Full Metal Jacket on History channel
- Thread starter DeSica
- Start date
Luis Caffesse
Admin
Fantastic film - kind of a stretch to put it on the History channel...but we've covered that ground before here.
"If God wanted you over that obstacle he would have miracled your ass over there by now"
Classic...
"If God wanted you over that obstacle he would have miracled your ass over there by now"
Classic...
Billy Pilgrim
Stye in my eye
Is it uncensored?
Luis Caffesse
Admin
By the way - as a quick aside - one of my prized possessions is an original one sheet for 'Full Metal Jacket'
Great poster.
Great poster.
Blaine
Mr. Hollywood
R. Lee Ermey is great. He was also the drill sergeant in The Boys in Company C. His 1st movie. (Not to mention a little gem of a TV show called Space: Above and Beyond)
Billy Pilgrim
Stye in my eye
He's also in Seven, but not as a Drill Sergeant, although that would have been very interesting.
R. Lee Emery was also a technical advisor and played one of the Hughes helicopter pilots in Apocalypse Now.
outstanding!
Eric
Captain Pierce
Veteran
There's some great stuff in IMDB Trivia about R. Lee Ermey and how he moved from technical advisor to actor--and how he had to educate Stanley Kubrick on what a "reacharound" was... 
J.R. Hudson
Spirit Animal
If you could combine:
The Squad Level intimacy and ineraction of PLATOON
THe Scale of Battle of WE WERE SOLDIERS
The Visuals Beauty of APACALYPSE NOW
The Boot Camp of FULL METAL JACKET
And the Homelife of The Deer Hunter
You'd have the perfect NAM film.
The Squad Level intimacy and ineraction of PLATOON
THe Scale of Battle of WE WERE SOLDIERS
The Visuals Beauty of APACALYPSE NOW
The Boot Camp of FULL METAL JACKET
And the Homelife of The Deer Hunter
You'd have the perfect NAM film.
mjjason
Well-known member
I would like to throw in the post traumatic stress of Rambo: First Blood.
In all seriousness, I don't think its possible to make any war film that encompasses all those aspects, at least in a reasonable,watchable time limit. To give each section its impact you need to just focus on one aspect.
Thats kind of why Full Metal Jacket mis-steps for a lot of people. It changes tone and track when it leaves the boot camp. Same thing with Dear Hunter, its a long film with many different aspects to it. Both are excellent films but lose many people do to length and scope.
In all seriousness, I don't think its possible to make any war film that encompasses all those aspects, at least in a reasonable,watchable time limit. To give each section its impact you need to just focus on one aspect.
Thats kind of why Full Metal Jacket mis-steps for a lot of people. It changes tone and track when it leaves the boot camp. Same thing with Dear Hunter, its a long film with many different aspects to it. Both are excellent films but lose many people do to length and scope.
Jim Brennan
VHS Member Old Skool
FMJ is easier to watch for me than the Deer Hunter. It's more surreal and less personal. Cimino makes some moments excruciatingly intimate.
I love FMJ. D'Onofrio is great, as is Ermey. Modine has the right combination of intelligence and naivete to make his role work. A good friend of mine grew up with Arliss Howard. I'm trying to get him a script...
But it's like it really is 2 very different films in a way. Not necessarily a flaw, but a definite departure from the narrative norm. But then again, it is Kubrick.
I love FMJ. D'Onofrio is great, as is Ermey. Modine has the right combination of intelligence and naivete to make his role work. A good friend of mine grew up with Arliss Howard. I'm trying to get him a script...
But it's like it really is 2 very different films in a way. Not necessarily a flaw, but a definite departure from the narrative norm. But then again, it is Kubrick.
DeSica
Well-known member
If you think about it, the experience is like two different worlds, so the two different film thing works.
Boot camp may seem tough as hell, and like the worst thing a person could endure...
...untill they get out in the field and are shot at. Then boot camp must seem like Club Med.
The only problem for me is that it doesn't feel like Vietnam...I know is supposed to be urban setting as opposed to jungle, but filming in england really hampered the realism on that aspect for me.
Then again, I am woefully unfamiliar with 1960's South Asian architecture and the urban outlay in Vietnam. It might have been spot on.
Boot camp may seem tough as hell, and like the worst thing a person could endure...
...untill they get out in the field and are shot at. Then boot camp must seem like Club Med.
The only problem for me is that it doesn't feel like Vietnam...I know is supposed to be urban setting as opposed to jungle, but filming in england really hampered the realism on that aspect for me.
Then again, I am woefully unfamiliar with 1960's South Asian architecture and the urban outlay in Vietnam. It might have been spot on.
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R. Lee Emery was on the last Ministry album. He actually has a whole song. Ministry had sampled Emery out of Full Metal Jacket for their classic 1990 song "Thieves". This time for Rio Grande Blood they actually paid him to come to a studio and record Gangrene under the name "The Sergeant Major".
SteveLaClair
Active member
Definitely a classic... I've always worked in military environments and it's funny how most of them quote and love the movie as if it was a pro-war movie like rambo or something.
Luis Caffesse
Admin
I know what you mean...but I don't really think 'Rambo' was a pro war movie.
I mean, the guy went nuts because of the war and went on a rampage.
SteveLaClair
Active member
True, you have to remember I was 7 when I watched it, and war never seemed so sweet.
DeSica
Well-known member
I know what you mean...but I don't really think 'Rambo' was a pro war movie.
I mean, the guy went nuts because of the war and went on a rampage.
Talk about 'hair of the dog.'