Cobb would totally nail “you can’t handle the truth!” Can he do the smarmy charm we see in the Gitmo scene? That’s the only part that gives me pause. I was weighing both Robert Mitchum and George C. Scott for the role as well. I think Mitchum can do the Gitmo scene really well, but I am unsure about whether he can do the courtroom scene effectively, so I’ve been leaning toward Scott, but I don’t have a firm conviction on the role yet.
Natalie Wood is a great actress and definitely easy on the eyes, although she was also only 23 in 1962, coming off of West Side Story in which she played a vulnerable and emotional teenager. Galloway needs to project professional competence, military bearing, and controlled determination. She’s fighting to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world, so she can’t be too emotional or vulnerable. She needs to seem buttoned-up and authoritative first and foremost, with passion showing through strategically.
Given that, I like Shirley MacLaine for Galloway. She was 28 that year, had more of that no-nonsense, “I’m here to do a job” quality while still coming off as warm and determined. Warmth is the part where I feel Demi Moore lacks just a bit in 1992, so I think if you could port 1962 Shirley to 1992 to play that role instead of Demi, she would actually be better at it.