Rules of Engagement (2000)

Synopsis: When a routine security mission at the U.S. embassy in Yemen goes awry and 85 civilian demonstrators are killed, decorated Marine Colonel Terry Childers is court-martialed for breaking the "rules... When a routine security mission at the U.S. embassy in Yemen goes awry and 85 civilian demonstrators are killed, decorated Marine Colonel Terry Childers is court-martialed for breaking the "rules of engagement" by a nervous national security adviser. Childers calls upon his old buddy from Nam, military lawyer Hays Hodges, to defend him in court. Determined to get to the truth, Hodges must rely on his soldier's instincts as he follows an explosive trail of cover-ups and half-truths that lead to the highest corridors of power in this action-packed drama from the director of THE FRENCH CONNECTION and THE EXORCIST. When anti-Western demonstrators surround the U.S. embassy in Yemen, decorated U.S. Marine Colonel Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) is ordered to secure the premises and "baby-sit" the embassy's staff. Upon arrival, the soldiers find the embassy besieged by snipers and an unruly mob. Childers leads a daring rescue of the ambassador (Ben Kingsley) and his family but in the process loses three men. With bullets flying from all directions and the not-so-peaceful demonstrators breaking down the embassy's gate, he orders his men to open fire on the crowd. When the smoke clears, 83 Yemen civilians lay dead, including many women and children. Back in the States, National Security Advisor Bill Sokal (Bruce Greenwood)--hoping to deflect criticism from the U.S. government and defuse a mounting international crisis--appoints young gun "New Yawk" military lawyer Major Biggs (Guy Pearce) to prosecute Childers for violating the Marine's "rules of engagement." Facing life in prison and possible execution if convicted, Childers calls upon cynical military lawyer Colonel Hays Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones), an old friend whose life he saved in Vietnam, as his reluctant advocate. But with the evidence stacked against Childers, Hodges must draw upon his soldier's instincts to defend his client from both the political careerists in need of a scapegoat and his own troubled past. [More]

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Archer, Ben Kingsley

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Archer, Ben Kingsley, Blair Underwood, Bruce Greenwood, Philip Baker Hall, Guy Pearce, Dale Dye, Nicky Katt

Director: William Friedkin

Director: William Friedkin
Screenwriter: Stephen Gaghan
Story: James Webb
Producer: Scott Rudin, Richard D. Zanuck
Composer: Mark Isham

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