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Full Metal Jacket (26-Jun-1987)
Director: Stanley Kubrick Writers: Stanley Kubrick; Michael Herr; Gustav Hasford From novel: The Short Timers by Gustav Hasford Original Music by: Abigail Mead Producer: Stanley Kubrick Keywords: Action/Adventure, Vietnam War, Boot Camp, Infantry, Sniper Act 1: Marine conscripts attend Parris Island boot camp led by a sadistic drill instructor, Sgt. Hartman; some never make it. Act 2: We follow one of their number, "Joker", now a war reporter, as he covers some of his friends from basic training. Act 3: A Marine patrol in Hue falls under fire of a Viet Cong sniper. Among the greatest war films ever produced; received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay.
CAST | Matthew Modine | ... Pvt. Joker | | Adam Baldwin | ... Animal Mother | | Vincent D'Onofrio | ... Pvt. Pyle | | R. Lee Ermey | ... Gny. Sgt. Hartman | | Dorian Harewood | ... Eightball | | Arliss Howard | ... Pvt. Cowboy | | Kevyn Major Howard | ... Rafterman | | Ed O'Ross | ... Lt. Touchdown | | John Terry | ... Lt. Lockhart | | Kieron Jecchinis | ... Crazy Earl | | Bruce Boa | ... Poge Colonel | | Kirk Taylor | ... Payback | | John Stafford | ... Doc Jay | | Tim Colceri | ... Doorgunner | | Ian Tyler | ... Lt. Cleves | | Gary Landon Mills | ... Donlon | | Sal Lopez | ... T.H.E. Rock | | Papillon Soo Soo | ... Da Nang Hooker | | Ngoc Le | ... V.C. Sniper | | Peter Edmund | ... Snowball | | Tan Hung Francione | ... ARVN Pimp | | Leanne Hong | ... Motorbike Hooker | | Marcus D'Amico | ... Hand Job | | Costas Dino Chimona | ... Chili | | Gil Kopel | ... Stork | | Keith Hodiak | ... Daddy DA | | Peter Merrill | ... TV Journalist | | Herbert Norville | ... Daytona Dave | | Nguyen Hue Phong | ... Camera Thief | | Duc Hu Ta | ... Dead N.V.A. | | | Parris Island Recruit and Vietnam Platoon | | Martin Adams | ... Soldier | | Kevin Aldridge | ... Soldier | | Del Anderson | ... Soldier | | Philip Bailey | ... Soldier | | Louis Barlotti | ... Soldier | | John Beddows | ... Soldier | | Patrick Benn | ... Soldier | | Steve Boucher | ... Soldier | | Adrian Bush | ... Soldier | | Tony Carey | ... Soldier | | Gary Cheeseman | ... Soldier | | Wayne Clark | ... Soldier | | Chris Cornibert | ... Soldier | | Danny Cornibert | ... Soldier | | John Curtis | ... Soldier | | John Davis | ... Soldier | | Harry Davies | ... Soldier | | Kevin Day | ... Soldier | | Gordon Duncan | ... Soldier | | Phil Elmer | ... Soldier | | Colin Elvis | ... Soldier | | Hadrian Follett | ... Soldier | | Sean Frank | ... Soldier | | David George | ... Soldier | | Laurie Gomes | ... Soldier | | Brian Goodwin | ... Soldier | | Nigel Goulding | ... Soldier | | Tony Hague | ... Soldier | | Steve Hands | ... Soldier | | Chris Harris | ... Soldier | | Bob Hart | ... Soldier | | Derek Hart | ... Soldier | | Barry Hayes | ... Soldier | | Tony Hayes | ... Soldier | | Robin Hedgeland | ... Soldier | | Duncan Henry | ... Soldier | | Kenneth Head | ... Soldier | | Liam Hogan | ... Soldier | | Trevor Hogan | ... Soldier | | Luke Hogdal | ... Soldier | | Steve Hudson | ... Soldier | | Tony Howard | ... Soldier | | Sean Lamming | ... Soldier | | Dan Landin | ... Soldier | | Tony Leete | ... Soldier | | Nigel Lough | ... Soldier | | Terry Lowe | ... Soldier | | Frank McCardle | ... Soldier | | Gary Meyer | ... Soldier | | Brett Middleton | ... Soldier | | David Milner | ... Soldier | | Sean