Great Scene: “Full Metal Jacket”
Private Pyle declares “I am in a world of shit” and his subsequent actions prove the point.
Private Pyle declares “I am in a world of shit” and his subsequent actions prove the point.
The 1987 movie Full Metal Jacket, screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Michael Herr & Gustav Hasford. IMDB plot summary:
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
On night patrol, Private J.T. ‘Joker’ David hears a strange sound coming from the barrack’s head.
Background:
- Gustav Hasford began working on “The Short Timers” (the book on which this film is based) while serving in Vietnam, and based many of the characters (and names) on soldiers he served with.
- Michael Herr, a very close friend of Stanley Kubrick, helped write much of the screenplay, particularly the part set in Vietnam. His contributions to the script are based largely on his own experiences as a reporter covering the war. Like Joker and Rafterman he was essentially freelance and allowed to travel anywhere in the country. Additionally, the scene where Joker and Rafterman watch the crazed gunner in the chopper machine-gun civilians is taken directly from “Dispatches”, Herr’s memoir of his experiences.
- The 7.62mm full metal jacket round that Pvt. Pyle refers to was the standard infantry round leading up to the Vietnam War. It was used in the M-14 infantry rifle that was designed during WWII and manufactured up until the Vietnam war era. Although the M-14 was used in the Vietnam War the M-16 had replaced it as the standard rifle. The M-16 uses a 5.56mm round.
The transformation of Private Leonard ‘Gomer Pyle’ Lawrence from innocent oaf to demented killing machine reaches its apex in this incredibly tense scene, made all the more powerful by the inevitability of the violence we have anticipated throughout the movie’s first act.
Kubrick was known to stretch the boundaries of what is considered a “screenplay.” Here is the above scene from what is reported to be the script for Full Metal Jacket.
It reads more like a novel or short story. Since Kubrick was the director, he could create a script any way he wanted as long as it made sense to him and his crew. In fact, Kubrick worked with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford on production draft of the script. Here is one page:
For much more on the making of Full Metal Jacket, go here to read a comprehensive article in the always excellent site Cinephilia & Beyond.
To read all of the entries in the Great Scene archive, go here.