Full Metal Jacket (1987) on Netflix
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman puts a platoon of Marine recruits through eight weeks of training at Parris Island. Among them are Joker and the overweight Leonard Lawrence.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Marine Corps recruits reach Parris Island, South Carolina, for eight weeks of training under Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, whose methods are harsh. Two of them stand out: J. T. Davis, called Joker after he mocks the instructor, and Leonard Lawrence, an overweight recruit Hartman nicknames Gomer Pyle. Lawrence falls short of what Hartman demands, so the drill instructor pairs him with Joker. An inspection turns up a jelly doughnut in Lawrence's footlocker, and Hartman responds by punishing the rest of the platoon for Lawrence's mistakes.
Cast
- Kieron Jecchinisas Crazy Earl
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- R. Lee Ermey was hired only as a technical advisor, but after Kubrick told him he was not vicious enough to play Hartman he improvised insults at a group of Royal Marines to prove himself; Kubrick built a 250-page transcript of Ermey's rants into the script and reckoned Ermey wrote 50% of his character's dialogue.
- Vincent D'Onofrio was required to gain 70 lb to play Pyle after co-star Matthew Modine suggested him to Kubrick, who called the part "the hardest part to cast in the whole movie".
- While Ermey practiced his lines, Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali threw tennis balls and oranges at him, which he had to catch and throw back while reciting as fast as he could; any hesitation or slip meant starting again, and 20 error-free runs were required.
- Tim Colceri, a former Marine, was originally slated to play the drill instructor Hartman, but the role went to Ermey and Kubrick handed Colceri the smaller part of the helicopter door gunner as a consolation.
- The Da Nang street prostitute's line "Me so horny. Me love you long time" became a pop-culture catchphrase, sampled by 2 Live Crew on their 1989 hit "Me So Horny" and by Sir Mix-A-Lot on "Baby Got Back" in 1992; many Asian American women have had the line quoted at them.
- During filming Ermey was injured in a car crash and broke several ribs, which left him unavailable to the production for four and a half months.
SPOILER
A building that resembles the alien monolith from Kubrick's own 2001: A Space Odyssey is visible during Cowboy's death scene; Kubrick described the coincidence as an "extraordinary accident".- Vivian Kubrick wrote the film's score under the alias Abigail Mead, and according to a January 1988 Keyboard interview she scored it mostly with a Series III Fairlight CMI synthesizer and a Synclavier.
