TRASH IN MY EYE No. 36 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Running time: 116 minutes
MPAA – R
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Stanley Kubrick
WRITERS: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford (based upon Gustav Hasford’s novel)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Douglas Milsome
EDITOR: Martin Hunter
COMPOSER: Abigail Mead
Academy Award nominee
DRAMA/WAR
Starring: Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevin Major Howard, Ed O’Ross, and Peter Edmund
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick co-wrote the film's screenplay with Michael Herr, a writer and war correspondent, and Gustav Hasford, a United States Marine Corps veteran who served as a war correspondent during the Vietnam War. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel, The Short-Timers. Full Metal Jacket focuses on a pragmatic U.S. Marine who observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow Marines, from their brutal boot camp training at Parris Island to the bloody street fighting in Hue, Vietnam.
Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket is, to date, the best movie about the Vietnam Conflict shown from the point of view of an average Joe caught in the meat grinder of that war, and the film also makes the shortlist of the best movies about war. This is the 38th anniversary of the film's original theatrical release (specifically June 26, 1987)
Full Metal Jacket begins at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina with a platoon of fresh Marine Corps recruits – with the focus on three individuals. There is the tough Marine Corps drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey, an actual former U.S. Marine Corp Drill Instructor). Then, there are two recruits. First is J.T. Davis (Matthew Modine), whom Sgt. Hartman names Private Joker. Next is Leonard Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio), whom Sgt. Hartman names Private Gomer Pyle. The pragmatic Joker declares, much to Sgt. Hartman’s disdain that he joined the Marines to learn to be a killer, but training shockingly introduces Joker to the mortal danger of both training to kill and killing.
After Joker’s brutal basic training, the film goes into its second half. Joker is in Vietnam serving as a journalist, specifically a combat correspondent. He works behind the scenes until the “Tet Offensive” thrusts him into real combat because the military wants actual news coverage of the fighting. Joker arrives in Hue, Vietnam (in the first quarter of 1968), during what would become known as the “Battle of Hue,” a major battle during the Tet Offensive. The city is scene of much bloody street fighting. There, Joker is reunited with an old friend and fellow recruit from Parris Island, Private Cowboy (Arliss Howard). Joker joins Cowboy’s platoon where he must ultimately decide if he really is a killer and if the war has dehumanized him.
Full Metal Jacket is a film that is certainly worthy of long contemplation, but I’ll focus on a few things. Many people best remember this film for its first half, which takes place on Parris Island. Lee Ermey’s performance as the bestial drill instructor is like the film – relentless and straightforward. However, the beginning sells the idea that Marine recruits are basically machine made into Marines, as if the Corp were some kind of factory that produced material for war industry. The Corp makes humans with individual personalities into cookie cutter killing machines. Kubrick’s vision of this is so matter of fact and somewhat banal that the result is a work of cinematic high art that speaks of humanity, rather than being a piece of war movie entertainment. This beginning is so riveting and visceral that the second half of the film is a bit of a letdown.
When Full Metal Jacket moves to Vietnam, Kubrick keeps the film blunt and unadorned. Here, Kubrick emphasizes something that we may have missed at Parris Island; Matthew Modine’s Joker is a bit indecisive for a man who wanted to learn to be a “killer.” While Joker was more or less a supporting character at Parris Island, his are the eyes through which we see Vietnam. It’s a matter of fact world where things are as they are, without adornment and symbolism. The chaos, confusion, death, and destruction – things that Joker (and the audience) would take as abnormal – are the norm; in fact, it’s all quite ordinary. Kubrick creates a world where people are numb to upheaval and are just doing what they must to survive.
While in training, Joker tells us via voice-over that the Marines don’t want robots, but they want individuals, which doesn’t quiet seem true. Kubrick shows Joker’s need to be an individual, and how he struggles with fitting in with the Corp. Of course, there are no pat solutions. Joker’s world is so straightforward and obvious, but even the “right moves” are fraught with peril, deadly consequences, ill fates, and bad fits.
Kubrick is well served by cinematographer Douglas Milsome and editor Martin Hunter in creating Full Metal Jackets cold (not cool) mood. However, the film does sometimes seem a little too mannered, and some moments strike as obviously staged. Kubrick’s daughter, Vivian Kubrick (using the name, "Abigail Mead"), delivers an austere score. Part of it includes a stark sound partially created by her hitting kitchen implements and household, and it adds the finishing touch to the movie’s aura of an unfeeling existence. For all its aloofness, Full Metal Jacket is not just an epic war story; it is also an ultimately and painfully human story.
9 of 10
A+
★★★★+ out of 4 stars
Saturday, February 18, 2006
EDITED: Monday, June 16, 2025
NOTES:
1988 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford)
1988 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best Sound” (Nigel Galt, Edward Tise, and Andy Nelson) and “Best Special Effects” (John Evans)
1988 Golden Globes: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture” (R. Lee Ermey)
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