Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial’ on Showtime, in Which William Friedkin Bequeaths Us a Rich, Gripping Dialogue Drama

The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (now streaming on Showtime and Paramount+) is notable for being the final movie from director William Friedkin, and the last role Lance Reddick filmed prior to his death. So this vibrant and engrossing adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1953 play (which itself was based on his 1951 novel The Caine Mutiny) is tinged with melancholy, but that ultimately doesn’t distract from the film’s goals or intent. Friedkin wrote the screenplay for this courtroom drama, updating the original story’s World War II-era setting to the modern day, and casting Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke and Reddick in key roles. (Fun fact: Guillermo del Toro was hired to be his backup director due to Friedkin’s age.) Although the director’s most famous work  – The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer – is famously dynamic, his version of Caine Mutiny is fascinatingly stripped-down, a single-set, dialogue-driven narrative that teases out enough robust ideas to prove that the guy had “it” to the very end.

THE CAINE MUTINY COURT-MARTIAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Before we get into it, let it be known that we really don’t have a dog in this fight. The principals in a case involving potential mutiny aboard a Naval minesweeping ship, dubbed the Caine, gather for a hearing at the Navy headquarters in San Francisco. The accused is Lt. Steven Maryk (Jake Lacy) who, as executive officer of the Caine, faces charges of unlawfully taking command of the ship from Commander Phillip Queeg (Sutherland) when the ship was under threat from a cyclone in the Strait of Hormuz. In order to avoid the storm, one wanted to head north, the other wanted to head south. They came to an impasse. Queeg had authority. But Maryk claims Queeg was not of sound mind, and cites an obscure rule that allows an XO to take over if the captain is mentally ill.

Sounds slippery and riddled with ambiguity, doesn’t it? Maryk has a reluctant defense attorney in Lt. Barney Greenwald (Clarke). The confident prosecutor is Commander Katherine Challee (Monica Raymund). Overseeing the proceeding is Capt. Luther Blakely (Reddick). The court-martial opens and closes with Queeg, and in between are a variety of crew members from the Caine and expert psychologists testifying on behalf of Queeg’s sanity. Challee keeps it clean – no dirty boxing from her. Greenwald doesn’t have that luxury, so he backs witnesses into corners. There’s talk of ship’s logs and psych evals, the incident with the coffee machine and the incident with the cheese and the incident with the strawberries. Some of it is crucial, some of it is brutally tangential, but Blakely deems it all relevant if they’re going to eventually land on something resembling the truth. After a while, though, it’s easy to question whether the truth is something that actually exists, or is just an abstract concept. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Haven’t been this riveted by testimonials about potential abuse of power in the military since A Few Good Men. And the way it debates the truth is right in line with ideas posed by untouchable classics like 12 Angry Men and Rashomon.

Performance Worth Watching: It’s almost impossible to pick a standout among the cast – this is very much an actor’s film, and any half-measures would grossly expose someone. So let’s make this a memorial for Reddick, who exhibited command presence like few ever to stand in front of a camera. Between his grounding, authoritative work in this film and his crucial role in The Wire, he leeches every ounce of bullshit from the room with a single simmering glare.

Memorable Dialogue: That said, Reddick’s delivery of the line “I don’t recall any cheese business!” is even funnier because it’s coming from a guy who seems incredulous that he’s been asked to read it in the first place.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Although Sutherland, Reddick and Clarke headline the film for good reason, Lacy anchors the best sequence here: Maryk’s testimony, which excoriates Queeg for being an exacting dictator on the Caine, admonishing his men beyond all reason for stupid shit like eating unauthorized cheese or breaking a coffee machine. In lengthy, unblinking takes, Sutherland plays Queeg slippery, with layers of insecurity lurking beneath his verbal depositions justifying his various power trips. I mean, if you don’t sweat the details, you’re not being a good captain. If you don’t make sure the nuts and bolts are tight, the ship’s gonna take on water.

On the other hand, that’s the kind of micromanagerial nitpicking that inspires a relatively reasonable man like Maryk to accuse his superior of being insane, and consider mutiny. Being battered by a powerful storm pushed them to their limits, and what emerges from their stories isn’t just a life-or-death disagreement, but a sense of what it means to serve your country and dedicate yourself to national security. Proceedings get silly when Greenwald debates the nature of subjective reality with a psychologist, because this is essentially a court of law where facts must take precedent lest the case become unruly and unreasonable. But philosophically? Well, it probes the idea that truth is essentially the concept of zero – you can approach it and come very close to it, but never truly touch it.

And so Friedkin’s Caine Mutiny churns up compelling implications about perception, human behavior and states of mind. What does it mean to be “mentally ill”? Should experience always trump fresh perspectives? What’s the true definition of mutiny? Do years of past behavior dictate how one functions in a single, rare moment of crisis? Should legal proceedings like this widen their scope beyond that moment of crisis to show a larger picture, and if so, how wide should it go? Friedkin stares down these questions without blinking. He stays focused on this single day in the courtroom, never cutting away to dramatized flashbacks (like 1954’s The Caine Mutiny did). The only time he moves from the moment is for the final scene, which solidifies his standing as a provocateur. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is tense, intelligent and riveting – and a rock-solid swansong for a gifted director.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.