FULL METAL JACKET (1987) MOVIE REACTION - KUBRICK DID IT AGAIN! - First Time Watching - Review
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- Welcome to our first time reaction and commentary to Full Metal Jacket (1987), directed by the mastermind and cinematic pioneer Stanley Kubrick! We absolutely loved the cinematography and haunting set design, Stanley Kubrick once again was able to deliver a gut-wrenching story that left us thinking for days.
The stellar performance of the iconic R. Lee Ermey as the unrelenting and tough-as-steel Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is one for the books! Matthew Modine as Private/Sergeant 'Joker' was absolutely gripping and mesmerizing.
Vincent D'Onofrio, however, shattered us completely, as the innocent-minded and vulnerable Private Leonard/'Gomer Pyle'. Somehow he was utterly terrifying, yet unbelievably heartbreaking.
Stanley Kubrick once again brings us an intricate film with a mindful view on war and the struggles of morality with stunning cinematography, expansive set designs and his gold standard of attention to detail.
This one was a heavy one, we won't lie - there is a lot to break down and analyze, which is always a thrill for us!
We hope you enjoy our commentary and reaction to this groundbreaking film!
If you'd like to support the channel and gain access to the full length reaction become a member of our patreon bit.ly/3ICVrJ6
#fullmetaljacket #reaction #TheMediaKnights
R. Lee Ermey was a real former drill instructor and was originally just an advisor for the movie. He came in and ad-libbed 30 minutes of insults and Kubrick decided he should be in the movie. The helicopter door gunner was originally cast as drill instructor.
you left out the part where is was being pelted with oranges and tennis balls while ad-libbing his insults. he also didnt repeat himself.
24:45 That helicopter door gunner was originally cast as the drill instructor? Cheers :)
prove it. Sounds like nonsense to me.
My buddy got to meet him when he was in the Marines. He would make trips quite a bit to Camp Pendleton to meet his fans
it's hearsay evidence, but I know how things were during that turmoil, so I can believe your pal's account. I've got some messed-up Vietnam stories of my own, too.
The buzz cut serves several purposes in the military. It is hygienic, easily maintained and more comfortable. Also its for safety purposes so hair doesnt get caught in equipment and headgear fits better, especially when gear like masks require a tight seal. It also serves as a symbol of discipline, uniformity and commitment. Finally, if you are engaged in hand to hand combat, your enemy wont be able to grab your hair and have control of your head.
You beat me to it. I was gonna post this too.
The intended purpose is to destroy your identity and remake you as a soldier who can work with others.
"Finally, if you are engaged in hand to hand combat, your enemy wont be able to grab your hair and have control of your head."
THIS is the part everyone else LEAVES OUT....and we GUARANTEE that when the situation arises...it's the MOST important one!
It all makes sense, but I thought it was mostly because it's easier to treat if you geat a head injury
Well said. In addition to your comment, the haircut, the identical uniforms, identical teaching, psychologically and socially helps to equalize the recruits to being all the same. It is a way to begin the teardown, and after, the buildup of these recruits to a trained cohesive unit.
18:50 Did you notice where Private Pyle got his live rounds from ? Go back to the rifle range scene and watch how he unloads his 'empty' magazine - you'll see there are actually still rounds in there. Pyle was collecting those over time and sneaking them back into the barracks. He knew exactly what he was going to do once he had been pushed over the edge. Love Kubrick's attention to detail.
Nice... never caught that. Well done.
Woah thanks for pointing that out!
Which is why they do brass checks now but even then, unless they start strip searching recruits it's still laughably easy to sneak rounds from the line if one were so inclined. At least it would have been when I was in boot camp.
@@fighterck6241 You were in boot camp? That must of been an experience. I have a friend that want's to go into the Military. What would be the best piece of advice that I could give to him from you? Sorry to put you on the spot here.
@@GreatGizmo74 I went to Air Force basic training back in 1979. My dad gave me a few pointers before I reported in. He told me, "Never, ever volunteer to drive the General's jeep!" His experience involved the DI's asking for a volunteer to drive the "General's jeep". My dad kept quiet, but several guys volunteered. Then the DI''s collected the volunteers and revealed the "General's jeep" was really a wheelbarrow, and those guys spent all day shoveling dirt into them, dumping the dirt, then refilling them, over and over and over.
Fun fact: after Ermey said the “reach around” line, Kubrick said cut and asked Ermey what a reach around was. Ermey told him and Kubrick just laughed and told him to say it again. 😂😂
For anyone ready to ask: A reach around is when two gay dudes are doing it doggy style, and the guy in the back simultaneously jerks off the guy in the front.
Surprised the director never heard that line before- he was in Nam
@@WilliamBouchie-y6q Kubrick didn't go to Vietnam or serve in the military.
The first half of the movie was exactly the boot camp I went to in 1980. I think I heard every one of those lines from the drill instructor. Even the late night blanket party was real. My buddy was 6'5" and 260 pounds, and the drill instructors absolutely hated that he was bigger than them, but he didn't have a mean bone in his giant body, so they used to beat on him like this movie showed with Private Pyle. When I saw this in the theater, it was so realistic that I could smell my boot camp barracks...not even joking.
Agree 100%. Went through Parris Island in late ‘81. The first half of the movie was extremely realistic.
Plt. 1000, A Co., 1st Bn. 1987. Semper Fi.
Plt. 1033, C Co. 1st Bn. 1992. -Semper Fi-
Plt 2036 - summer of 81, Parris Island. This is pretty much the real deal. I know it's change a LOT since then, but it's still the best training you can get.
Semper Fi@@JohnBham
I swear that the boot camp portion of this movie is the greatest thing ever put on film. Absolute perfection. And nobody can roast like a drill instructor. Gunny was a legend.
If that’s your style, you might get a kick out of a lesser-known gem called Glengarry Glen Ross. Not a military setting but still quite a pressurecooker. Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, and Ed Harris.
😎👍
If you've never seen it you should check out The Boys in Company C. Not the greatest Vietnam War film, but some more really good R Lee Ermy as a Drill Instructor scenes.
True
Got to meet R. Lee.
Solid guy. Cannot imagine anyone but him in this role.
He did try auditioning for the role, but it was already cast. So he took the advisory job to convince Kubrick that he was better for the role and so he did.
The original Hartman was recast as helicopter door gunner.
The entire production of Full Metal Jacket took place in England. The bombed-out city of 'Hue' in 'Vietnam' was famously filmed in the vast abandoned gasworks at Beckton, on the north bank of the Thames just to the northeast of what is now London City Airport. The industrial site was dressed as the Far East by designer Anton Furst and planted with palm trees.
Kubrick had a fear of planes! In 2001:A Space Odyssey, nearly all of the landscape scenes during the "dawn of man" sequences were stills! Kubrick nearly always dressed up studio lots to avoid "on location" shooting lest he had to travel.
It was filmed at RAF Bassingbourn in royston it was also the setting for the Airfield based shots in the famous WW2 film, The Dambusters..I did my training and passing out parade there.
I remember being blown away when I found this out. Freaking Kubrik, man!
Site is a shopping center now. Where the sniper is , is now a tesco supermarket
I didn't know there were jungles in England!!!
