation. They discover Elisabeth's history of academic decline at West Point and a secret room of BDSM equipment. After an intruder attacks them, they identify Captain Jake Elby, who confesses Elisabeth was involved in a "psychological warfare" campaign against her father. However, Brenner suspects Colonel William Kent, who had been obsessed with Elisabeth. Brenner discovers that years earlier, several cadets gang-raped Elisabeth, an event the military covered up to protect the image of women in the service. Elisabeth had restaged the attack scene to force her father to acknowledge the cover-up. It is revealed that Campbell had threatened Elisabeth with a court-martial over her affairs with officers, including Kent. Kent eventually strangled Elisabeth in a rage after she spat in his face. After admitting to murdering Colonel Robert Moore to hide his crimes, Kent commits suicide by stepping on a mine. Brenner confronts Campbell, blaming him for the betrayal that led to Elisabeth's death, and has him court-martialed for conspiracy to conceal the crime.
- First release year
- 1999
- Runtime (minutes)
- 116
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Simon West
- Writers
- Christopher Bertolini · screenplay; William Goldman · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- John Travolta; Madeleine Stowe; James Cromwell; Timothy Hutton; Clarence Williams III; James Woods
- Genres
- mystery; thriller
- Themes
- Military injustice; Cover-ups; Father-daughter relationships; Sexual violence
- Tone and mood
- Dark; Graphic; Lurid
- Premise and plot tags
- Murder Mystery; Military Drama; Political Thriller
- Source material / true-story basis
- 1992 novel by Nelson DeMille
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics but was a box-office success, grossing $150 million worldwide.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 47 · scale: 100 · review count: 24; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A to F
- Production trivia
- Michael Douglas was originally attached to star.; A love scene between John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe was cut from the final film.; Two key changes were made after test screenings: Travolta's character made a stronger moral stand at the end, and his being a military investigator working undercover was made clearer in the beginning.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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