Product Description

The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1642 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2007-05-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 116 minutes

Features

• The story of an 18-year-old marine recruit named Private Joker - from his carnage-and-machismo boot camp to his climactic involvement in the heavy fighting in Hue during the 1968 Tet Offensive. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R Age: 085391163114 UPC: 085391163114 Manufacturer No: 116311

Amazon.com
Stanley Kubrick's 1987, penultimate film seemed to a lot of people to be contrived and out of touch with the '80s vogue for such intensely realistic portrayals of the Vietnam War as Platoon and The Deer Hunter. Certainly, Kubrick gave audiences plenty of reason to wonder why he made the film at all: essentially a two-part drama that begins on a Parris Island boot camp for rookie Marines and abruptly switches to Vietnam (actually shot on sound stages and locations near London), Full Metal Jacket comes across as a series of self-contained chapters in a story whose logical and thematic development is oblique at best. Then again, much the same was said about Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, a masterwork both enthralled with and satiric about the future's role in the unfinished business of human evolution. In a way, Full Metal Jacket is the wholly grim counterpart of 2001. While the latter is a truly 1960s film, both wide-eyed and wary, about the intertwining of progress and isolation (ending in our redemption, finally, by death), Full Metal Jacket is a cynical, Reagan-era view of the 1960s' hunger for experience and consciousness that fulfilled itself in violence. Lee Ermey made film history as the Marine drill instructor whose ritualized debasement of men in the name of tribal uniformity creates its darkest angel in a murderous half-wit (Vincent D'Onofrio). Matthew Modine gives a smart and savvy performance as Private Joker, the clowning, military journalist who yearns to get away from the propaganda machine and know firsthand the horrific revelation of the front line. In Full Metal Jacket, depravity and fulfillment go hand in hand, and it's no wonder Kubrick kept his steely distance from the material to make the point. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

As a former Marine, this movie holds a bit of nostalgia for me
I spent 1992-2001 in the Marine Corps Infantry. And this movie is a favorite among Marines no matter where they are.

While I think that it is absolutely inappropriate for children, you will have to make that decision on your own as a parent. But be warned, the language in this movie is very harsh.

R. Lee Ermey plays the part of Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Seargeant Hartman (that's a mouthfull), his euphemisms, mannerisms and behavior are perfect. He absolutely nailed it.

If you've got any friends, relatives or acquaintances that are in the Corps, this is always a winner of a gift. Particularly if they are getting ready for deployment (ship life is a drag).

A caveat about reality...with the demise of conscription and the institution of the "all volunteer force," Drill Instructors no longer administer corporal punishment (i.e. they do not strike the recruits). Anyone who tells you otherwise is either a former recruit trying to embellish the experience (for amorous purposes no doubt), or smear the Marine Corps (for nefarious purposes no doubt).

Research the Aspect Ratio
In response to the complaints made by some reviewers that Full Metal Jacket is not available in a widescreen ratio, the full screen ratio shown here was Kubrick's intended ratio for home viewing. Unlike many films that are shot and exhibited in a widescreen ratio, then cropped to a standard ratio for home theater release, Full Metal Jacket was originally shot in standard. For the theatrical release, the top and bottom of the film were cut off to create a widescreen aspect ratio. Then, for the home release, these excised portions of the film were returned. So the full screen dvd version of Full Metal Jacket actually has a larger picture than the widescreen release. If you really desire the widescreen aspect ratio, try out the blu-ray or hd dvd releases of the film. However, if Kubrick originally wanted the film to be released onto video with the standard ratio, have the blu-ray and hd dvd companies completely disregarded his wishes in favor of increasing sales by releasing the widescreen versions, or has the Kubrick family approved the change? One can only wonder

Haunting Image of Parris Island and 'Nam
One of my favorite genres of movies is the Vietnam War movies. I love APOCALYPSE NOW, DEER HUNTER, and PLATOON as well. But FULL METAL JACKET stands alone in it's on unique way. From start to finish, there is an eerie feel/feeling to the movie that only KUBRICK can create.

FULL METAL JACKET is not my favorite Kubrick film, but it is still Kubrick nonetheless and the first part of the movie in Parris Island is one of the most memorable acts ever seen in a movie. This part of the movie is also one of the most unforgettable and realistic exposes of Basic Military Training.

Then suddenly, the story changes to Vietnam. This is where a lot of people are turned off from the movie, but a lot goes on during this part and Kubrick is able to portray the war in his eyes. Though probably incorrect, still very interesting. It really demonstrates how most people sort of lost there minds in Vietnam and didn't really care about the war, but only about each other. TRUE UNITY.

FULL METAL JACKET is a true CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC and one of Stanley Kubrick's many masterpieces. It stands out as one of the most unique war movies ever put on celluloid.