FULL METAL JACKET

'''Full Metal Jacket''' (1987) is a Stanley Kubrick film based on the novel ''The Short-Timers'' by Gustav Hasford. The title refers to the type of ammunition used by infantry riflemen. The film portrays the urban Vietnam War fought by the U.S. Marines. The story's themes are the contradictions of war: feeling out of one's depth, personally and professionally, that combat and the country of Vietnam are worlds unto themselves. The existential confusion and angst begin in boot camp, with bloodshed experienced before going to the war in Vietnam.

Contents

Plot

Cast and characters

Response

Music

Other production information

References

External links

Plot

The protagonist is J.T. Davis, nicknamed "Joker" (Matthew Modine), a member of 3092 platoon, beginning recruit training as a Marine on Parris Island, South Carolina.
The brutal command of Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey, an actual drill instructor in real life) shows the harsh indoctrination of Marine recruits. The Vietnam War is in full swing, and his job is to produce trained killers who will not hesitate when the decisive moment arrives. The film's first section is about the physical and psychological mistreatment of recruit Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), whom the drill instructor has nick-named Gomer Pyle.
Pyle is immediately pegged as a misfit. He is socially awkward, overweight and out of shape. He has trouble meeting the physical rigors of boot camp and frequently does not adhere well to orders and procedures. Whether this is from carelessness, anxiety, or lack of intelligence is never made clear. His deficiencies seem to personally offend Hartman, and he punishes him as a kind of lesson to the others. Hartman ultimately appoints Joker as Pyle's mentor, stressing that Joker will set Pyle straight. During an inspection, Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's foot locker, and decides to administer collective punishment for the platoon. After numerous collective punishments, the platoon give Pyle a blanket party, discharging their anger upon him while simultaneously achieving team cohesion. Even Joker reluctantly joins in, but is obviously moved by Pyle's pitiful sobs of pain and grief.

The next morning, it becomes apparent to Joker that Pyle has become sullen and withdrawn. He begins to detach himself from the platoon as well as the rest of reality. His expert marksmanship impresses Hartman, but worries Joker, because Pyle converses with his rifle "Charlene". On completing their training, every one in 3092 platoon is assigned a Military Occupational Specialty, the most common being 0300-Infantry (one notable exception is Joker who is assigned to 4212-Basic Military Journalism). On the platoon's last night on Parris Island, Joker is slated firewatch duty, during which he discovers Pyle in the head (toilet in Marine jargon), loading his rifle with live bullets. Frightened, Joker attempts to calm Pyle; he fails and Pyle's screaming rousts Hartman to them. He orders Pyle to put down the rifle and step away from it; misreading Pyle, Hartman is shot dead; then Pyle kills himself while Joker watches.
The second part of the story occurs in Vietnam, in 1968; Joker, is Corporal and a Marine Combat Correspondent with ''Stars and Stripes'', assigned to a Marine public affairs unit, and his new partner, a combat photographer called Rafterman, being propositioned by a Vietnamese prostitute. The action is quiet where they are, as the Grunts are the ones who are in the "shit" (battlefield); until the Tet offensive begins, and the Marine base is attacked. That night, Joker fights his first battle when the Viet Cong attempt to overrun the base. Next day, the PA staff learn about the situation from their superior. Joker is sent to the front lines because of his ironic sense of humor, and Rafterman tags along looking for some "trigger time."
Joker links up with "Cowboy," his friend from boot camp, who is second in command of the Lusthog Squad, and accompanies Cowboy's squad on patrol in the city of Huế. A vicious battle breaks out, initially resulting in the death of Cowboy's platoon leader, which leaves a Marine nicknamed Crazy Earl as the new squad leader. Earl leads the Lusthog Squad through a ruined section of the city. One of the film's standout sequences shows the squad being interviewed individually by a television news crew and expressing their thoughts on the war.
The squad is called up for patrol again, this time north of the Perfume River (which divides the city of Hué), where enemy forces are believed to be hiding. Crazy Earl comes across a stuffed animal and picks it up. The toy is a booby trap, and the ensuing blast kills Earl and leaves Cowboy the reluctant squad leader. The squad quickly becomes lost in the ruined city, and a sniper wounds two of their comrades, Doc Jay and Eightball, with the intention of drawing more of them in. As the squad moves up to try to locate the hidden position, the sniper kills Cowboy too. With his Marines by his side, Cowboy dies in Joker's arms. Using smoke to conceal their movements (effectively depicted with a hand-held camera running alongside the Marines), the squad closes in and Animal Mother assumes control of the remaining Marines. As they fan out through the likely building, Joker finds the sniper. At the critical moment his rifle jams and the sniper, a young Vietnamese girl, opens fire, pinning Joker behind a column, making it impossible for him to escape or shoot back. Rafterman arrives and shoots the sniper, saving Joker. As Joker, Rafterman, Animal Mother, and the rest of the remaining Marines gather around the girl she begins to pray, then begs the Marines to kill her. Joker and Animal Mother argue over leaving her to suffer and die slowly. Ultimately, he allows a mercy killing, but only if the combat-deprived Joker performs it, who finishes her off after a long pause.
The film concludes with the Marines' ironic rendition of the song Mickey Mouse Club as they march into the night. This final sequence is an inside joke, as a military parody of the song exists, replacing the chorus with "F-U-C K-E-D A-G-A-I-N," and other variations on the lyrics.

