Full Metal Jacket
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- For the type of ammunition, see Full metal jacket bullet.
| Full Metal Jacket | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster. |
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| Directed by | Stanley Kubrick |
| Produced by | Stanley Kubrick Jan Harlan |
| Written by | Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford Based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford |
| Starring | Matthew Modine Adam Baldwin Vincent D'Onofrio R. Lee Ermey |
| Music by | Vivian Kubrick |
| Cinematography | Douglas Milsome |
| Editing by | Martin Hunter |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 26 June 1987 |
| Country | UK |
| Budget | $17,000,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Full Metal Jacket (1987) is a film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford. The film is named after the full metal jacketed bullets used in military ammunition.
The film portrays the Vietnam War from the point of view of the US Marines. Recurring themes are the contradictions of war, a constant feeling of being out of one's depth, and the idea of combat in Vietnam being part of a different world, with its own rules and customs. The confusion and angst of the new world begins in boot camp, and spirals down into bloodshed before even landing in Vietnam.
Despite popular belief, this movie effected no real change in the way the United States Marine Corps conducted basic training[citation needed]. The popular theory during Vietnam was "Be hard and you won't die," generally meaning that Drill Instructors were vicious due to their emphasis on survival. This was especially true as the demand for Marines increased, and the Marine Corps basic training course was cut from its normal duration of 12 weeks to 8. Retired Marine Corps Drill instructor R. Lee Ermey (Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego) remarked that he had to be particularly hard on his recruits so they could survive the jungles of South-East Asia. A famous quote cited in Carlos Hathcock's book; Marine Sniper mirrors this philosophy when it states that "The fuckin' gooks ain't just bend over and let you ram an M-14 in their asses, so if you wanna live, you pussies best learn to cope."
The movie was shot on the camp ATR Bassingbourn near Cambridge in the United Kingdom, which is now used today to train British army recruits aged 16-17. The open country is Cliffe marshes, also on the Thames, with palm trees imported from Spain. While this was reasonable for the urban nature of the Tet Offensive, it was also influenced by Kubrick's aversion to air travel.
Tagline: "In Vietnam the wind doesn't blow; it sucks."
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[edit] Synopsis
The protagonist of the film is Marine recruit J.T. 'Joker' Davis (Matthew Modine), who is part of a group beginning basic training as a Marine on Parris Island, SC.
The brutal command of Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (played by former Marine Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actor) shows the harsh indoctrination of Marine recruits. The training is depicted as designed to eliminate the recruits' individual personalities and transform them into a team of killers (to "keep Heaven packed with fresh souls"). This first section of the film focuses largely on the physical and psychological mistreatment of overweight recruit Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio).
Hartman's treatment results in Lawrence losing his sanity, culminating in Lawrence's murder of Hartman and subsequent suicide.
The second part takes place in Vietnam in 1968, focusing on "Joker", who is now a Sergeant and a Marine war correspondent assigned to Stars and Stripes in a Marine public affairs unit. He and a Marine combat photographer nicknamed Rafterman are sent "into the shit" to cover the Tet Offensive and meet a former Notre Dame football player-turned-Marine named Lt. Walter J. "Touchdown" Schinoski, who leads them to a mass grave full of civilians murdered by the N.V.A. Joker's helmet decoration – the slogan "Born to Kill" – and the Peace symbol pin on his uniform exemplify his moral ambiguity. In one scene Joker is confronted by a Marine Corps Colonel (Bruce Boa), demanding an explanation of the symbols. Joker replies that they represent the duality of man, as theorized by Carl Gustav Jung.
Joker rejoins Cowboy, his friend from boot camp, and accompanies Cowboy's squad on patrol in the city of Hué. A vicious battle breaks out, initially resulting in the death of Cowboy's platoon leader Lt. Schinoski, which made a Marine nicknamed Crazy Earl the new squad leader. Earl leads the Lusthog Squad in an all-out assault on the city, and the city, already crumbling from previous battles, is practically leveled. One of the film's standout sequences shows the squad being interviewed individually by a television news crew and expressing their thoughts on the war. They also stand over the dead bodies and in remembrance of Lt. Schinoski and a Marine nicknamed Hand Job, so named because "he was jerkin' off ten times a day," according to Cowboy. When Rafterman suggests that they are fighting for freedom, Animal Mother says, "If I'm going to get my balls blown off for a word, my word is 'poon tang'". When Joker is interviewed, his quote is even more memorable and ironic: "I wanted to see exotic Vietnam... the crown jewel of Southeast Asia. I wanted to meet interesting and stimulating people of an ancient culture... and kill them."
