Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

I saw it with my girlfriend. There probably wasn't a whole lot of making-out afterward...
not for a couple hours anyway.

I saw it with a buddy of mine. No making out for us either.

Ha!

I just watched Full Metal Jacket and have the review ready to go. Earlier today I rewrote some of my review of Platoon. After seeing Full Metal Jacket I realized Platoon was pretty amazing.

Was this a first time for you with FMJ, Rules? (I know you sometimes like to re-watch movies you saw a long time ago and write reviews for them.)

My daddy took me to see Full Metal Jacket, no making out there either. Maybe a little drinking

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Gustav Hasford(novel), Stanley Kubrick(screenplay)
Cast: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio
Genre: Action, War, Drama

Full Metal Jacket is literally two films in one. I was surprised when the opening scene at a Marine training camp in the U.S. went on for a long time. I expected that to be a typical prologue scene that sets up the characters before they go off to Vietnam. But no, the Marine boot camp scene was 45 minutes long and could stand on it's own as a fine short film. I thought the boot camp stuff was very well done and allowed the audience to see what it would be like to train as a Marine. And it's tough!


Without a doubt in my mind the star of this film is R. Lee Ermey who plays the Drill Sergeant. Ermey was a real Marine and served in Vietnam...and this guy has the kahunas to make this role memorable!


When we get to the end of the first act, there's an earth shattering climax, in the training camp bathroom...After that I felt like it was the emotional end of the film. But no, from there the boys go off to Nam and that's where the film breaks down for me. The production was troubled with big delays between shooting and the film production went on for a couple years. Maybe that's why all the scenes in Vietnam seem disjointed, like vignette stories that aren't stretched together. None of the scenes really lead into the next scene. They simply take place and then another unrelated scene starts. This lack of unified vision is odd for Kubrick.


Even odder is the hooker scenes. First they encounter a prostitute on the street and in broken English she advertises her talents. OK it's kind of funny and it's a decent scene, but nothing much happens. Latter on we get a second prostitute scene, this time with her Vietnamese pimp. The same dialogue takes place as the first scene and once again nothing much happens as a result of the encounter. I expected the pimp or the hooker to pull out a weapon and kill a few Marines. But nothing.

The entire film was shot in England. The city battle scenes, while visually dramatic with all the bombed out buildings on fire, looks like something lifted from the battle of Britain WWII. I just didn't feel like a battle in Vietnam.


I have to say Matthew Modine's smart alack character rubbed me the wrong way. I never felt like he was a solider, instead he seemed like a TV actor stuck in a movie who spent his time grinning at the camera.

The first part of the film is powerful, but the scenes in Vietnam are just so so.



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I've seen Platoon a couple times, but somehow I never got around to watching Full Metal Jacket, so that was the first time.

Sounds like we had similar opinions, Rules. I love the first half and as I said, sometimes I've only watched the first half as a stand alone movie. (Hope I didn't post any spoilers in that regard in my past post).

Rumor has it that almost all of F. Lee Ermey's performance was improvised (especially the parts in the barracks) and he was basically repeating his own routine and that of his colleagues as a boot camp drill sergeant. For several scenes, not even the actors knew what was coming next and they just responded. This all added up to a very realistic and sincere looking experience.

P.S. If Cricket and I ever get to watch either of these films together... afterward... me love him long time!

You were fine with the spoilers no worries. What do you think about the second half in Vietnam?

I heard that too about Ermey. I guess he did a few other war films, that I will be checking out...along with John Candy and sci fi too.

That review makes me so horny baby

For years I didn't care for the second half. As you said there was nothing really endearing about Pvt. Joker to make us want to follow his story. (Well, at one point he seems compassionate for trying to help Pvt. Pyle, but then in the beating scene, Joker is the one who beats him hardest of all. So any feelings of connection to Joker as a compassionate person kind of go out the window at that point.)

In time, I watched the second half over again (also by itself) and grew to see it as it's own entity. Kind of like watching a sequel - where it starts where the first leaves off, but is a different film.

I bet you guys can guess what the next Nam movie I watch is?

The Deer Hunter?

Hamburger Hill?
Or (what I discovered is the oft discussed one on this site...) The Thin Red Line?

Gosh, there's a bunch:
Casualties of War (one of my faves!)
We Were Soldiers (starring Mel)

Or maybe Apocalypse Now. Uncommon Valor is another good one.

Director: Hobart Henley
Cast: Conrad Nagel, Sidney Fox, Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Zasu Pits
Genre: Drama
Length: 68 minutes

A love triangle involving two sisters: Marianne (Sidney Fox) and Laura (Bette Davis). While the bad sister Marianne falls in love with a fast talking con man named Valentine (Humphrey Bogart) who's after the rich fathers money. The good sister loves Dr Lindley
(Conrad Nagel) who's also good but loves the bad sister....Will Laura end up with Lindley? Will the father get scammed?

I've seen many of Bette Davis films, this one is a lesser known movie and was her film debut. This is one of the few films she made at Universal before being released from her contract and finding success at Warner Brothers.

Surprise! Bette Davis is not the bad sister, she's the plain dutiful sister who falls in love with her older and pretty sisters boyfriend. She does a decent job of acting but was upset over her first performance. In the film she looks rather drab and spends her time moping about.


At only 68 minutes long, this film breezes by and is a fun watch. It dates back to the beginning of the talkie films. Nice film, if you like oldies.

Now I know the Bad Sister from 1931 did not take place in 1960's - 70's Viet Nam! (...or did it? ...will she love me long time?)

Cool some recommendations I seen it long ago, I'm unsure about that one, the Russian roulette scene is intense!

I tried to get Hamburger Hill but my library didn't have it, but I'll find it I thought The Thin Red Line was about WWII? I could be mistaken it's been a long time since I seen it. Casualties of War was a very powerful film! I might be too squeamish to watch that one, I know my wife isn't a fan of that film. But yeah awesome movie. I do want to see We Were Soldiers, I never have yet.

Apocalypse Now bingo! Have either of you seen both the original cut and the Redox directors cut? Opinions?

I think I've only seen the original cut