Full Metal Jacket (1987)

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

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay by), Michael Herr (screenplay by)

Stars:

Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio

Top Rated Movies #105 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Modine	...	Pvt. Joker
Adam Baldwin	...	Animal Mother
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Pvt. Pyle
R. Lee Ermey	...	Gny. Sgt. Hartman (as Lee Ermey)
Dorian Harewood	...	Eightball
Kevyn Major Howard	...	Rafterman (as Kevyn Major-Howard)
Arliss Howard	...	Pvt. Cowboy
Ed O'Ross	...	Lt. Touchdown
John Terry	...	Lt. Lockhart
Kieron Jecchinis	...	Crazy Earl
Kirk Taylor	...	Payback
Tim Colceri	...	Doorgunner
Jon Stafford	...	Doc Jay (as John Stafford)
Bruce Boa	...	Poge Colonel
Ian Tyler	...	Lt. Cleves

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.

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Plot Keywords:

military | vietnam war | drill instructor | u.s. marine | boot camp | 

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Taglines:

Acclaimed by critics as the best war movie ever made

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a 1988 interview in Playboy magazine, Bruce Willis was offered a lead role but was forced to turn it down because filming was about to start on the first six episodes of Moonlighting (1985).

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Goofs

When Joker is talking to the colonel about his peace badge, in the middle of the conversation the badge disappears and then reappears in the next scene when he is walking along with Rafterman.

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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 for ...

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Crazy Credits

End credits list a song performed by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, misspelling the last word as "Pharoahs." This has not been corrected on any home video version of the movie.

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Connections

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 20 Improvised Movie Moments (2019)

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Soundtracks

Wooly Bully
Written by Domingo Samudio
Performed by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs
Courtesy of PolyGram Special Products, a Division of PolyGram Records Inc.

User Reviews

The movies finally got Parris Island right

Though I've read only a couple of dozen of the nearly 500 comments on this film, I didn't see any from ex-Marines who'd had the Parris Island experience. I went through PI in 1957. The time period in the picture would have been about 1967, since the in-country sequence includes the '68 Tet Offensive. Little had changed in those 10 years except the switch from M1s to M16s.

For the most part Kubrick got Parris Island right on the money. And why shouldn't he have, since his screen DI, Lee Ermey was in fact a real DI before he started acting (he played another DI in "The Boys of Company C," an earlier and lesser Vietnam flick)? He had a built- in technical adviser. The screams and insults and profanity and physical punishment were all part of the DIs armamentarium. When you're facing up to 75 young strangers you need to immediately establish absolute authority and hang on to it for 13 weeks. Furthermore, you want to break the breakable as soon as you can. My platoon had its Private Pyles and though none ended up as he does in "Full Metal Jacket," I remember that they simply disappeared from our ranks, never to be heard from again. Nothing Ermey as Sgt. Hartman does is exaggerated.

Kubrick, however, does exaggerate. Speaking of Pyle's ending, it's almost impossible for me to imagine that a recruit could manage to sneak a clip of live rounds away from the rifle range. Every shooter at the range has his own rifle coach, and every single round is very carefully accounted for. Kubrick started the killing one scene too early.

I've read that DIs nowadays are forbidden to use the time-honored f-word, and are not allowed to lay hands on recruits. I don't know if that's good or bad for training (I had my face slapped hard my first day of boot camp and that was just for openers), but then all of us old-timers like to brag about how tough it useta be!

A final note: It's interesting to compare "Full Metal Jacket" to another attempt at a portrayal of Parris Island, Jack Webb's "The DI," made around '55 or '56. Webb tries for authenticity, but as I was to learn a year or so later, his PI was a boy scout camp.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Vietnamese

Release Date:

10 July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

Filming Locations:

Norfolk Broads, Norfolk, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,217,307, 28 June 1987

Gross USA:

$46,357,676

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$46,357,676

Company Credits

Production Co:

Natant, Stanley Kubrick Productions, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital (re-mastered version)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1