Minmagh | ... Soldier | | Tony Minmagh | ... Soldier | | John Morrison | ... Soldier | | Russell Mott | ... Soldier | | John Ness | ... Soldier | | Robert Nichols | ... Soldier | | David Perry | ... Soldier | | Peter Rommely | ... Soldier | | Pat Sands | ... Soldier | | Jim Sarup | ... Soldier | | Chris Schmidt-Maybach | ... Soldier | | Al Simpson | ... Soldier | | Russell Slater | ... Soldier | | Gary Smith | ... Soldier | | Roger Smith | ... Soldier | | Tony Smith | ... Soldier | | Anthony Styliano | ... Soldier | | Bill Thompson | ... Soldier | | Mike Turjansky | ... Soldier | | Dan Weldon | ... Soldier | | Dennis Wells | ... Soldier | | Michael Williams | ... Soldier | | John Wilson | ... Soldier | | John Wonderling | ... Soldier |
REVIEWS Review by anonymous (posted on 15-Apr-2005) This motion picture is really
in two parts; The first part being the arrival of new recruits and how
they fare the Boot Camp ordeal. Our Drill Sgt. Aptly played by R.Lee
Ermy, actually was a Marine D.I., and when discharged from the Corps
went into acting, and this was the result... He harasses all the
recruits, especially one called "Gomer Pyle"...Ermy picks on Pyle hard,
and so does the recruit company, until they graduate from Boot Camp,
and are assigned to various Divisions in Viet Nam.. Pyle goes off the
deep end, and shoots Ermy in the chest with his rifle, then puts the
gun nozzle in his own mouth and pulls the trigger... The second part of
the movie takes place in Viet Nam, sometime after Boot Camp. Then we
follow the "Joker" and "Rafter Man" who are now reporters and
photographers from Stars and Strips magazine. Action begets action, and
they are held down by a sniper hiding in a burned out building... One
of the soldiers is shot and mortally wounded, and another goes to his
aid, where he is promptly shot and killed by the sniper. They attack
the building with the sniper, and Joker draws down on the sniper after
he manages to creep into the room. Lo and behold! The sniper is a
female VC. She is shot by one of the troops, and is laying in her own
blood, apparently dying.. Joker is the one who shoots her in the head
to kill her.... The comments made by other members of the Squad were, "
Hard Core, man, Hard Core!" After the area is cleared, the Battalion
marches towards the Perfume River, singing the Mickey Mouse song... I
liked the movie and have seen it many times. There are several side
bars to this movie, and you have to see the movie to find out what they
are....
Review by Walter Frith (posted on 7-Jun-2007) When director Stanley Kubrick died in March of 1999, he had just
completed a screening of his last film, 'Eyes Wide Shut' earlier in the
week and you could see by the time the film was released later in the
year, in July to be exact, that some in the movie industry felt that
Kubrick's obsessive nature had gotten the best of him. There simply was
no reason, some said, for this film to be in production for as long as
it was. From November of 1996 until January of 1998, 14 months in all,
this film was shot and production didn't end until June of 1998 and
then the picture wasn't released until a full 13 months after that
while Kubrick tinkered with the final cut. Through all of his film
making life, I truly admired Kubrick's work. Coming from a background
that included being a still picture photographer, this came through in
his motion picture making. Long tracking shots without any editing.