Cast and characters

★ 'Matthew Modine' as 'Private / Corporal James T. "Joker" Davis', the protagonist-narrator who claims to have joined the Corps to see combat and to be the first one on his block with a confirmed kill. He witnesses Pyle's insanity occur in boot camp, but ostensibly becomes a squared away Marine. He later is an independent-minded combat correspondent accompanying the Lusthog Squad to report combat from the field.

★ 'Adam Baldwin' as '"Animal Mother"': The nihilistic M-60 machine gunner of the Lusthog Squad, Animal Mother is contemptuous of any authority but his own, ruling by intimidation. At first, he is contemptuous and scornful of Joker as a REMF (rear-echelon mother fucker) Marine. Animal Mother believes victory should be the only object of war. In ''The Short Timers'', he is a New Yorker who went to war instead of jail.

★ 'Dorian Harewood' as '"Eightball"': The Black man of the Lusthog squad, insensitive about his ethnicity (i.e. 'Put a nigger behind the trigger'), and Animal Mother's pal. The woman sniper kills him.

★ 'Kevyn Major Howard' as '"Rafterman"': Rafterman is a combat photographer with the Stars and Stripes office with Joker. He requests permission to accompany Joker into Hue City.

★ 'Arliss Howard' as the Texan 'Private / Sergeant "Cowboy" Evans' who goes through boot camp with Joker. He becomes a rifleman, and later encounters Joker in Vietnam, having become a rifle squad leader. In ''The Short Timers'', Joker kills Cowboy, in sacrifice, after being severely wounded by a sniper expecting to trick the squad to rescue so he may shoot them all. In ''Full Metal Jacket'', he quickly dies of a sucking chest wound, while in Joker's arms, surrounded by the remainder of his platoon.

★ 'Ed O'Ross' as 'Lieutenant Walter J. "Touchdown" Schinowski': The platoon leader of the Lusthog squad's platoon, He was a college football player at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.

★ 'John Terry' as 'Lieutenant Lockhart': The PIO officer-in-chief and Joker's assignment editor. He has combat-reporting experience, but uses his officer rank to avoid returning, on account of the danger and the bugs, rationalizing that his journalistic duties keep him where he belongs, "In the rear with the gear".

★ 'Kieron Jecchinis' as '"Crazy Earl"': The squad leader, he is forced to assume platoon command when Platoon Leader Lt. Touchdown is killed. A booby-trapped toy kills him.

★ 'Jon Stafford' as 'Doc Jay': A Navy corpsman attached to the Lusthog squad; he is shot and killed by the sniper while attempting to drag Eightball to safety.

★ 'Kirk Taylor' as '"Payback"': A veteran correspondent with the Marine PIO unit, Payback brags of having been out in the shit (combat), telling Joker and Rafterman he has the thousand-yard stare of the burnt-out combat infantryman.

★ 'Bruce Boa' as 'The Pogue Colonel': The Marine colonel who berates Joker at the edge of the mass grave of civilians, reprimanding him for wearing a peace symbol. He suggests Joker be more enthusiastic about winning the war or he will court martial him. Notably, "pogue" is a military slang insult for ''poseur'' non-infantry soldiers and marines.

★ 'Sal López' as 'T.H.E. Rock': The Mexican Marine.

★ 'Marcus D'Amico' as 'Hand Job': so nicknamed for masturbating in the psychiatrist's office while pursuing a Section Eight discharge. He is killed by machine gun fire shortly after Lt. Mr Touchdown is killed.


★ 'Vincent D'Onofrio' as 'Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence': A fat, clumsy, slow-witted recruit who is the focus of Hartman's abuse for being incompetent and fat, making him the platoon scapegoat. After a blanket party from the rest of the platoon for failing almost everything and earning them collective punishments, he turns psychotic and talks to his rifle, "Charlene", yet he becomes the most disciplined Marine. In ''The Short Timers'', Leonard Pratt is a skinny, awkward Alabama boy who shoots Gerheim, then himself, in front of everyone in the bunkhouse section of the barracks. In ''Full Metal Jacket'', he shoots Hartman in the toilet and then himself in front of Joker. The humiliating nickname, ''Gomer Pyle'' originates from a likable, but dim eponymous character from the American television program the Andy Griffith Show who eventually enlists in the USMC.

★ 'R. Lee Ermey' as 'Master Gunnery Sergeant Hartman': the stereotypical Parris Island drill instructor who abuses his recruits to transform them into Marines. In ''The Short Timers'', the character's name is "Gerheim" and potbellied; he is a Second World War veteran of the Battle of Iwo Jima.

★ 'Peter Edmund' as 'Private "Snowball" Brown': A Black recruit so nicknamed by D.I. Hartman, and briefly Joker's squad leader.

