MOVIEmeter
Top 500
Up 118 this week

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

 -  Drama | War  -  26 June 1987 (USA)
8.4
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.4/10 from 278,026 users   Metascore: 78/100
Reviews: 599 user | 133 critic | 18 from Metacritic.com

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marine recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting set in 1968 in Hue, Vietnam.

Director:

Writers:

(novel), (screenplay), 2 more credits »
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 444 titles created 28 May 2011
 
a list of 964 titles created 10 Mar 2012
 
a list of 100 titles created 28 Feb 2011
 
a list of 374 titles created 17 Apr 2011
 
a list of 368 titles created 23 Dec 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Full Metal Jacket (1987) on IMDb 8.4/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Full Metal Jacket.
Top 250 #81 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.6/10 X  

During the U.S.-Viet Nam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade colonel who has set himself up as a god among a local tribe.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

An in-depth examination of the way that the Vietnam war affects the lives of people in a small industrial town in the USA.

Director: Michael Cimino
Stars: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage
Stalingrad (1993)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A depiction of the brutal battle of Stalingrad, the Third Reich's 'high water mark', as seen through the eyes of German officer Hans von Witzland and his battalion.

Director: Joseph Vilsmaier
Stars: Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Sebastian Rudolph
Tigerland (2000)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A group of recruits go through Advanced Infantry Training at Fort Polk, Louisiana's infamous Tigerland, last stop before Vietnam for tens of thousands of young men in 1971.

Director: Joel Schumacher
Stars: Colin Farrell, Matthew Davis, Clifton Collins Jr.
Biography | Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. He becomes the roommate of top student in his class. Rivals at first, the roommates form a bond and share a secret.

Director: Louis Malle
Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

During World War II, 12-year old Ivan works as a spy on the eastern front. The small Ivan can cross the German lines unnoticed to collect information. Three Soviet officers try to take care... See full summary »

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

France, 1942, during the occupation. Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer, is one of the French Resistance's chiefs. Given away by a traitor, he is interned in a camp. He manages to escape, ... See full summary »

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Stars: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Europa (1991)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Just after WW2, an American takes a railway job in Germany, but finds his position politically sensitive with various people trying to use him.

Director: Lars von Trier
Stars: Jean-Marc Barr, Barbara Sukowa, Udo Kier
Birdy (1984)
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

After two friends return home from the Vietnam War one becomes mentally unstable and obsesses with becoming a bird.

Director: Alan Parker
Stars: Matthew Modine, Nicolas Cage, John Harkins
Stalag 17 (1953)
Comedy | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German POW camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.

Director: Billy Wilder
Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death --- a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, ... See full summary »

Director: Dalton Trumbo
Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt
Drama | War
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

Near the Iraqi-Turkish border on the eve of an American invasion, refugee children like 13-year-old Kak (Ebrahim), gauge and await their fate.

Director: Bahman Ghobadi
Stars: Soran Ebrahim, Avaz Latif, Saddam Hossein Feysal
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
...
Gny. Sgt. Hartman (as Lee Ermey)
...
...
...
...
...
Kieron Jecchinis ...
Kirk Taylor ...
Tim Colceri ...
Jon Stafford ...
Doc Jay (as John Stafford)
Bruce Boa ...
Ian Tyler ...
Edit

Storyline

A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. The first half follows a group of recruits in boot camp under the command of the punishing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half shows one of those recruits, Joker, covering the war as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, focusing on the Tet offensive. Written by Scott Renshaw <as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Vietnam can kill me, but it can't make me care See more »

Genres:

Drama | War

Certificate:

R | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

|

Language:

|

Release Date:

26 June 1987 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket  »

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$46,357,676 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

To make Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann's performance and the recruits' reactions as convincing as possible, Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, and the other actors playing recruits never met R. Lee Ermey prior to filming. Stanley Kubrick also saw to it that Ermey didn't fraternize with the actors between takes. See more »

Goofs

The mud on Pyle's back changes when he's trying to navigate the obstacle in which he has to go up the parallel bars. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?
Recruits: [In unison in a normal speaking tone] Sir, yes Sir.
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullshit I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair!
Recruits: [In unison, much louder] SIR, YES SIR!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying ...
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Tosh.0: Brian Atene (2011) See more »

Soundtracks

"Surfin' Bird"
Written by A. Frazier, C. White, T. Wilson Jr. and J. Harris
Performed by The Trashmen
Courtesy of Dominion Entertainment Inc.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

The best war film I have seen
13 October 2004 | by (Charlotte, NC) – See all my reviews

NO SPOILERS! This is a review, not a synopsis.

First of all I love Kubrick's work, so I came into this with a bias. However I have seen a lot of action and war films, and this one, to an individual who never went to war, seems the most true-to-life, taken as a whole. This IS how you have to look at this film, incidentally; trying to break it down into two or three parts and say which was better is missing the point of the film, I think.

In the same way that "Trainspotting" was an anti-drug film that did not gloss over anything, "Full Metal Jacket" is (for me) an anti-war film that stares straight at the ugliness of war and the potential for violence within almost all people, especially those trained, conditioned, even twisted, into military roles, without preaching even a single time. Less allegory and more applicability! Wonderful!

The camera work was superb. I felt like I was walking through the movie with the Marines, from the barracks to the battlefield scenes.

I have seen others criticize this film for the voice over, but I felt that it was used sparingly, and was helpful, not overdone. The narrator doesn't say anything that seems out-of-place.

Others have commented on the music, the acting, and so on, so I won't add my repetitive comments, except that the drill sergeant is perfect!

The combination of the demented treatment the recruits receive in boot camp with the combined "hours of boredom, seconds of terror" feel of the Vietnam scenes is intense and not for everyone, but feels REAL.

10 out of 10, perfect.


184 of 245 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
OMG I'm never watching a Kubric movie again! naja_1209
Parris Island - The Training Scenes PatGoD67
If you don't feel guilty for the crimes commited by Americain Vietnam... cooler-than-bennett
3 Best Vietnam War Movies of All-Time smarkelon
What a clunking mess. lisa_cummins2002
Th ending interpretation? williamneri01
Discuss Full Metal Jacket (1987) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page