The Jacket (2005)

A Gulf war veteran is wrongly sent to a mental institution for insane criminals, where he becomes the object of a doctor's experiments, and his life is completely affected by them.

Director:

John Maybury

Writers:

Tom Bleecker (story), Marc Rocco (story)

Stars:

Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Daniel Craig

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Adrien Brody	...	Jack Starks
Keira Knightley	...	Jackie Price
Kris Kristofferson	...	Dr. Thomas Becker
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Dr. Beth Lorenson
Kelly Lynch	...	Jean Price
Brad Renfro	...	The Stranger
Daniel Craig	...	Rudy Mackenzie
Steven Mackintosh	...	Dr. Hopkins
Brendan Coyle	...	Damon
Mackenzie Phillips	...	Nurse Harding
Laura Marano	...	Young Jackie
Jason Lewis	...	Officer Harrison
Richard Dillane	...	Captain Medley
Jonah Lotan	...	Intern #1
Angel Coulby	...	Intern #2

Storyline

The film centers on a wounded Gulf war veteran who returns to his native Vermont suffering from bouts of amnesia. He is hitching and gets picked up by a stranger, things go wrong when a cop pulls them over and is murdered by a stranger. The vet is wrongly accused of the killing and lands in an asylum. A disreputable doctor prescribes a course of experimental therapy, restraining him in a modified strength straight jacket-like device, and locks him away in a cadaver drawer in the basement morgue. During the course of his treatment, he gets flashbacks and visions of his future where he can foresee that he is to die in four days time; He just doesn't know how. And thus commences the classic race against time for this tortured veteran with an expiration date.

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Plot Keywords:

gulf war veteran | psychological experiment | strait jacket | insane asylum | time travel | 

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Taglines:

the first one is hard, then comes easy

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, language and brief sexuality/nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 March 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Regresiones de un hombre muerto

Filming Locations:

Bangour Village Hospital, Dechmont, West Lothian, Scotland, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$29,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,723,682, 6 March 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$6,303,762, 18 December 2005

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$20,046,858, 18 June 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandalay Pictures, Warner Independent Pictures (WIP), 2929 Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min 94 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scenes in the mental hospital were shot in the former Bangour Village Hospital, an unused insane asylum, in West Lothian, Scotland, near Edinburgh. As this movie was released, several other film scouts expressed an interest in the hospital building as a location, but the area had already been earmarked for housing development. Since then, the housing development has been scrapped, and Bangour Village Hospital still stands, as it did at the time of filming, and continues to attract ghost hunters, as certain patient villas are believed to be haunted.

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Goofs

When Jack meets Jean and Jackie, the driver's door of their Chevy truck is wide open. Later, when he walks towards the car to fix its engine, the door is ajar. In the consecutive shots, it is wide open again.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Jack Starks: [Walking over to Iraqi child who's breathing hard] How's it going little man? You all right?
[Babak pulls out gun. Jack puts his hand up in a stop gesture but Babak shoots Jack in the head. Jack falls to the ground]

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Alternate Versions

There are 2 continuations to the last scene where Jackie gives Jack a ride and the sun shines behind them. In one version, we hear Jack screaming as Dr. Becker gets him out of the drawer. In the second Version, we see Jack has really died in Iraq.

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Connections

Featured in The Look of 'The Jacket': Influences from the Avant-Garde (2005)

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Soundtracks

We Have All the Time in the World
Written by John Barry and Hal David
Performed by David Arnold, featuring Iggy Pop
Courtesy of Warner Strategic Marketing UK
Under license from EMI Music Publishing Ltd.
Iggy Pop appears courtesy of Virgin Records America, Inc.

User Reviews

Based on a Jack London Book, The Star Rover

Just saw this at an advance screening. I liked it. Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley carry this film well. Although I have to admit that i was in the front row and watching a cinemascope film like that has one turning their head from left to right a lot. I recommend the star rover novel to read to anyone who likes this film. It was published in 1913, one of londons last books. it dealt with how the prison system at the time would strap people in straitjackets so tight that it would cause damage. The hero of the book comes to desire the tightening of the straps to the point where the guards have not seen, in order for him to more spiritually transcend his mind and soul into another life. He jaunts into other existences, all past, ie napoleon battle, viking conquest, to free his mind from the pain. The Jacket takes this idea in a way where the hero goes to a place that is involved in the plot running in the present.