"I'm going to rip your balls off, so you don't contaminate the world."
Pure gold - writing, directing, and acting.
" I will motivate you, if it short dicks every cannibal in the Congo "!!
And slimy walrus piece of shit and chewed bubble gum 😂
bro that wasnt written, thats your average DI/DS LOL
A DI/DS, or my terrible high school football coach :)@@energeez
One of my favorite lines in the film. The Gunny kindly asking him to get down from the obstacle led right into it!
7:27 "This is my rifle, this is my gun." Military terminology is taught as soon as you get to basic training. Most recruits are fresh out of high school and call every firearm a gun. In this scene, somebody must've messed up and called his rifle a gun, and the drill instructor is using this insane illustration to make it stick.
The first half of this movie is almost universally loved by vets for how accurate its basic training scenes were, R Lee Ermey wasnt even supposed to play GSGT Hartman at first but he was so good as an advisor for the film they just let him play the character. R Lee Ermey was a real Marine and legend, RIP.
Kinda funny how the second half of the film has more action than the first and yet almost every person who has watched this movie finds the first half more epic. Simply the power of filmmaking.
Totally agree. The great thing about this is that even though these are two parts of the puzzle they need each other for the themes to completely make sense.
Honestly I found the second half of the movie to be boring. If I watch this I turn it off after boot camp.
I have to say: this reaction made me appreciate the second section more than I usually do. I always say that the first section of "Full Metal Jacket" is Kubrick's last masterpiece, lol. But these guys really made me enjoy the second half, I'm happy I didn't turn off the reaction there like I usually do! By the time Kubrick put this out, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Coming Home had pretty much cornered the market on Vietnam but no one had ever done boot camp better than this film, it's THE boot camp movie of all time!
You can tell whether someone understood what the movie is about if they only remember the first half. Kubrick's intention was to show the disastrous consequences of turning regular young men into cold-blooded killers, but some of the audience takes the rah-rah jingoism of the training part at face value.
@@demonofelru3214Me too!!! It's good to know I'm not the only one!
R. Lee Ermey is an absolute legend. The first 45 minutes of this are gold.
And he wasn't even supposed to be in this movie. He was on set to be an advisor but he was so much better than the after they had Kubrick put him in .
having met veterans who have met Ermey in person, not that much of legend. That's not to say he's not brilliant in this role, but it was one of those "don't meet your heroes" situation
Lee Ermeys ad libbed dialogue is brilliant. So many one liners. There's no racial prejudice here! Mary J Rotten Crotch!
First 30 mins is cool but the rest sucks
just like American History X🤣
Trivia time:
Kubrick was a known perfectionist and control freak. He was a big "We either do it my way or no way!" kind of guy. However, R. Lee Ermey, the actor playing Hartman who used to be a drill sergeant, came up with the creative little insults so nicely that Kubrick agreed to let him do his thing. You know you did something when you got the king of perfectionists to let you improvise.
Haha woooow, it's immensely impressive to see how much Ermey impressed Kubrick! Kubrick indeed was difficult to work with, especially in The Shining and his treatment of Shelley Duvall was just awful, but the film itself speaks volumes of his attention to detail and strong vision.
Kubrick allowed only two actors to improvise: Peter Sellers and R Lee Ermey
Drill INSTRUCTOR, not drill sergeant.
My father was a Marine Corp drill instructor during the 50’s and 60’s. R. Lee Ermey is the real deal.
The racism and insults aren’t out of anger. It’s the instructors jump to try to break you and get all notions of emotional outbursts out of your system
Exactly.
It's not racism, if everyone gets the same treatment!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I feel like the point of this movie is that, no matter how harsh the training, you will never be prepared for the craziness of war.
The point is that they have trained promising young men to be inhuman cogs in an unjust war, taking away their humanity. Then they're used to fight wars they have no control or say in, and when the system are done using them, they're thrown back into society with no idea how to function like human beings. It's an indictment of the horror and stupidity of the American military system/industry. Plenty of militaries around the world work without treating their people as shit before, during and after their active duties.
Definitely, nothing prepares you for having a girl snipe half your squad and then having to eventually mercy kill her haha
trust me the hard traing does help , but your right - no-one is ever ready for WAR
For the head-shaving, it actually does have a function. Especially in the past, it used to be common for lice to be spread amongst the new recruits. This reduced the problem drastically and has now just become tradition.
It makes for a tight seal with NBC gear. Hair allows for gas and chems to seep in.
I also understand that it allows for the easy identification of head wounds that would otherwise be hidden with hair.
In modern times though, it's kept for utility. In boot camp, you simply don't have time to fool with your hair, or much else for that matter. And they trim it CLOSE. Closer than you see in the movies. When the DI/Company Commander comes rolling in with that banging trash can at Oh God Thirty in the morning, you don't even have time to think. You jump up, get your gear on as fast as you can, go relieve yourself, and you'd damn well better be back by your rack waiting for PT formation (which we always did BEFORE breakfast, so that you're not puking all over the quad).
These days it's more about uniformity and stripping away individuality.
One of my drill instructors when I was in the army told me that having long hair could also give your enemy something to take grip of in case of hand to hand combat.
With regard to shaving the heads, it does "standardize" recruits, but it also makes it easier to spot and assess head injuries.
Also it makes it easier to deal with lice and other pest critters that will hide in your hair when you're in the trenches and other unpleasant areas.
@yt45204Ironically, it wasn’t until the Army integrated that soldiers began copying the short or “high and tight” haircuts of African American soldiers. A style first widely seen in World War I.
It's all about hygiene and uniformity, not head injuries. After basic training Marines can grow their hair out, in a graduated style that starts at 0 inches at the ear to a maximum 3" at the top of the head.
It also makes going through the bushes a lot easier, compared to long hair, it's not as marked with short hair, of course.
You are being broken down to nothing and built back up into a military man.
I always felt that the reason why Pyle didn't shoot Joker was because when Joker tried to calm him down , he called him by his real name Leonard .
Lee was a family friend for over 30 years. He promoted me from E5 to E6. On and off camera, he was the same man. He was pure.
When I became a drill sergeant, I was amused by how many of my peers tried to be him.
BCT is similar, even to this day…minus the physical contact. But this is fairly accurate to what BCT is like.
My understanding is Lee even believed that Hartman is not the ideal drill instructor. He was too sadistic.
Yeah I went through in 1986, and it was all very similar except they couldn't hit recruits (but they could work us in "intensive training" in the swamps at night, or have us stand at attention for eight hours facing a wall, which happened to us once). Also, our bunks were three high, not just doubles, with 150 recruits in each barracks pod. It was crowded.
Matthew Modine (Joker) was a friend of Vincent D'Onofrino, who was working as a bouncer at the time and convinced him to audition. It was the turning point for his acting career.
About the Blanket Party scene (that's what those were called, back in the day), you mentioned "the bruises it will leave". But the reason that soap bars wrapped in towels were the "weapon of choice" was because they tended NOT to leave much bruising. The company could dish out a lot of pain to the "foul-up" of the group, and not leave much evidence. DI's knew about these things back then, and while they usually didn't openly encourage blanket parties, they didn't do much to stop them, either. The way they saw it, it was good for the men to take care of a problem recruit in their midst. Blanket Parties are officially banned by the DoD now, but they did indeed happen from time to time back when I was in.