Cowboy's squad is called up for patrol again, this time north of the Perfume River (which divides the city of Hué), where Viet Cong forces are believed to be hiding. Crazy Earl comes across a stuffed animal and picks it up. However, the toy is a booby trap, and the ensuing blast kills Earl and makes Cowboy the squad leader. The squad becomes lost and a sniper, hiding among some abandoned buildings, kills two of their comrades (Doc Jay and Eightball) with the intention of drawing more of them into the trap. As the squad moves up to try to locate the hidden position, the sniper shoots Cowboy. With his Marines by his side, Cowboy dies in Joker's arms. Using smoke to conceal their movements (effectively depicted with a hand-held camera running alongside the Marines), the squad moves in. Joker finds the sniper hiding in a room. At the critical moment his rifle jams and the sniper, a young Vietnamese girl, opens fire, pinning Joker behind a column, making it impossible for him to escape or shoot back. Suddenly, the girl is riddled by shots and falls; Joker's savior turns out to be Rafterman, which was a strong contrast to Rafterman's earlier depiction of airsickness on the helicopter and fright during the previous battle. As Joker, Rafterman, and Animal Mother gather around the girl she begins to pray, then begs the Marines to kill her. Joker and Animal Mother argue over leaving her to suffer. Animal Mother, now the ranking Marine, prefers to "leave her to the rats." Ultimately, he allows a mercy killing, but only if the combat-deprived Joker performs it. He does.
The film concludes with the Marines' ironic rendition of the theme song to the Mickey Mouse Club as they march into the night.
[edit] Synopsis of characters
Private/Sergeant James T. "Joker" Davis (Matthew Modine) — The film's protagonist and narrator who claims to have joined the Corps to see action and to kill. He witnesses Pyle's insanity growing during boot camp but ostensibly becomes a "squared away" Marine. He later becomes a combat correspondent and links up with the Lusthog Squad to report combat incidents from the field.
Private/Sergeant "Cowboy" Evans (Arliss Howard) — Cowboy is a Marine from Texas who goes through boot camp with Joker. He becomes a rifleman and encounters Joker later in the film having become a rifle squad leader.
Rafterman (Kevyn Major Howard) — Rafterman is a combat photographer in Joker's PIO unit and requests permission to accompany Joker into Hue.
Animal Mother (Adam Baldwin) — The nihilistic M-60 machine gunner of the Lusthog Squad, Animal Mother is contemptuous of any authority other than his own and rules by intimidation. At first, he is contemptuous and scornful of Joker as a rear echelon Marine. Animal Mother believes victory should be the only object of war. (In the novel, he comes from New York City, and joined the Corps as an alternative to prison for auto theft.)
Eightball (Dorian Harewood) — An African-American in the Lusthog squad, sensitive about his ethnicity, and an ally of Animal Mother. Shot and killed by the female sniper.
Doc Jay (Jon Stafford) — A Navy corpsman attached to the Lusthog squad. Shot and killed by the female sniper while attempting to drag Eightball to safety.
Hand Job (Marcus D'Amico) — A member of the squad nicknamed for his attempt to receive a Section Eight discharge by masturbating on route to see a head navy psychiatrist. Hand Job is shot and killed by machine gun fire shortly after Touchdown is killed, then finally appearing with the members of the Lusthog Squad standing over his now dead body commenting on his disposition.
Donlon (Gary Landon Mills) — An African-American RTO (radiotelephone operator).
Crazy Earl (Kieron Jecchinis) — The squad leader, he is forced to take charge of the platoon when their platoon leader (Lt. Touchdown) is killed. Later killed by a booby-trapped toy.
T.H.E. Rock (Sal Lopez) — A Latino member of the squad.
Murphy (Stanley Kubrick) — An unseen member of Cowboy's platoon coordinating fire support.
Lieutenant Walter J. "Touchdown" Schinoski (Ed O'Ross) — The platoon leader of the Lusthog squad, Touchdown played college football at Notre Dame.
No-Doze and Stutten — Two other Marines in the Lusthog squad.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) — A stereotypical, abrasive drill instructor at Parris Island who mentally abuses his recruits to turn them into trained Marines. (The novel reveals that Hartman (here called Gerheim) was a veteran of the Second World War and fought at Iwo Jima, a particularly brutal, bloody battle, to offer insight into his motivation.) In the novel, Gerheim has a pot belly, while Ermey's Hartman is exceptionally physically fit.
Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio) — An overweight and clumsy recruit in Joker's boot camp platoon, Pyle becomes the focus of Hartman's abuse for his incompetence and weight, and as a scapegoat for the platoon. After failing almost everything in boot camp, he "snaps" and starts to talk to his rifle, Charlene ("Smooth, Charlene"). Yet he begins to become the most disciplined recruit. In the novel, Lawrence is skinny and awkward, and shoots Gerheim, then himself, in front of everyone in the bunkhouse section of the barracks. In the film, he shoots Hartman in the bathroom and then himself right in front of Joker.
Private "Snowball" Brown (Peter Edmund) — An African-American recruit in Joker's boot camp platoon, ironically nicknamed "Snowball" by Hartman, and briefly Joker's squad leader.
Payback (Kirk Taylor) — A veteran correspondent with the Marine PIO unit, Payback brags that he has been "out in the shit" (combat) and tells Joker and Rafterman about the Thousand Yard Stare.
Chili (Costas Dino Chimona) and Stork (Gil Kopel) — Other members of the PIO unit.
Lieutenant Lockhart (John Terry) — An officer and the head of Joker's PIO unit who acts as assignment editor. He has some experience reporting on combat but uses his rank to avoid going back into the field because of the danger and bugs, rationalizing that his duties keep him where he belongs, 'In the rear with the gear'.
Pogue Colonel (Bruce Boa) — A Marine colonel who encounters Joker near the grave of executed civilians and reprimands him for wearing a peace symbol button, suggesting that Joker be more enthusiastic about winning the war. Notably, "pogue" is a derogatory military slang term for rear echelon staff derived from the letters POG or Personnel Other than Grunts, with a meaning comparable to "coward"; it has also become a derogatory popular slang term meaning "asshole".
[edit] Criticism
An often seen criticism of the work was the setting, many critics feeling the use of locations in England being inappropriate to the film.
The episodic makeup of the film also comes under criticism, as in Roger Ebert's review in 1987.
- The movie disintegrates into a series of self-contained set pieces, none of them quite satisfying. The scene in the press room, for example, with the lecture on propaganda, seems to reflect some of the same spirit as "Dr. Strangelove." But how does it connect with the curious scene of the Vietnamese prostitute - a scene with a riveting beginning but no middle or end? And how do either lead to the final shoot-out with a sniper?[1]
Ebert's review of the film is the only negative review listed on Rotten Tomatoes. [2]
[edit] Music
All of the music used in the film was written and recorded before 1968, as to be accurate to the time period the film is set in. The music included in the film is as follows:
- Hello Vietnam - Performed by Johnnie Wright
- These Boots Are Made for Walkin' - Performed by Nancy Sinatra
- Wooly Bully - Performed by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
- Surfin' Bird - Performed by The Trashmen
- The Marines Hymn - Performed by The Goldmen
- Chapel of Love - Performed by The Dixie Cups
- Mickey Mouse Club Television Theme
- Paint It, Black - Performed by The Rolling Stones
[edit] Other production information
- Stanley Kubrick provided the voice of Murphy, the Marine on the other end of the radio communication in the latter part of the film.
- Vivian Kubrick, Stanley's daughter, had an uncredited guest role as a News Camera Operator at the Mass Grave and contributed several tracks to the film's score under the name "Abigail Mead".
- Vincent D'Onofrio deliberately gained 70 pounds for his role as Pvt. Pyle, breaking Robert DeNiro's movie weight-gain record (60 pounds) for Raging Bull. This stood as the record for the most weight gained for a major role in Hollywood until Christian Bale shattered it by gaining 100 pounds for his role as Batman in Batman Begins (having lost 60 pounds for his previous role in The Machinist).
- Former US Marines Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was originally hired to give Tim Colceri, who was originally hired to play Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the basics of giving a realistic performance as a Marine Drill Instructor. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for fifteen minutes without stopping, repeating himself, or even flinching, despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman instead and cast Colceri as the Doorgunner.
- To make Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's performance and the recruits' reactions as convincing as possible, Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio and the other actors playing recruits never met Ermey prior to filming, and Kubrick also saw to it that Ermey didn't fraternize with the actors between takes.
- Kubrick allowed Ermey to improvise some of his lines, but much of it is from the novel The Short Timers, which the movie is based on.
