2nd Act of Full Metal Jacket

I tend to tune out when the hooker starts walking.

I was a fan of an older film called, The Boys in Company C.

Certainly Kubrick must have seen it, as it is also a bifurcated story with a training phase and a Vietnam phase and has Lee Ermey play one of the drill instructors. (Ermey was in 3 of the best Vietnam films, also showing up as a helicopter pilot in Apocalypse Now!).

There is a different vibe to the Vietnam scenes of FMJ, but I enjoy them better over the years. Kubrick was setting us all up there - the basic training scenes were somewhat amusing and got dark at the end. The Vietnam scenes were fairly dark, overall, but end on somewhat of a bright note (as does the film).

Great film - a true work of art (as all Kubrick films are) among war films.

are you watching it on ICF, too?

quote:

---

After many years though, I've come to love the dialog, dark humor and story telling. Anyone else come around to enjoying the 2nd act of Jacket?

---

i've always liked it. it's a war movie that turns into a horror movie

i haven't seen every vietnam movie, but the way kubrick shot the 2nd half shows the war better than any other vietnam movie

The only people who don't like the second half are idiots who just want more snappy one liners.

Second half has always been extremely underrated. It shows the true horrors of war. And not just the actual fighting, but the psychological aspect and everything in between.

It's just that the first half is SO good that people trail off in the second, when it is great too.

Boys in Company C

quote:

---

i haven't seen every vietnam movie, but the way kubrick shot the 2nd half shows the war better than any other vietnam movie

---

It is good, but my personal favorite 'Nam movie is 'Hamburger Hill'.

quote:

---

Emery wrote the script to the first act.

---

I don't think this is true - but he wrote a lot of his character's dialogue.

He was initially supposed to be a consultant and perhaps play a small part as a drill instructor. Bill McKinney was the first choice for Hartman, but Kubrick was an eccentric and was terrified to be in the same room with the rapist from Deliverance. So, when Ermey did something like a walkthrough of how the drill sergeant scene was supposed to go, Kubrick ended up promoting him from consultant to Hartman.