One thing about "Blanket Parties" is that I don't think they ever happened. Maybe way back in the day. But I know when I was in Basic, Full Metal Jacket had been out for a few months before, so lot's of people suggested them. However, the only luxuries at the time were chow and sleep. And if anyone suggested that everyone needed to stay up later to beat some kid, people would decline, because sleep was more important. Also, usually, when a blanket party came up, the suggestion would be, "Why don't you just go kick his ass?" And once again, most folks declined. Some folks didn't, but it was one on one, not the entire battery beats up one kid. It seems to mostly be a story of, "I knew a guy."
@@alanbixlerblanket parties did happen. I know.
Care to elaborate a bit? I'm not saying they never happened, but from my experience they seem like an urban legend. I would genuinely like to know more about your experience.
@@alanbixler what happened in basic stays in basic. I will not elaborate considering today's social dystopian matrix where telling a story from nearly 40 years ago could incriminate others. No thanks. Besides, I have no idea who you are. But my statement stands...blanket parties did take place when I was in basic training.
lol
My uncle enlisted during the Vietnam War. R. Lee Ermey was his drill instructor and when I showed him this movie in theaters I asked him how he was in real life. He said that R. Lee Ermey was pretty tame in the movie then in real life. My uncle said he was a hard ass. But my uncle said that all di's were pretty close to this. It was during the Vietnam War and the Marine Corp. Just like all the branches of military were getting mostly draftees and boot camp time was shortened to eight weeks. There was a lot a stress to get the privates out on the battlefield.
The movie is really well done. One of my favorites. Showing us how pretty close things were during that era.
My grandfather volunteered around this time as well.
He's told me all sorts of stories about the various DIs, including Gunny.
He said, like your uncle, that Gunny wasn't over-the-top like he is in FMJ- Ermy _did_ try to embody his peers with FMJ though, and those were the difficult ones.
_They_ wanted it all to be as merciless as being over in 'Nam would be.
They were even capable of disappearing people. Heard one story that involved a punch and a trunk, so...
There's no telling what _all_ happened during that era.
I'm sure some of these stories vanished just the same, or got swept under the rug.
My friend who was there said the battle of Hua City was very realistic in this movie. He was a highly decorated platoon sergeant brought home some war trophies including a pistol from an NVA officer he killed. He died last year from Covid. RIP James Curry.
Joker's "thousand yard stare" at the end is chilling. Kubrick was a master movie maker. Another Kubrick classic about the absurdity of war is "Dr. Strangelove", and well worth taking the time to watch.
I saw an interview with a drill instructor (I forget if it was R. Lee himself) that really changed the whole context of the boot camp segment of this movie. He said that you have to remember that during Viet Nam there was a draft, and when someone like Private Pile would get drafted, and that they were as good as dead. The reason drill instructors would be so hard on them is that "they were trying to unsign their death warrants".
Damn, that's deep. I can't imagine what it must have been like getting drafted and sent to Vietnam.
It was about sergeants and their jobs, I remember that, yelling at the private so that the people DOWN the line get deal so they all get the point.
Yep. Read somewhere that most casualties ended up being draftees.
tis is so false , many low IQ US citizen were drafted becoz they too stupid for college
@1320crusier most of the soldiers who served in Vietnam were drafted so that is pretty accurate. 58k dead American soldiers
That's about how it was. I served 20 years in the Marine Corp and two combat tours in Vietnam. The first tour as a machine gunner (0331) in 1965-66 and the second as a Platoon commander (0369) in 1970-71. I retired after 20 years and had a 30 year career as a California police officer ( Marin County). What I learned in the Marine Corps has helped me all my life. I highly recommend it to anyone needing direction and wishing to learn self discipline .
Tom Boyte
GySgt. USMC, retired
Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Thank You for you’re service Marine. U.S. Navy Veteran. Texas
Salutations,mon père était médecin militaire pendant la guerre d'Algérie...
Just don't go Marines, go Coast Guard -- way better chow. lol
The first half is amazingly organized. It shows you what it's like to be trained to be part of a unit. Teaching people to work together as a team. And to be tough. The second half of the movie does exactly what it should do, because once you go from the organized world of being on a base getting trained, you switch gears to being in the field. When you're in the field it isn't always changing chaos. They showed us the chaos of what was happening by the story being disjointed in chaotic. I think that absolutely is the point. And you get to see how chain of command works. You get a promotion cuz the guy who is right on top of you just got killed. I think the second half is very effective. And it is very relevant to the first half of this ridiculously organized life that they were living right before this. And it also shows the defect in the training.
the first half is very structured, just like training would be and the second half was not as focused just like war is ..its unpredictable. more spur of the moment.. i like the first half better as well but its all good..also when they all beat lawrence with the soap that really splits the first half into two parts as well..lawrence taking himself out is one of the most graphic/emotional scenes out there. very powerful
20:40 Leonard "Gomer Pyle" survived and he became the Bug in the movie Men in Black.
I've always felt like the second half is meant to feel so different from the first half because you are supposed to feel the lack of humanity that basic training instilled in the soldiers to enable them to kill other human beings. Just like the camera makes us feel like we are a soldier following them into the action without knowing where the next shot could come from, the music not seeming to fit the situation and the lack of character depth shown in the second half are trying to force us to feel as dehumanized as we can feel as a viewer. I also think this is the point of switching immediately from Private Pyle's death to Vietnam. There is no time spent mourning or processing what happened, which is also dehumanizing. It's straight from that tragedy to the war zone.
There's a lot going on here, but I think you've definitely hit on an important theme. It's definitely a dehumanizing experience.
What a pretentious take....war and the horror is as human an experience as can be had. Combat changes men but they are always human. Humans are extremely dangerous animals. Ten of my uncles fought in WW2, one KIA. I had two of my four brothers reported MIA during Vietnam. Unfck yourself.
If you haven't, you HAVE to check out the rest of Kubrick's filmography. Dr. Strangelove is both relevant and hilarious. Barry Lyndon is simply stunning cinematography-wise. A Clockwork Orange is a tough one, I won't lie, but still worth a watch. I personally love his adaptation of The Shining, despite what Stephen King thinks. But you mustn't miss 2001: A Space Odyssey; it reinvented the sci-fi genre in more ways than one.
don't forget his most viewed film, America landing on the moon👍🏻he is the reason I know the CIA's heart attack gun actually exists lol
@batmanvsjoker7725 And "Paths of Glory", brilliant WWI movie, also in black and white same as "Dr. Strangelove", everyone should watch it.
Absolutely agree. That reaction was fantastic and he only has about 9 movies, lol. Might as well do 'em all, they're all classics: The Killing, Paths Of Glory, Spartacus, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, A Clockwork Orange and Barry Lyndon. I'm dying for them to do Clockwork Orange! Paths Of Glory too! (and Strangleove!). Did you see the recent reaction to Lolita that was done? Great reaction! Only channel to do it so far! I hope these guys hit Lolita because it might be the best acted Kubrick film, and that's saying a lot!
