Plot
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.

Release Year: 1987

Rating: 8.4/10 (212,318 voted)

Critic's Score: 78/100

Director: Stanley Kubrick

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

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.

Writers: Gustav Hasford, Stanley Kubrick

Cast:
Matthew Modine - Pvt. J.T. 'Joker' Davis
Adam Baldwin - Animal Mother
Vincent D'Onofrio - Pvt. Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence
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

Taglines: Acclaimed by critics as the best war movie ever made

Release Date: 26 June 1987

Filming Locations: Bassingbourn Barracks, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England, UK

Box Office Details

Budget: $17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $2,217,307 (USA) (28 June 1987) (215 Screens)

Gross: $46,357,676 (USA)

Runtime: 116 min

Trivia:
For the final battle of Hue, 200 pine trees were imported from Spain and a few thousand tropical plastic plants were imported from Hong Kong. Plastic trees had previously been flown in from California, but upon seeing them, Stanley Kubrick reportedly said: "I don't like it. Get rid of it."

Goofs:
Continuity: The shape of Private Joker's flashlight beam as he enters the head to confront Pyle.

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 answers: Sir. Yes Sir!]
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullshit I can't hear you. Sound off like you got a pair!
[recruits repeats with a louder tone]
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 war. But until that day you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human fucking beings. You are nothing but unorganized grabastic pieces of amphibian shit! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard but I am fair. There is no racial bigotry here. I do not look down on niggers, kikes, wops or greasers. Here you are all equally worthless. And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in my beloved Corps. Do you maggots understand that?

Kubrick is genius.

Rating: 10/10

Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket seems like an uncompleted film, but to me that's poetic justice to one of America's uncompleted wars. The film is harsh and doesn't turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Vietnam. Kubrick is the true master of atmosphere in film. He makes you feel like you are there. Friends of mine have commented that they only like the first half of the film and that the second half falls apart. I believe Kubrick sets up the first half to be an understandable reflection of the terror that would eventually enter the lives of these soldiers during war. It is easy to identify with being picked on because we all have in some way. Not all of us, on the other hand, have fought in war. Kubrick is the master.

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