Top 100 Movies: No. 73 - Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Posted on December 5, 2007
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Full Metal Jacket gives you two movies in one! That’s right, this film artfully fuses two movies together to create one great flick, which has writer/director Stanley Kubrick’s fingerprints all over it.
The first half of the film focuses on newly recruited (or drafted) Marines as they endure basic training with an intense drill sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (masterfully portrayed by R. Lee Ermey). Hartman will do whatever it takes to turn these new recruits into killing machines. Unfortunately, with some help from the recruits themselves, Hartman goes too far with one soldier.
The second half of Full Metal Jacket takes place in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. It features scenes of urban warfare that are much different then those you will find in other Vietnam flicks. Kubrick’s ability to create an atmosphere of fear and tension as the soldiers attempt to locate a sniper among crumbling buildings is a highlight of the second half.
Bring these two halves together and you have a powerful movie that explores the effects of war on the human psyche.
So which half of the movie is my favorite? After much deliberation, I decided that the first half is my favorite. I’m not knocking the second half, but when I think of Full Metal Jacket, my mind immediately recalls the scenes from basic training. Which half is your favorite?
Tags: full metal jacket, list, r lee ermy, stanley kubrick, top 100 movies, vietnam, war
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Top 100 Movies: No. 73 - Full Metal Jacket (1987) : Flicks Lists…
Full Metal Jacket gives you two movies in one! That’s right, this film artfully fuses two movies together to create one great flick, which has writer/director Stanley Kubrick’s fingerprints all over it.
The first half of the film focuses on newly …
Just a note, Vietnam era Marines weren’t drafted, they were all volunteers. Only during WWII were Marines drafted. They still had to qualify physically and mentally to become Marines and they usually tried to hide their draftee status from other Marines.
R. Lee Ermey knew the material well since he’s a Marine and was a drill sergeant at one point. He’s also a great actor.
Hartman should have sent Pyle to a physical training platoon or simply recommended his discharge when it was clear that he couldn’t hack it. A good DI could tell the difference between a recruit that just needed motivation and one who had serious problems.
Anyway I liked both with a few exceptions where Marine life isn’t portrayed accurately.
Thanks for the comment Frank. My understanding was that while the majority of Marines during Vietnam were volunteers, there was a small number who were drafted.
I think there were some who had gotten draft notices for the Army but volunteering for the Marines superseded the draft. I don’t think there were any who were drafted directly into the Marines, unlike what was done in WWII.
Some people who got notices tried to join the Navy or Air National Guard or something like that to avoid combat duty. That is if they could find a slot. Crazy ones joined the Marines figuring that if you were going to be in combat why not be there with the best.