@@JustSomeGoy Which movie is it again? My memory is trash sometimes lol
Yea, Strangelove is an absolute classic, thought provoking, there’s it’s not Slim Pickins of action. ;-)
This was Vincent's first major movie role, and only 4th time he had been cast. Phenomenal job.
The disconnect you felt at b oth halves of the movie was done by Kubrick on purpose. The first half was to show those that have never been in the military what basic training, boot camp etc was like, what the men went through in training, how they were treated and what they were forced to endure and lastly, how they were trained to become soldiers, men capable of killing without hesitation. How the men were transformed from normal young men into killing machines. The second half was to show you that no matter how much training soldier get nothing prepares them for what actual war will bring. Nothing can really ready them for the brutality of it. The training is only there to help them say alive longer but even the training cannot assure your going to survive combat, it just gives you an edge. The disconnect is a VERY important part of the story of this movie and why both halves make sense and provide context. I first saw this movie back in 1987 - the same year I myself came out of boot camp and I could relate to the first half 100% - thank god in my service I never had to endure combat but I have a deep respect for those that did have to fight and go through it. For a soldier that has trained, and then served, both halves of this movie make PERFECT sense.
thank you for your service
I had a martial arts instructor in the late 80s who was a very good friend who had been a Marine Corps machine gunner in Vietnam in '67 who was in Tet as well. He said that for him this was the most realistic portrayal including the depiction of basic training he'd ever seen about the war.
I served in the U.S. Army 81 thru 85. Boot camp, though it wasn't during the Vietnam era did have a lot of elements of what was portrayed in this movie. The swearing and abuse..rarely physical, was accurate. I'm sure plenty of marines, former and serving will say the U.S Army is chock full of pussies and the comparison is inaccurate; but, with the Marines as well as the Army you're trained as a rifleman first. Though I did not experience combat first hand, the boot camp portrayal is accurate and the memories return.
@@gumboclaymation7885 I'm a Marine 80-84 and the boot camp scenes were very accurate. I also agree that punishment was 90% working out and getting sworn at. I saw a couple of guys get smacked but they made it look like an accident. Blanket parties were real thing and I want to believe that it was caused by the jelly donut and not the constant screw ups. The donut was selfish and dishonored the platoon and the other stuff he couldn't help.
R.I.P. Gunny 😢🙏 I first watched R. Lee Ermy in the Boys in Company C and that was my first dive into war movies. Some people say it was somewhat factual but nonetheless I liked it. This movie is one of 3 movies, Platoon and Hamburger Hill are other movies that hopefully you guys react to. Great reaction and love your channel ❤
"The Boys in Company C" is an overlooked gem. That, and "Platoon" are my favorites.
I always heard of other Marines meeting him and said I was never going to get a chance. In 2003, I met him in Kuwait and Iraq THREE different times. I was on Mail Call TWICE, once in the crowd behind him and once on one of our helicopters. Best guy ever. A Marine's Marine. He did the ENTIRE FMJ opening verbatim for us between takes in Kuwait. Later he was signing stuff and ONLY signed stuff "Semper Fi, R. Lee Ermy." I still have the unused Camelbak he signed for me (I had nothing else).
Anyway, I was about 17 to 20 people back in line when Marines will be Marines, and we had some jokers from our mechanic shop bring him something "special" to sign. Most people were bringing him copies of FMJ to sign and then we heard him yell out "HO-LEE SH17! SAVING SILVERMAN! WHAT. THE. ACTUAL. F. IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"
They quickly replied back "YOU were the one that kissed a dude, Gunny." We all laughed and he signed it. Just a great guy.
Man I remember just being in awe watching this for the first time, the time in basic training is incredible and R. Lee Ermey was absolutely iconic as Sgt. Hartman, he was a real drill sergeant and wrote most of his own dialogue if I’m not mistaken. Great reaction guys!
What a talented guy! His performance was fantastic. It goes to show how far real life experience goes. That’s why when actors do their research to prepare for their role, if they took the gig seriously, they can come up with some amazing choices.
@@OfficialMediaKnights couldn’t have said it better myself, btw I’m gonna bug u guys till u watch The Raid lol, u will not be disappointed
We got you! It’s on our list 😃
@@OfficialMediaKnights u guys are amazing!
The Raid and The Raid 2 are two of the best action/martial arts movies ever made. They’re absolutely mind blowing in their execution. I cannot recommend them highly enough.
The Vietnam war had started, my uncle and his classmates had just graduated high school. In the parking Lot they had taken off the caps and gowns and taking pictures etc. The buses were there waiting to take them to boot camp. When this movie came out we went to see it. He couldn't even sit through 10 minutes of it. It just brought back such horrible memories for him
My dad said the men on the cargo plane were singing "leaving on a jet plane, don't know IF I'll be back again."
He missed 3 planes to Vietnam bc businessmen kept buying him drinks.. he only went to Nam so the judge didn't take away his Mustang, and he knew he had a low (?) draft number.
Denise said, "I remember (boot camp) being portrayed differently in Forrest Gump". Both movies accurately portray the training of the 2 different services. Gump joined the US Army whereas Joker joined the Marines. In the real world, US Army basic training is markedly different than USMC recruit training. There are many videos on TH-cam that compare & contrast the two.
The marines and the army usually have 2 basic missions...Marines are the tip of the spear...go in kick ass defeat.the enemy and get out...the army kicks ass.too but they usually hang behind after the battle and act as.a.police force so to speak
@@traceywoodward1354 not true!! army have special forces and rangers along with pathfinders in which their motto is first in last out!!! Boot camp is different depending when you go!! they were going to Vietnam!!!
No, they're basically the same, and no physical violence or racial remarks were allowed. In the real world, Hartman would have been court-martialed.
The Army is much, much bigger than the Marine Corp I think you would find more similarities between the 2 if you compare the combat arms portion of the Army training. Essentially the combat arms infantry, artillery, cavalry (tanks), MP tend to do one station training so infantry will go to Fort More (formerly Benning) for both basic and advanced infantry training stay with the same drill sergeants the whole time and military police (MP's) will go through basic and MP training at Fort Lewis WA. For everyone else who isn't combat arms they go through either Fort Jackson in SC or Fort Leonard Wood in MO then usually ship out to another base for their schooling in whatever field they signed up for, so most MI (military intelligence) ends up going to Fort Huachuca in AZ after basic as an example.
In my mind, the Marine Corps smaller, more specialized, and slightly more hardcore. This is shown pretty well in ww2 where the Army handled the large scale invasion of Nazi occupied europe, and the Marines handled the smaller but more intense invasions of the island hopping campaign in the pacific.
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To the question of why they buzz cut the hair; I heard from a vet that they do that so the combat medic can see the damage on a head wound. Hard to sift through the hair.
I'll add my vote to everyone suggesting another Kubrick film DOCTOR STRANGELOVE (1964) but let me recommend two other war films for your consideration, for the navy side DAS BOOT (1981) a harrowing Wolfgang Peterson film about German U-boat sailors in WW2 and another film which I don't think I've seen a single reactor cover and that is THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969) which I think is the single best WW2 flying movie. : )
One of my favorite anti war movies. Have you seen Apocalypse Now? If not then go and watch it.