★ 'Gary Landon Mills' as 'Private Donlon': A Black RTO (radiotelephone operator).

★ 'Stanley Kubrick' as 'Murphy': the unseen fire support REMF of Cowboy's platoon.

★ 'Tom Colceri' as 'The Doorgunner', the Loadmaster and machine gunner of the USMC H-34 Choctaw helicopter transporting Joker and Rafterman to the Tet Offensive front. Inflight, he shoots civilians, while enthusiatically repeating ''Get some!'', boasting "157 dead Gooks killed". When Joker asks if that includes women and children, he admits it and jokes, "Ain't war hell?!" This scene is adapted from Michael Herr's 1977 book Dispatches.

★ 'Papillon Soo Soo' as 'Da Nang Hooker': This character is a prostitute pimped by an ARVN sergeant to the Marines. Though a minor character, she is memorable for the sales-pitch phrases: ''Me so horny'' and ''Me love you long time'' and ''Me sucky sucky'', in exchange for fifteen dollars, each Marine, of course.

★ 'Ngoc Le' as the 'Female VC Sniper'

Response

A frequent criticism of ''Full Metal Jacket'' was where it was filmed; many critics feeling that the use of English locations was inappropriate to the film. The episodic film story is criticised in Roger Ebert's 1987 review:
^[1]
Ebert's review one of two negative reviews listed in Rotten Tomatoes.^[2] Moreover, Norman, Oklahoma-based film critics The 736 Elm Group state:

Music

All of the music used in the film was written and recorded before 1968, as to be accurate to the time period the film is set in. The music included in the film is as follows:

★ ''Hello Vietnam'' - Performed by Johnnie Wright

★ ''These Boots Are Made for Walkin''' - Performed by Nancy Sinatra

★ ''Wooly Bully'' - Performed by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs

★ ''Surfin' Bird'' - Performed by The Trashmen

★ ''The Marines Hymn'' - Performed by The Goldmen

★ ''Chapel of Love'' - Performed by The Dixie Cups

★ ''Mickey Mouse Club'' Television Theme

★ ''Paint It, Black'' - Performed by The Rolling Stones
The sequence that includes "Surfin Bird" was included in UGO's Top 11 Uses of Classic Rock in Cinema

Other production information

★ ''Full Metal Jacket'' had two titles, the film's name and the director's credit.

★ Vivian Kubrick, appears uncredited news camerawoman at the Mass Grave; she contributed several tracks to the film's score as "Abigail Mead".

★ Vincent D'Onofrio gained seventy pounds for the role of Pvt. Pyle.

★ Former U.S. Marine Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey originally was hired to train actor Tim Colceri as Sr. Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Ermey made a videotape of himself delivering the DI's speil to show Kubrick ''et al'' how it should be done. Upon viewing it Kubrick gave him the role and allowed him to improvise his dialogue, an artistic rarity in Kubrick's movies.

★ The film was photographed in England, at Bassingbourn Barracks, Cambridgeshire and Beckton, in Newham, East London. The disused Beckton Gasworks portrayed the ruined city of Huế. The open country is Cliffe marshes, also on the Thames, with imported Spanish palm trees. Despite director Kubrick's aversion to leaving England, these set dressings are a dramatically-acceptable facsimile of Vietnam, especially the ruined city.

★ To create Pyle's suicide, the special effects team originally planned to tape a squib to the back of the actor's t-shirt; as the wound was to be to the head, the first idea was dropped. Then, a metal plate was attached to the actor's head, then a squib to the plate, that, too, failed after several attempts. Finally, Matthew Modine suggested that Kubrick watch ''To Live and Die in L.A.'', where a policeman is shot point blank in the face. Kubrick studied the scene and grasped how to achieve the wound effect: when Pyle shoots the rifle in his mouth, fake blood and skull bone fragments are flung into frame from off camera; cutting tell-tale frames, the head-wound was achieved.

★ At the climax, when the woman sniper turns to shoot Joker, his brief view of her turning to shoot him was photographed with a modified camera, the shutter of which was asynchronous to the film's transit. Hence, the film was partly exposed; the resulting vertical light streaks heightening the scene's drama. Its inspiration is the similar, accidental effect seen in combat film, a consequence of the abuse cameras endure in battle.

★ Vietnam banned ''Full Metal Jacket'' for its negative portrayal of the Vietnamese.

★ Cowboy's sales pitch to the ARVN pimp, ''I'll sell you some ARVN rifles; never been fired, only dropped once'', refers to the American view that ARVN soldiers were cowards who ran away from combat with the Viet Cong.

★ When Joker raises his rifle to fire, his peace symbol is often out of frame. This is specifically seen is the Sniper sequence, both when his rifle jams and in the execution sequence.

References

1. Roger Ebert's Review of Full Metal Jacket rogerebert.suntimes.com. Written 26 June 1987. Accessed 15 July 2007.
2. Rotten Tomatoes - Full Metal Jacket Accessed 1 April 2007.

External links

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★ ''The Short-Timers'' by Gustav Hasford - original text

★ "Long Distance in Full Metal Jacket" essay by J. S. Bernstein