Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Gustav Hasford (novel)
Stanley Kubrick (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 June 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

An Epic Story of the Vietnam War [Australia Theatrical]

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Vietnam | Recruit | Tet Offensive | Sergeant | Basic Training

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

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
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

Also Known As:

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Vietnamese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Italy:VM14 (re-rating on appeal) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15 (2007 Re-rating) | Canada:18A (DVD rating) | Hungary:18 | Brazil:16 | Ireland:15 (2007 Re-rating) | Malaysia:U | UK:15 (re-rating) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 (original rating) | France:U (re-rating) | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Israel:16 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Vietnam:(Banned) | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Bassingbourn Barracks, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Company:

Natant

Trivia:

In the first part of the movie, in the sequences inside the barracks during the drill, a special lens was designed to keep every single soldier in focus. Stanley Kubrick intended that no one was special and they all had the same treatment.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Pyle is on the range he reloads while Hartman is behind him. The magazine which Pyle finishes can be seen fully loaded.

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: Sir, yes sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullshit I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair.
Recruits: SIR, YES SIR!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Clerks. (1994)

Soundtrack:

Chapel Of Love

Still modern today, all too modern.

One of the greatest war movies ever, a statement very few will dispute. I will therefore not illustrate this point : thousands have done it before me, often brilliantly.I'd rather lay the stress on Kubrick's modernity in "Full Metal Jacket". Indeed the USA being once again at war, it is interesting to compare the way they wage war these days with the way they did back in the sixties. And the comparison is edifying. Just apply the following statements to Iraq and you will realize NOTHING HAS CHANGED : - the marines are trained to become killing machines without being taught minimum knowledge about the people they come to defend. - the boys know nothing about the Vietnamese and reason according to American standards : for instance "Cow-Boy" complains half-jokingly half-seriously that there are no horses in Vietnam. Another example is the soldiers singing the Mickey Mouse Club hymn after fighting, which strikes as particularly out of place. - they try in vain to impose democracy through gruesome violence and destruction. Such similarities abound and testify to the film's absolute - and unfortunate - modernity. I wish Kubrick was still with us. I also wish George Bush and his advisers had seen this masterpiece and - most of all - understood its message. They would have avoided another bloody war doomed to fail.