@The_Bermuda_Nonagon 2:09 Edit:The haircut also has the psychological purpose of stripping recruits of their individuality and promoting the "team" mentality desirable in a platoon of military recruits.
TO BERMUDA: yes yes. That is a must! There are references from that that they don't know that they know I'm almost certain of it.
My dad's favorite review of it said that the first half was perfect, and the second half merely excellent.
Two reasons for the hair. One is that people use hair as an individual trait, and they don't want individuals. It's also part of the tearing down process before bringing everyone back up together. They want to build a team. And whenever a lot of people are living together, things like lice become a problem.
Well-trained sniper. Very well played. Never kill if you can help it. Wound only, to draw out others. You see this in Pvt Ryan where the German sniper doesn't keep shooting Capparzo.
All the reasons you gave are valid. I recently saw a Chinese veteran react to this film with his son. He said that in the 70's, a Chinese soldier was expected to keep his hair short because it made it easier to find and treat a possible head wound gotten in combat
I’ve always assumed that shaving your head removes a disadvantage in combat. Since there’s nothing to grab or light on fire, it can’t be used against you.
And if living in a dorm invites pest, living in holes in the ground without bathing is worse. Typhus from lice historically defeated more armies than bullets. @@RC-nv4bh
If that was true about the lice and head wounds then it would be required throughout your time in the military. The only reason they do it to recruits is to break them down and dehumanize in a way. As you said, they don't want individuals.
@RC-nv4bh true, but after basic, you're allowed to have short to medium length hair. As shown in the movie, so by the time you would ever see combat, your hair has grown back out.
The movie's battle scenes were shot in Liverpool, England, amongst abandoned and dilapidated harborfronts-nowhere near Vietnam. I think you are right to feel this movie had two distinct parts. Kubrick (IMO) was trying to capture how we prepared young people for war but still dropped them unprepared for the way Vietnam was fought. And all the absurdities of those times and that conflict.
I didn't watch this movie until 1995. I was already out of the Marine Corps and was watching this with my wife. I was laughing most the way through the boot camp part of the movie. My wife asked why it was funny to me and I replied that when I was in boot camp, it was exactly like that.
USMC 1986 - 1994
Yup. Laughed my butt off for the first 45 minutes of the movie. Alot in nostalgia, mostly in relief because I already lived through it . . .
Shortly after this movie was released, R Lee Ermey was in another dark movie. He was in Mississippi Burning with Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, and Frances McDormand. It’s about a murder investigation during desegregation of the south (no spoilers). Great movie, just dark
This was the first war movie I ever sat down and watched. I remember being 8 or 9 and stealing my dads VHS out his bedroom to watch. I remember being scared of any and all war movies for damn years!
Wasn't until I was 17 I sat down and watched the film again and appreciated just how excellent it is
Wow, that's a young age to watch this!! It's crazy how much our understanding changes when we watch something with child-like innocence vs when we see the same thing but as adults.
This is definitely the kind of movie (like most of Kubrick's stuff that I've seen lol) that needs multiple rewatches!
@@OfficialMediaKnights HURAAAAA TO MY MARINE CORPS
@@OfficialMediaKnights this is MILITARY LIFE... And they're VERY STANDARDIZED as to how they look, and carry themselves..... More so than in the MARINE CORPS........ THEY ARE THE ELITE FIGHTING FORCE of all branches of the MILITARY.... THE REASON THE BEHAVE THE WAY THAT THEY DO IS BECAUSE THEIR TRAINING THE NEXT QUAD OF MARINES TO BE TOUGHER THAN THE LAST.... SO THEY ARE LOUD 📢 AND IN YOUR FACE, THE MARINES WANT KILLERS, WARRIORS, NOT WOKE SISSY BOYS.... THEY'RE LOOKING FOR THE BEST OF THE BEST..... EVEN IF MEANS BREAKING THEN DOWN TO NOTHING...... THIS IS HOW IT HAS BEEN SINCE THE FOUNDING OF THE UNITED STATES MILITIA...
@@OfficialMediaKnights ohhhhhhh all of it.... Is 💯% because they actually did a video of a former Marine and he pretty much said that the roasting of the recruites into the MARINES is really like that accept in the REAL MARINES you have two more DIs (Drill Instructors) YELLING IN YOUR FACE...
@@OfficialMediaKnights the whole thing about sleeping with your rifle and giving it a woman's name is 💯% accurate... Including the Oath they must recite to it, and the DI.... "This is my rifle there panty like them, but this one is mine." That's 💯
The shot that killed Cowboy hit his dog tags as it exited his chest. Animal Mother represents what Pyle could have become had he not lost it in boot camp, Gunny did say he was born again hard. Mickey Mouse is throughout the film. Gunny says “What’s this Mickey Mouse shit?!”, as he walks into the head before being shot by Pyle. Mickey is on a shelf or window in the press room. They sing the Mickey song at the end.
In a sense, the use of Mickey Mouse is Kubrick saying this isn’t Disneyland. Life isn’t Fantasyland. There’s no happy ending to any war. Subtle and very Kubrickian. Genius.
The war in Vietnam was Mickey Mouse.
I always felt like Pyle represented MacNamara's Morons.
@@davisworth5114no ..the war was run by Johnson and MacNamara from the White House. Johnson...that lying prick...did learn from FDR and he didn't let the Generals do their job. Now, considering the South and the corruption and multiple govts... The war likely would've had the same results. But...there likely wouldn't have been so many dead American boys.
The basic training ground is an EX RAF airfield used as a real British Army Camp. The Extras were mostly real British Territorial Army Soldiers from the camp.
You hit it on the head, unintentionally. There are two distinct parts of the movie with two completely different feelings. Just as training for combat with simulated blood and death feels different from actually trying to kill the people who are trying to kill you. It's two totally different worlds, and I think Kubrick showed this in a masterful way
How cool to see Matthew Modine ( aka Private JT Joker Davis ) in this film. He is still acting in great roles … most recently as Dr Martin Brenner in Stranger Things ! Your commentary is always fantastic, thanks Media Knights !
His role in Stranger Things was fantastic!
I never really felt any disconnection between the two parts of this movie. Once Joker was solidified as the pivot, it felt natural when the underlying theme remained exactly the same but the physical setting and all the pieces on the metaphorical chess board were more or less inverted from the first part. But very interesting to hear different perspectives - as is frequently the case with Kubrick movies 😄
That’s why his movies are regarded as masterpieces. He put in the artistic choice back into filmmaking. And here we are, all of us, having a conversation about this piece of art and all of us with our own perceptions. Talk about genius!
The city battle scenes were filmed in an area of London, UK, called the Isle of Dogs, which was a huge abandoned area on the River Thames that was due to be demolished and be built anew on. Kubrick lit some smoke, put a few palm trees around, made buildings look shot up, put some appropriate damaged signage around the place and magically transformed it into a Vietnamese cityscape.
You are correct it was filmed in East london. But it wasn't the Isle dogs, but in the London Borough of Newham, about 3 miles away from the docklands area. The area where it was filmed was also used a bond film in the late 70s
The area was chosen because the buildings that being demolished were original and designed by the same architect who did buildings in Vietnam, so they shared similarities. The location today is a massive shopping complex called galleons reach.
