Full Metal Jacket

Stanley Kubrick‘s third examination of life during wartime (following “Paths of Glory” and “Dr. Strangelove”) follows a group of Marines as they prepare for and participate in the Vietnam War, as seen through the eyes of Pvt. James T. ‘Joker’ Davis (Matthew Modine) — eyes that will soon enough display the “thousand-yard stare” of other battle-weary warriors. Part One follows the harrowing boot camp experience of several Marine recruits on Parris Island, where they’re pushed to their physical and mental limits by their ruthless drill instructor, Gunnery Sgt. Hartman (R. Lee Ermey), a draconian war horse who focuses most of this wrath on the overweight, dim-witted Pvt. Leonard ‘Gomer Pyle’ Lawrence (Vincent D’Onofrio). Part Two takes place after graduation, with Pvt. Joker being assigned as a War Correspondent with “Stars and Stripes” and stationed with a public affairs unit in Da Nang, where the naive soldier soon experiences the conflict first-hand as the North Vietnamese Army launches its brutal Tet Offensive. Ermey’s performance is now the stuff of legend, with the actual ex-D.I. improvising about half of his creatively profane, rapid-fire dialogue (a rarity in a Kubrick film); D’Onofrio gained 70 pounds for his role as the tortured Pyle, which is still the record for the most pounds put on for a part. The Academy was hesitant to acknowledge another Vietnam War film so hot on the heels of Oliver Stone‘s “Platoon,” which swept the Oscars the year before; “Full Metal Jacket” only received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, based on Gustav Hasford’s 1979 novel, “The Short-Timers.” – IFC Staff