A Few Good Men ran for over a year on Broadway before it was adapted into the hit film that made “You can’t handle the truth” one of the most recognized movie quotations of all time.

As iconic as the film has become, the stage play still packs a wallop in fine current production by the Theatre Guild of Webster Grove.

The action takes in the late 1980s and revolves around the death a Marine at the Guantánamo Bay naval base. Two members of his company have been charged with murder. In the Webster productions, Alex Vito Fuegner and Jack Kalan are the straightest of arrows as the accused Marines.

Their lawyer, Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, has little interest in pursuing their case or any other. He just wants to plea bargain his way through the three-year commitment he made to the Navy in exchange for law school tuition. Fortunately for the accused, another lawyer has taken up their cause. She is Lieutenant Commander Jo Galloway, who investigated the Marine’s death and believes there is more to it than has come to light. She worms her way onto the defense team in spite of Kaffee’s opposition.

Donald Kidd fully embodies Kaffee’s smug nonchalance, while Tori Stukins leaves no doubt about Galloway’s implacable commitment in the face of disbelief and bias. Kidd and Galloway’s portrayals grow admirably as the play demands more from their characters.

The officers in the accused men’s chain of command are Lieutenant Colonel Jessep, Captain Markinson, and Lieutenant Kendrick. As Jessup, Tim Kelly has the measure of the patronizing arrogance that Kaffee uses against Jessup when the latter is testifying.

Kidd and Kelly are both excellent in the courtroom scene, as is the control of tension by director Jessica Kelly. The two Kellys collaborated on the set design, which the direction uses effectively.

Alex Alderson captures the conflicting emotions in Markinson’s crisis of conscience, while Brad Kinzel nails Kendick’s dogged adherence to his code.

The admirable supporting cast includes:

• Steven Robertson as the prosecutor
• Jeremy Schnelt as a defense counsel
• David Bornholdt as the judge
• Dave Derose as the murder victim in flashbacks
• Tom Day as the doctor who established the cause of death
• Greg Savel as a trial witness
• Jack Abels as Galloway’s commanding officer
• Michael Byrd as an orderly
• Dennis Calvin as a lawyer
• Robert Jones as a military policeman and the sergeant at arms

A Few Good Men continues through March 20 at the Theater Guild of Webster Groves, 517 Theatre Lane, near the corner of Newport and Summit Avenues.

—Gerry Kowarsky

Photo by Robert Stevens