It looks nothing like a Vietnamese city, not even close, this film has a very phony feel for those of us who were there. The VN War was deadly serious, this is like make-believe, and no one ever smokes boo.
@@davisworth5114 The area was chosen because the buildings in that location (Beckton gasworks) were designed by the same architects who also designed buildings in the city of Hue Vietnam, plus you're thinking of the jungle aspect of the Vietnam war, there was also a lot of street fighting in cities and Hue had a month long battle between US troops and the VC, this film fits in perfectly as the location was perfect for it at the time.
It was the old gas works in Beckton E6, East London.
@@cliffcarr8206 Where Gallons reach currently sits.
Pvt Pyle's storyline, whilst short, is probably one of the most tragic and saddest story ever written.
Some time ago I've read a theory about him, saying that he didn't die from the gunshot on the toiletseat but the night he received the beating from his mates. Arguably the hit that "killed" him was delivered by Joker, as he destroyed his trust and his soul as a whole. That's what he's become afterwards : a soldier without a soul whose only purpose is to destroy his enemies. And so in his mind he does, killing the Gunnery Sgt who's been molesting him the entire time, and himself, as a way to destroy the killer he had become, but never ever was 😢
The combat scenes were all shot in England. Kubrick didn't like to travel, so he had palm trees flown in, etc. They did the scene with the sniper at an old factory complex that was due to be demolished.
An interesting story told by R
Lee Ermy was that one day Kubrick wanted to go scouting for some places to do certain scenes, so he got Ermy and some cinematographers and took them out in his wife's rover. While driving, he was continually talking about the shots he wanted and pointing out nearby spots that might be good (and not looking at the road.) They eventually went off and rolled down a bank a couple of times ending up back on the tires. Without missing a beat, Kubrick kicked out what was left of the windshield, hopped up on the roof, and continued to point out distant areas that might work. By the time the rest made it out of the vehicle, he asked if they had gotten all that, said it was time to get back to the primary production set (5 miles away), hopped down and started walking back the way they had come. They eventually got picked up by a motorist and given a ride back. Later that day, Kubrick's wife was going around the set looking for her rover, saw Ermy and one of the other crew involved in the wreck, bandaged and bruised and simply asked them where Stanley had wrecked it. Then, told them never to let Stanley drive.
R. Lee Ermey is the drill instructor, and he was a real life one during the vietnam era so he was perfect for the role. They initially only hired him as a consultant for the actor they were trying to use but when they asked him to "show" the actor how to be more authentic they saw right away how good he was and replaced the actor with him.
I honestly like the way the movie was put together. No one just ends up in a Theatre of war and is expected to be a soldier. It has to be instilled in a person. You have to believe that you can do the things expected of yourself in a war. The thin Red Line covers this a lot more with the characters internal dialogue when encountering these types of situations. Pretty good Kubrick in my opinion. He just had a lot of good competition with Vietnam films in that decade.
This is definitely the best reaction to FMJ I've seen so far. You did a great job not not only responding to the scenes, but also reading the intention behind the shots. Keep it up!
Thank you for the massive compliment! It means the world to us. Glad to hear you enjoyed 😄
💯🎯
Went through boot camp in 1983, and with the exception of this not showing the other drill instructors that are present, this was spot on. As a senior drill instructor he was the nice one. The juniors were the animals. They often explained we would be born again, and that in a sense was true. Upon Graduation, you saw the world with a new vision. Side note, these are Marines, not soldiers, different mission, different mind set. I did not know this was a negative movie about Marines the first time I watched it; I thought it was hilarious. Marines are uncompromising, and highly motivated. My wife had never been around military people, so she was horrified. Within my platoon we motivated recruits with extra curricular activity at night, and it works. To quote Smokey from the movie "Friday, "Peer pressure is a motherf***er". The change in all recruits when they get through boot camp usually has the effect of bonding them to every Marine that has existed. I didn't realize the extent to which I believed in some of the Corps values until my child at five wanted to quit ballet. I told her that there are three reasons to quit.
1. You succeed
2. You had a change of mission
3. You died
My wife thought that was a little harsh, I didn't. I always loved Eleanor Roosevelt's quote about Marines,
“The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!”
Semper Fi
Full metal jacket is the most realistic war movie ever produced! The setting was mid to late 1960's when President Johnson ramped up the need for boots on the ground in Vietnam. That meant the higher rise of draftees into military service mixed in with volunteers who received 12 weeks of military doctrine that was crammed into 8 weeks of boot camp. As you can see, D.I's used every means possible to get their message across to mainly highschool age thinking kids within a short period of time. In the ending, the platoon reverted back to singing children's age songs.
In a controlled environment there's structure, in a uncontrolled environment there's a lack of structure. That's the 2nd half of the movie. It showed how quickly the PIC (person in charge) can quickly get replaced which actually happened a lot during the War in Vietnam.
There's no Glory in war. Thats what sets this movie apart from others, because of the realistic destruction of life on different levels. Your forced to move on, realizing your just a number.
Hope everyone understands that, that this is very similar to what soldiers went through who served in military conflicts the US has been involved with since a actual declared war by the United States Congress back in 1940's.
My late father was a green beret in the Vietnam war. He was an explosives expert who did black ops with a small troupe, so they were usually on their own behind enemy lines, searching for and disarming enemy explosives and using their own when needed. He once told me a story about the marines this movie was based off of. He said that they were "...boisterous, loud,.... and stupid". (His words, not mine)
So his troupe decided to teach them a lesson. One night while the marines were lying down and asleep. My dad and his men snuck into their camp, put knives against their throats, woke them up, and told them off for "...all the bullshit they were doing and being too damn noisy". He told the guy he was holding that if THEY could get that close to put a knife at their throats, then the enemies could too. It seemed like a harsh lesson, and really stuck with me of all the stories he told me about. I figure it stuck with those guys too, probably. Not many forget encounters with what they call "Spooks".
And you believed it lmfao
and then obama came and shook his hand and everybody clapped
13:44 This (almost) exact scenario happened when I was in Navy basic training. During calisthenics, one of the guys was cutting corners a little, and another company commander (lovingly called Godzilla) happened to spot him and informed Chief Long (our CC). So Chief Long bought him a bottle of Coke and told him to sit down, tip his cap back, and enjoy that soda while we all worked out. And he better drink it slow. We were all pissed at the time, but later that day we all thought it was funny.
Same guy during our final run fell way behind, so I dropped back and ran with him at his pace for a few seconds, and told him "We started this thing together, we're gonna finish it together. Let's catch 'em!" And that's what we did, and the whole company finished the run under time and as a unit.
I was a Track & Field guy in High School, so in 1980 NAVY Boot Camp in San Diego - all of the physical training was easy, compared to the Marines who RAN every day! There they were - not far from us - to the East of the Naval Training Center, the Marines were to the East and South just North of the SD Air Port. I honestly thought it was carzy that there were a few people so out of shape that they threw up after running, I couldn't believe it! After Boot Camp, I flew to Japan to join up with the USS Midway Aircraft Carrer for 4 years on that Ship.
