Forgotten Film Friday: The General's Daughter

A retrospective by Brooks Rich

Based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Demille, The General's Daughter, at first glance this might look like a standard thriller from the late '90s. It has all the hallmarks of a slick but potentially forgettable thriller of the time, the film version of an airport thriller. John Travolta plays an army investigator who is working undercover at a base in Georgia. He is called in to assist when the titular general's daughter is found tied to the ground, naked, possibly raped, and strangled. Teaming up with a rape counselor/investigator played by Madeleine Stowe he searches for the killer but finds a dark underbelly on both the base and in the life of the victim.

Travolta is doing some of his best work here as he's on the cusp of embracing Scientology and going on to make Battlefield Earth, one of cinema's greatest disasters. He and Stowe have good chemistry and director Simon West, of Con Air fame, has a good eye. He shoots the shit out of this film. The rest of the cast is insane with greats like James Cromwell and Clarence Williams III in supporting roles. For as problematic as he is nowadays James Woods is excellent in this film. He could be great. It's a shame his personal life has tainted him.

This film is very bleak for a '90s thriller. There is no happy ending here. Like all really good crime thrillers, the truth is not always easy. The answer in this movie is not black and white. There are obviously bad guys but there is a lot of shades of grey too. There is not a good feeling in the last reel of the film. But that is why I think it stands out from other films like this of the time. There is a realness to the tragedy of the situation. The film has something to say. Check it out.

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