Courage Under Fire

"A medal for honor. A search for justice. A battle for truth."

1996 1h 56m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🍅

86%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 1,105🍅86%Rotten Tomatoes●77Metacritic★6.6IMDB · 62,796

DramaThrillerMysteryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A US Army officer, who made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up, has been reassigned to a desk job. He is tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor. At first all seems in order. But then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses...

“A medal for honor. A search for justice. A battle for truth.”

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Cast

Denzel Washington
Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
Meg Ryan
Captain Karen Emma Walden
Lou Diamond Phillips
Staff Sergeant John Monfriez
Michael Moriarty
Brigadier General Hershberg
Matt Damon
Ilario
Bronson Pinchot
Bruno
Seth Gilliam
Stephen Altameyer
Regina Taylor
Meredith Serling

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Edward Zwick
Writers: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Edward Zwick, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Horner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Steven Rosenblum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan and Lou Diamond Phillips carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A medal for honor. A search for justice. A battle for truth.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0115956 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Edward Zwick directs. Roger Deakins behind the camera. James Horner scores. Steven Rosenblum cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

130 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Edward Zwick, shot by Roger Deakins. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by James Horner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Steven Rosenblum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan and Lou Diamond Phillips carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "A medal for honor. A search for justice. A battle for truth.".
7IMDB entry: tt0115956 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 14 themes, including "gulf war", "war veteran", "politics", "praise".
9Released under 30 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Roger Deakins
Original score: James Horner
Editing: Steven Rosenblum
Production design: John Graysmark
Costume design: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Makeup / hair: Michael Mills
Sound: Anna Behlmer
Stunt coordinator: Ron Stein
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $46,000,000
Box office: $100,900,000
Return: 219% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Courage Under Fire (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes: 86% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 77/100
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 62,796 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

9 wins & 7 nominations total

Also by

Edward Zwick

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-27
★ 6/10
What makes this film stand out (a little) is the intimate style of photography. The POV camerawork gives us a proximity to the story and characters that we rarely see. Sadly, though, the story itself is a little bit thin. Denzel Washington is tasked with investigating the worthiness of a deceased helicopter pilot during the Gulf war to receive the medal of honor. Assuming it would be a routine ratification, he interviews her crew only to find discrepancies and inconstancies that cast a shadow over the whole procedure. Had this just been a routine wartime tale, then it might have been ok - but the fact that it is based around a real wartime scenario, and married together with that sickly trumpet-based pseudo-military score and an annoyingly "Semper Fi" sort of mentality, the whole thing just sinks down into a mire of absurdity and sentimentality. Neither Denzel Washington nor Meg Ryan really have the weight to give this film any bite, oomph - or, for that matter, plausibility. Matt Damon makes some impact but I couldn't quite decide whether that was because he was good, or because it was interesting to see him before stardom set it in - but either way, this is pretty much devoid of action, and the dialogue could have been written by the US Army recruitment office. They all look great in their uniforms, though!

Production companies