You spoke about how brutal the basic training was. Yep, it is. I was DS (directing staff) on a number of recruit courses in the Canadian army. We often quoted the Romans; "Bleed in training, sweat in battle."
My Grandfather was in Vietnam and to this day he never really talks about it. The only time I have ever heard him speak of it is when he is talking to other Veterans.
Retired soldier here. After Vietnam, we recognized two things. Gorilla warfare is now the name of the game, and dehumanizing was bad.
2:15 Yes, there actually is a reason for shaving the head (beyond the uniformity and psych stuff for training): if a soldier has a head wound, it's easier to see, evaluate, and treat the wound without a bunch of hair in the way. Plus it makes it far less likely to have to deal with an outbreak of lice in a barracks, or to find ticks hiding on your scalp.
Can’t tell you how excited I was to see y’all reacting to this one. A surreal film for sure. Kubrick’s other war movie was one of his early ones - an anti-war film set in WWI. Paths Of Glory.
Paths Of Glory is a real gem. Spartacus is too. 6,000 extras!
I think the pace of the movie mirrors a common theme in the military: hurry up, and wait. There is always a sense of urgency throughout training and preparation whether it be bootcamp, specialized training schools or academies. After that, life is slow and mundane until that SHTF moment happens!
I remember being blown away when I heard that the majority of this movie was filmed in London.
🔔 TMK: 19:24 scene in the movie (but not in this edit) it's VERY interesting (and foreshadowing) that when the Drill Sgt. orders the men back to their bunks they more or less IGNORE him.
I dig y'alls analysis of the cinematography throughout the film
Thanks man! That means the world to us!
This is not just a war film, with the US going over to fight in Vietnam, it's an anti war film as well as being a cautionary tale about the horrors of war and how it affects someone.
It's interesting because I (Denise) absolutely perceived it the same way. Ari on the other hand felt more that the film was taking a more neutral depiction of war. The film is layered with so much subtext, I feel like your perception of it will also align with ideologies and personal morality values. It's so fascinating the way so many people have perceived this in nuanced but different ways!
Is Joker a killer of lies?
You know a lot of war films that are pro war?
Liberal
@@Chimponaut "300", "Destination Tokyo", and "The Green Berets" could be considered "pro war". Or at least they make war sound like some glorious and righteous adventure.
"Platoon" is another really good movie on the Vietnam war that released right around the same time as this one. The two approach the subject matter from completely different perspectives, but both are amazing works in their own right.
Basic training serves two fundamental purposes.
1. To learn, and acquire basic skills to navigate within the framework of the Marine Corps.
2. More importantly to break you down. To unlearn bad habits that can cause you to fail at the moment of truth. Your fight, or flight response is basically fine tuned so that you have the proper conscious reaction to fight, or run depending on a particular situation.Freezing is not an option, you freeze , you die, or your brothers die, and it will be your fault.
Marine Corps Recruit Training is in San Diego, CA and Parris Island, SC. R. Lee Ermey served in the US Marine Corps as a Drill Instructor during Vietnam. This was adapted from the novel "The Short Timers". I did my Marine Corps training in California and was stationed overseas
When it comes to the shaving of hair question, I saw an ex-chinese soldier explain that they always kept their hair shaved to be able to quickly identify head trauma during a battle, since if you had hair it’s much harder to see what happened.
However the way my grandfather explained it (who worked his way up to Major in the Marines), the US did it mainly as a way to standardize them, to make them almost “reborn” as shaved like a baby & being baptized in fire & trauma like Marines boot camp is. To make them one, in a way.
3 things you can be sure to notice in Stanley Kubrick:
-Amazing cinematography combined with solid sets.
-They love taking their sweet time.
-They will leave you thinking for days.
.....and dark humor! Don't forget the dark humor! 😆 (I suppose the only joke in 2001 is him reading the toilet instructions.....although "I think you should take a stress pill...." is pretty funny! lol.
And personally, I also get a cold detached feeling from the atmosphere in most of his films. Its hard to describe but he creates a unique 'Kubrick language' with the tone, visuals and pace of editing (he also did most of his own editing esp later in his career)
thanks for sharing your reaction to the movie, I saw it at the cinema when it was released, there was a fair bit of publicity and newspaper articles in the London press when Kubrick was shooting this movie because amazingly the whole Vietnam second half section of the film was shot in East London. Kubrick lived in England and he famously feared flying and travelling so any movie he made was going to be filmed near his house just outside London, so preferably at the film studios at Elstree near London which is where he created the interior and snow bound exterior of the Overlook Hotel for the movie The Shining. So for Full Metal Jacket Kubrick used a large piece of industrial land in East London which housed a derelict gas works and many of the industrial buildings there were dressed to look like Vietnam, real palm trees were imported and planted all over the set, the palm trees looked bedraggled as they did not survive so well but that added to the war torn effect and because the gas works buildings were due for demolition , Kubrick had free range to destroy them and set fire to them etc. The film is powerful and gripping, the visuals are stunning and Kubrick and his art director, cinematographer and production designers worked a total miracle in creating a very convincing war torn Vietnam on waste ground in East London!
There is nothing that I can say that likely hasn't been said already! Kubrick's decision to use a real drill instructor made this movie....boot camp part of this movie is a masterpiece!
It's amazing how the first half of the movie while literally nothing is happening beyond training is better than 99% of all other action movies!
"How can you shoot women and children?"
"It's easy, you just don't lead them so much."
This is one of the best lines in the movie, that I think probably goes over the head of most people who have ever watched this film. The concept, is that if you're shooting at a moving target you have to shoot where the target is going to be, not where it's at. Which is called "leading your target". Women and children don't run as fast as men. So you don't have to lead them so much.
I absolutely love watching movie reactions of Full Metal Jacket when the reviewers are not familiar with the movie. I honestly can say ya'll had the most genuine reaction I have seen. Yes this was Hollywood, but Ermy (a former drill instructor) brought you a taste of what every Marine goes through in recruit training. If it were easy then every body would do it. It's a special glutten of punishment that forms the Marines, SEALs, Rangers, and more. The scary thing is they (all of them) are your absolute best friend, and will give anyone the shirt off their back. BUT, they are the most terrifying enemy to have and anyone on the wrong side should not sleep well at night. Hooah, Hoorah, and most importantly Oorah M'r F'rs! Love it!
Watching it in the theatre, it felt like two different movies to me at the time. I also liked the first half better. The mid 80s saw several good films dealing with the Viet Nam War in different ways. Oliver Stone's "Platoon" was very good but very "Hollywood", and a tiny budgeted little film called "Hamburger Hill", which was largely overlooked, was outstanding as well.
RIP R Lee Emery a true marine he was awesome
I highly recommend checking out Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, one of the best antiwar movie, and Kubrick at his angriest in theme, I love FMJ I think watching the movie again made me love the second half even more I think there’s so much depth in that second and I feel like it’s so much in the first viewing but I do think the first half is tighter and more focused
This is the closest thing to Marine boot camp that I went through. Difference being there are 4 Drill Instructors, not just 1. R. Lee Ermy was just being himself. They stated 8 weeks long. I think that was just during the Viet Nam war. Boot camp was 16 weeks when I went through. The USMC is the most respected fighting force in the world. I find it interesting that you know so much about how to do things.
