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He was right. If it had gone public, it would have permanently damaged women in the military. It would've destroyed West Point. It was an untenable situation.
~ Joseph Campbell.

Joseph Campbell is the main antagonist in the 1999 live action film The General's Daughter, and the 1992 novel of the same name.

In the film, he was portrayed by James Cromwell, who also played The Colonel in Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Warden Hazen in the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, Dr. Arthur Arden in American Horror Story: AsylumCaptain Dudley Smith in L.A. ConfidentialWilliam Donahue in Eraser, Miles Darman in Law & Order: Organized Crime, and Professor Robert Callaghan in Big Hero 6.

History in the movie[]

He was a Lieutenant General who was retiring from the army and becomes a running mate as Vice President for the presidential candidate. It is soon revealed he is responsible for his daufhters downward spiral and eventual death; athough William Kent killed her, it was Campbell who let Elizabeth die in the hands of Kent. Elisabeth Campbell was the perfect daughter, she was highly intelligent, super athlete and a hard worker. She was valedictorian in high school, she was top of her class in West Point. After she graduated, she worked her way up to Captain in Psychological Operations. Elizabeth was gang raped in one of the training exercises, during her sophmore year at West Point. The rapists couldn't be identified at the time. Campbell initially wanted to look for them, but instead covers up the crime with the head of West Point, claiming would ruin any chances of any woman who enter West Point, as well as the school's reputation; in actuality it was for a promotion Campbell would get. Campbell visited Elizabeth in the hospital and told her to her to try to forget about this assault.

Elisabeth held a grudge against her father for years, and grew promiscuous, having sex with several men at the army base in order to embarrass her father. Eventually Elisabeth reenacts her rape at West Point, calling him to personally witness it. She wanted him to admit what happened and apologize for not doing anything; he told her no and left her to her fate, and eventual murder.

First Sergeant / CW4 Paul Brenner, U.S. Army CID and CW2 Sarah Sunhill, U.S. Army CID are investigating Elisabeth's murder and figure out what happened. They found the group who gang raped Elisabeth in West Point, and in turn have them arrested.

It is revealed after Campbell left Elizabeth, Colonel William Kent was there when Elisabeth died and she was going to reveal the truth about her father's cover up and tell his wife and kids about their affair, leading him to jil her. Additionally he killed Colonel Moore to cover up the initial murder, which the general allowed through his policy of maintaining the cover up of Elisabeth´s gang rape even after her murder. When Brenner and Sunhill figure out that Kent was the killer, Kent kills himself.

After the murder case was over, Brenner brings up the charges against Campbell for the cover up and his betrayal. Campbell was court martialed and kicked out of the army, ruining his reputation and destroying his political future. During their last encounter, Brenner holds Campbell responsible for Elizabeth's murder, and cites the answer to a question he was asked earlier; "What is worse than rape ? Betrayal."

Trivia[]

  • In the novel of the same name, Campbelll accepts responsibility for ruining his daughter's life, being in part responsible for her death; in the film, however, he covers that up until Brenner discovers it and has him exposed. Also, the movie makes no mention of Campbell's gay son, unlike in the novel, where he accepts his son's sexual orientation.
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