‘Full Metal Jacket’ The entire film is great, but the representation of Marines in the first act of the film is (mostly) accurate. This can be attributed to the legendary R. Lee Ermey. He was actually a drill instructor and Stanley Kubrick was dedicated to making everything as authentic as possible.

In 2017, Netflix removed Full Metal Jacket from its Vietnamese service to comply with a demand from the Vietnamese Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information. The second half of the film takes place in Vietnam, but the entire movie is regarded as Stanley Kubrick’s take on the Vietnam War.

Full Metal Jacket

• Gunnery Sergeant Hartman – Shot in the chest by Gomer Pyle with his rifle.
• Leonard “Gomer Pyle” Lawrence – Commits suicide by shooting his head with his rifle.
• 15 Viet Cong soldiers – Shot by the US Army.
• 12 Vietnam citizens – Executed off-screen by the Viet Cong, body shown.

Ermey’s performances were so faultless that Kubrick only needed two to three takes to get his scenes filmed, which was also extremely rare for a Kubrick film.

Pyle’s weakened mental and emotional state, coupled the effects of the blanket party and his confrontations with his drill sergeant led to a complete mental collapse and this triggered the events leading to his suicide. In short, he kills himself because he’s lonely.

Da Nang. Joker is assigned with 1st Marine Division. By the start of 1968, he is a Corporal and has already less than two months of tour time in his duty of Vietnam.

Famous for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film “Full Metal Jacket”, R. Lee Ermey served 11 years in the United States Marine Corps. Ermey enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1961. He served as a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego from 1965 to 1967.

Deceased (1944–2018)
R. Lee Ermey/Living or Deceased

Originally from Kansas, Ermey enlisted in the Marines in 1961 and became a drill instructor in San Diego before being sent to Asia where he served tours of duty in Okinawa and Vietnam.

Full Metal Jacket was a movie for people who would never see war. It’s an anti-war movie about Vietnam where absolutely every element of war, warriors, the whole military experience, is shown as being something terrible, dehumanizing, and a pointless endeavor to the detriment of all mankind.

FMJ is based on the novel “The Short Timers” by the late Gustav Hasford, aka, the real Joker. Hasford drew from his experience in Vietnam as a Marine correspondent with the 1st Marine Division to develop the novel.

In 2018, a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the family of Raheel Siddiqui, a 20-year-old recruit from Michigan who killed himself in 2016 after a confrontation with a Parris Island drill instructor.

Jacketed Hollow Point (JHP) ammo on the left and Full Metal Jacket (FMJ) ammo on the right. The consensus within the firearms community would agree that FMJ rounds are best for any bulk volume or high round count shooting (i.e., competitive shooting sports, general practice, and drills).

Tony Lucia, in his July 5, 1987, review of Full Metal Jacket for the Reading Eagle, looked at the themes of Kubrick’s career, suggesting “the unifying element may be the ordinary man dwarfed by situations too vast and imposing to handle”.

(Error Code: 102630) A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Cast overview, first billed only: Matthew Modine Pvt. Joker Adam Baldwin Animal Mother Vincent D’Onofrio Pvt. Pyle R. Lee Ermey Gny. Sgt. Hartman (as Lee Ermey) Dorian Harewood Eightball