Keeping the lens still with long stretches between editing and that
curious shot from the floor, looking up at his subjects, parloured some
of his best work and were some of Kubrick's trademarks. Camera tricks
of every kind from slow motion to fast whirlwinds of movement to
impressive lighting, two of Kubrick's visual essays on the world,
'1960's 'Spartacus' and 1975's 'Barry Lyndon', won Oscars for their
camera work. Kubrick could probably translate directly from his brain,
his message of dehumanization to the screen better than any other
director. Kubrick himself would never win an Oscar for any of his
academic achievements but his lone Oscar came for the visual effects of
1968's '2001: A Space Odyssey'. When the American Film Institute
selected the top 100 movies of all time (1896-1996) in 1998, three
Kubrick films, '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Dr. Strangelove' and 'A
Clockwork Orange' made the final list. Curiously, in the opinion of
many historians and critics, Kubrick seemed to peak with 'A Clockwork
Orange'. He only made three other films between 1971 and 1996 and
'Barry Lyndon' (1975), 'The Shining' (1980) and 'Full Metal Jacket'
(1987) did not make the list of the final 400 nominees. Based on the
novel 'The Short Timers' by Gustav Hasford, and adapted for the big
screen by Hasford, Michael Herr and Kubrick, 'Full Metal Jacket' is a
war film unlike any other and you have to give Kubrick credit for that.
It is, primarily in the second act, probably the most intellectual look
at war that has ever been shown on the big screen. It is seen through
the eyes of private Joker (Matthew Modine), a U.S. Marine who overcame
the obstacles of his basic military training and went to Vietnam as a
journalist and a fighting machine. Kubrick layers the film with
profanity rarely seen in any other film in the film's opening scene as
a callous drill sergeant named Hartman, (R. Lee Ermey), grills his men
to see what they are made of. There are the usual holes in the platoon.
The wise cracker, the aloof, and the incompetent are all present but
soon are molded and shaped into Marines who in the words of Hartman
"are not allowed to die without permission". He also observes that "the
deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle". The basic
training sequences in the first 45 minutes of 'Full Metal Jacket' are
like watching a documentary on springs. Kubrick photographs everything
in his usual surefooted style, using impressive lighting, close-ups of
extreme facial expressions and sounds stretched through the fabric of
the best effects devices ever created. The film's most tragic story is
not the deaths in Vietnam because there is always the risk of that in
war and we know what to expect. What is not expected but does happen,
is the slow mental erosion of private Pyle (Vincent D'Onofrio) at the
hands of Hartman and the platoon in the film's first act. Private Pyle
is overweight, out of sync with what it means to be a Marine and simply
doesn't have the physical capacity to graduate with full military
acceptance. Joker takes him under his wing and helps Pyle to graduate
only to watch a tragedy unfold at the hands of private Pyle, who goes
insane. His swan song scene is one of the most powerful images in
Kubrick's career as a director and if I had not seen the credits, I
could have guessed that Kubrick directed the scene. In the film's
second act, the fighting men in Vietnam move from one situation to
another, just like in any other war film but the total disorganization
of the Vietnam war is perhaps more authentic here than in most films
like it because the film takes a very long time to build up scenes of
combat that do not occur until well after we see their basic
introduction to a foreign land. The way the men treat each other, the
dissent, the disregard for authority and the stupidity of commanding
officers all contribute to an almost iconoclastic view of the war and
how it was fought. Kubrick is not able to match the powerful antics of
the first act and translate that vision to the rest of the film by the
time the third act unfolds in 'Full Metal Jacket' which is the smoking
out of an assassin. The audience is shown a view of Vietnam from a film
that was shot entirely in England. Palm trees were temporarily planted,
authentic military and Asian settings were put into place by the
production design crew and the film was told with less visceral style
than many films about Vietnam that came before it and while 'Full Metal
Jacket' shows America in a rare military loss, what better material to
draw your inspiration from if you are the master of dehumanization as
Kubrick was. [Visit Film Follow-Up by Walter Frith.]
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