The beating with soap bars-wrapped in towels? It’s called a “blanket party”.
You could not watch a better war movie !!!! R.lee ermey .. the Sargent was for real and Vincent d'onofrio was amazing . Such a great movie
You guys continue to be great reactors, that was fantastic. I usually stop Full Metal Jacket reactions after they leave boot camp but not with yours. I always say the first half of Full Metal Jacket is Kubrick's last masterpiece! :D Every Kubrick movie is completely different from each other, but he did two other war movies that are essential: "Paths Of Glory" (his first undisputed masterpiece, incredible movie) and "Dr. Strangelove" (i'm sure you've heard of that one). Dr. Strangelove is a war comedy, a satire about nuclear war. Paths Of Glory is the most incredible WW1 movie ever, incredible (and short!). But the Kubrick movie I'm dying for you guys to see is "A Clockwork Orange", the demented, dazzling, disturbing dystopian masterpiece that will blow your minds and leave you with plenty to say and react to. PS: Amazing you got to meet Vincent D'Onofrio!!!!!! This was his first movie, this was what put him on the map!
P.S. LOVE what you were saying about the actors not "overselling" the lines and just letting the dialog do the work. Brilliant observation.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It means the world to us that you enjoyed the reaction throughout. This movie did exactly what it was meant to do and is having us engage in a meaningful conversation. The acting was superb and the cinematography…I mean cmon…you could grab a still frame of some of these shots and print them because they look like a masterpiece. It was great learning from Vincent D’Onofrio. Such a talented and generous guy!
Kubrick was a perfectionist and a genius.....EYES WIDE SHUTwas a favourite for me...the cine photography was amazing!
Facts on Kubrick
Amazing at his job. He directed the moon landing, and people still believe it till this day.
This has to be one the best reactions to this movie I've seen. Your thoughts and analyses at the end was very well done and I enjoyed how much thought you both put into it. You've more than earned my subscription
I don't know if you take suggestions but I would love to see your reaction and thoughts on Generation Kill. It's sort of similar to Full Metal Jacket and has a very unique atmosphere and way of telling it's story that I've never seen anywhere else
Thank you! That is a massive compliment. It made our day! Adding Generation Kill to our list. We have a pretty long one at the moment but we’ll get to it!
I think the disconnect between the 1st and 2nd parts is because Joker tried to convince himself that what happened to Leonard was NOT also happening to everyone else, including Joker himself. He jokes about it a lot as a defense mechanism, but he only fully realizes it when he has to shoot the girl sniper. And at the end, he says (as Leonard did) that he is in a world of S**T - but he has come to terms with it.
Agreed. Also, in the raid on the base he says that he hopes they're just fucking around and that he isn't ready for this shit. At the end he says he is not afraid.
Having grown up in the “drill instructor” lifestyle I made the egregious mistake of allowing myself to let that spill over into raising my daughter, sort of. I introduced her to the non-swearing slams in a totally humorous way. “You disgust me. You are a waste of oxygen.” She later took that to fifth grade recess and was slamming one of her boy classmates. I got a call at work.
If you enjoyed this movie, try to track down the boys from Company C from 1977. It’s a Vietnam film very similar to this one but more comedic and also features R Lee Ermey as their drill instructor. It’s a fantastic movie.
Do Jesus real nice for me 😂😂
You guys did a great job at explaining why this movie is such a classic
This was during that time in the 80's when war movies were being made quite a bit. The interesting aspect of this one is that it's two different movies, yet still works. If you two haven't already, check out Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Born on the 4th of July, Casualties of War just to name a few, but definitely check out Platoon, great performances all around, similar to this movie. Good Morning Vietnam with Robin Williams was also very good, and gives a different perspective on things. Glad you two enjoyed this movie.
Heartbreak Ridge is absent from your list.
@@LowcountryJoe2 So is Uncommon Valor, The Killing Fields, Missing In Action, A Soldier's Story, there are more. I only listed what came to mind, wasn't aiming for a complete list. lol
Some points:
First, I really appreciate the empathy and outsider's perspective on both the experience of boot camp (which was highly realistic, by the way, except that it wasn't brutal enough) to that of combat (likewise.)
Second, some critique - this also is probably inevitable with the outsider's perspective.
One thing: every time you said "Army" or "Soldier," it was like fingernails on a chalkboard, because you never saw one trace of the Army or one Soldier. This was the Marine Corps and they were Marines - getting the two mixed up is like calling France Germany and French people Germans. They are different cultures with different histories, different ways of doing things, different identities. I'm a retired Marine. If you want to piss a Marine off, call him a Soldier (if you just want to confuse a Soldier, call him a Marine.)
Also, you seemed to think that the disconnect between the two halves of the film was a weakness. I think it was deliberate, and realistic. Boot camp, hard as it is, is still very different from the real thing. It can't completely prepare you for the real thing. The first time you smell dead people and have to put them in body bags, the first time you realize that you are going to die - you don't know whether it will be in five seconds or five decades, and you don't know how, or how much advance notice you'll have - you feel conned, manipulated, cheated, and stupid. You realize that up to that point you thought real life was like the movies, and it's not. It is even more jarring than that transition from boot camp to Saigon was.
Third, kudos on your noticing of the details - the growing precision and unity of the marching recruits as they progressed through boot camp (my senior drill instructor was fond of bellowing that he wanted to hear "ONE BIG BOOT!"; gallows humor is a vital psychological defense mechanism common to people in combat, cops, firefighters, EMTs, hospice workers, and others who have to work with stress and tragedy; it was unrealistic that Animal Mother didn't run out of ammunition for his machine gun in about twenty seconds.
If this is a side of things you'd like to see more of, I strongly recommend "The Pacific" and "Fury."
The music was the soundtrack for Vietnam itself, not just the movie.
Now that you're seen it once, do some research, especially on Emery, he's an amazing story.
Apocalypse Now is also like this, seeming like it's split into 2 different movies.
Pvt Paulas transformation gets me every time …from a weak man into a psychological wreck
One of the best Anti War Movies
Thanks Guys,you have to watch The Thin Red Line,for myself the best of the best war movie
Absolutely agreed!! Seeing these men change due to all the things they've had to endure, is absolutely heartbreaking.
Also thank you so much for that recommendation, definitely adding it to our list!!
Yes! The Thin Red Line is my fave as well. An unconventional war film that's a beautiful work of art.
The door gunner on the chopper, he was the first choice for the Drill Instructor.
But, when R. Lee (at this point he was just a military consultant for the film) saw/ heard the dialog for the scene he was not happy with it. R. Lee took it upon himself to get into uniform and do an impromptu scene for the boot camp part of the film... Kubrick was so impressed he gave him the Drill Instructor part immediately.
As a US Vet, I can say that this is true. Boot Camp is an initiation into an elite group. And the training stays with you all your life. Also, the soap doesn't leave a bruise
I've read somewhere that Stanley Cubrick doesn't like flying so he had loads of palm trees imported to the UK and filmed it under large flood lights to get the full moon night shots. Great reaction, thank you.
Vincent D’Onofrio, Leonard Lawrence, was especially amazing in the “The Cell.”
He was also the "Bug" in the movie Men in Black.