- When Sgt. Hartman made the comment about Pvt. Cowboy giving a man a "reach around" the director stopped filming and asked what it was, and Ermey very matter-of-factly told him. Kubrick broke out into laughter and decided to keep it in the film.
- To create the effect of Pvt. Pyle committing suicide, the special effects team originally planned to tape a squib to the back of D'Onofrio's shirt. But Pyle's wound was to be on his head and this first idea had to be abandoned. Then the team decided to fashion a metal plate to the back of the actor's head, and then attach a squib to the plate. After attempting several iterations of this on volunteers from the crew, the results were disappointing. Finally, Matthew Modine suggested to Kubrick that he watch To Live and Die in L.A. In that film, a person is shot at point blank range in the face. Kubrick studied the scene and realized how to achieve the special effect. When Pvt. Pyle pulls the trigger of the gun with the barrel in his mouth, a volley of fake blood and skull fragments are flung into frame from off camera. By cutting one or two "tell-tale" frames, the desired head-wound effect was achieved.
- At the climax of the movie when the sniper turns to shoot at Joker, the brief shot of Joker's view of the sniper turning toward him and firing was shot with a camera that was specially modified so that its shutter was slightly out of sync with the film's movement through the camera. Because of this, the film was partially exposed while in transit through the camera, resulting in vertical streaks of light in the image. Kubrick used this to heighten the intensity of the moment but was inspired by the similar accidental effect that can be seen in some actual combat footage and was a result of the hard abuse combat cameras took. Although seemingly unnoticed by filmmakers at the time of the movie's release, this effect became common in television commercials and movies starting in the late 90s when it could be simulated digitally and added in post-production.
- This film was banned in Vietnam for portraying the Vietnamese in a negative light.
- Dialogue from the film was later sampled for the hit 1989 song Me So Horny by rap group 2 Live Crew.
- Anthony Michael Hall was originally considered as Joker, but dropped out over financial disputes.
[edit] In popular culture
- In The Simpsons episode, "Homer Alone", Mayor Quimby and Chief Wiggum are having an argument, Quimby threatens Wiggum, and he answers back: "you talk the talk Quimby, but do you walk the walk?", in reference to when Adam Baldwin argues with Matthew Modine. Also in the episode "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming", Col. Leslie "Hap" Hapablap (voiced by R. Lee Ermey) says, "What is your major malfunction?" to Sideshow Bob, which is a line delivered by Ermey's character in Full Metal Jacket.
- In the video game Conker's Bad Fur Day, Birdy the Scarecrow says to Conker the Squirrel "You love manual long time" as he is introducing Conker to the manual. This is a reference to a line uttered by a Vietnamese prostitute in the film.
- In Crash Tag Team Racing, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's "What is your major malfunction" line is quoted by a Park Drone when the latter is attacked by Crash.
- In the cartoon show South Park in the Episode "Cow Days", Cartman gets hit on the head and thinks he's a Vietnamese prostitute, continiously using phrases borrowed from the prostitute of Kubrick's film.
- In an outtake from the animated series Drawn Together (which appears on the Season 1 DVD), the housemates mimic the scene in which Pvt. Pyle is beaten with soap cakes rolled up in socks, attacking Toot Braunstein in the same fashion.
- In the show Family Guy the line "only queers and steers" is used when Stewie and Brian are in the army, in the episode Saving Private Brian. This line was also used in an episode of "Will and Grace", where Jack talks about the only things that come from Vermont during his show "Just Jack".
[edit] External links
- Full Metal Jacket at the Internet Movie Database
- Full Metal Jacket at The Internet Movie Script Database
- The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford - original text
- Full Metal Jacket at Rotten Tomatoes
- Full Metal Jacket screenplay
- "An Analysis of Background Movement, Symmetry in Full Metal Jacket" essay by Jason Cangialosi
- Full Metal Jacket in fashion
- Full Metal Jacket - Sgt. Hartman Soundboard
- "Long Distance in Full Metal Jacket" essay by J. S. Bernstein
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| Films: Fear and Desire • Killer's Kiss • The Killing • Paths of Glory • Spartacus • Lolita • Dr. Strangelove • 2001: A Space Odyssey • A Clockwork Orange • Barry Lyndon • The Shining • Full Metal Jacket • Eyes Wide Shut Shorts: Day of the Fight • Flying Padre • The Seafarers Productions: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Kubrick in Popular Culture: Spartacus • Dr. Strangelove • 2001: A Space Odyssey • A Clockwork Orange • The Shining |
