Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 drama movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, with a running time of 1h 57m. It stars Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin and Vincent D'Onofrio.
Stanley Kubrick splits his Vietnam film cleanly in two. The first half locks recruits inside a Parris Island boot camp, where drill instructor Hartman grinds boys into Marines through profane, relentless verbal assault, with the soft-spoken Private Pyle as his favorite target. The second half drops the survivors into the rubble of Hue during the Tet Offensive, where trained discipline meets the disorder of real combat. Matthew Modine's Joker narrates from behind a camera and a 'Born to Kill' helmet, observing how the machinery of war reshapes the men who feed it. Cold, precise, and unnerving.
Quick answers
What is Full Metal Jacket about?
Stanley Kubrick splits his Vietnam film cleanly in two. The first half locks recruits inside a Parris Island boot camp, where drill instructor Hartman grinds boys into Marines through profane, relentless verbal assault, with the soft-spoken Private Pyle as his favorite target. The second half drops the survivors into the rubble of Hue during the Tet Offensive, where trained discipline meets the disorder of real combat. Matthew Modine's Joker narrates from behind a camera and a 'Born to Kill' helmet, observing how the machinery of war reshapes the men who feed it. Cold, precise, and unnerving.
When was Full Metal Jacket released?
Full Metal Jacket was released on 26 June 1987.
How long is Full Metal Jacket?
Full Metal Jacket runs 1h 57m.
Who made Full Metal Jacket?
Full Metal Jacket was directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Where can I watch Full Metal Jacket?
Full Metal Jacket is available on Tubi TV, YouTube Free, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home and Google Play Movies.
Where to watch Full Metal Jacket
Watch free with ads: Tubi TV, YouTube Free
Rent: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Google Play Movies, Plex, Spectrum On Demand, YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Cast
- Matthew Modine as Pvt. Joker
- Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Pvt. Pyle
- R. Lee Ermey as Gny. Sgt. Hartman
- Dorian Harewood as Eightball
- Kevyn Major Howard as Rafterman
- Arliss Howard as Pvt. Cowboy
- Ed O'Ross as Lt. Touchdown
- John Terry as Lt. Lockhart
- Kieron Jecchinis as Crazy Earl
- Kirk Taylor as Payback
- Tim Colceri as Doorgunner
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Full Metal Jacket in our writing
- Companion guide: Military Sci-Fi
- Companion guide: The Vietnam War
A few thoughts on Full Metal Jacket
Barefoot Gen renders war's horror through a child's eyes, unflinching about what violence does to ordinary people. For the crucible of brutal training that forges the first half, the manga Umizaru follows recruits broken down and rebuilt by a merciless rescue-diver program, chasing the same theme of institutions remaking the individual.
Vietnam told from the mud and the fear
Full Metal Jacket marches from boot camp into the rubble of Hue, and these films put you beside the soldiers who fought Vietnam. Jungle patrols, doomed hilltop assaults, a homecoming turned inside out and the chaos of real combat all trace the same war, told from the mud and the fear rather than the map room.
The scars war leaves in the men who fight it
Full Metal Jacket studies how training reshapes the men who feed the machine, and these films follow what the war leaves behind. Veterans haunted by what they saw, friendships fractured by combat and survivors trying to rebuild ordinary lives all carry the psychological weight that outlasts the shooting.
Counting the human cost of war
Full Metal Jacket counts the human cost of war without flinching, and these stories widen that lens across comics and film. A child's Hiroshima, Cambodia's killing fields, a modern country torn apart and battles fought far from home all refuse to look away, showing what organized violence does to the people caught inside it.