My Favorite Movies: Number 58

58. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

To me there are four definitive Vietnam War Movies - Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. The later three are better movies. The Deer Hunter and Platoon are best picture winners, Apocalypse Now was a Coppola, Brando, Sheen, Duvall masterpiece. Full Metal Jacket is less decorated and has a lot less star appeal than the other three, but its my favorite of the four.

Spartacus. Lolita. Dr. Strangelove. 2001: A Space Odessey. Clockwork Orange. Barry Lyndon. The Shining. Full Metal Jacket. From 1960 - 1987 Stanley Kubrick made eight movies, and all but The Shining were nominated for Oscars. Full Metal Jacket was the end cap to this revolutionary and iconic run of films (lets just pretend Eyes Wide Shut never happened).

Full Metal Jacket follows a very basic structure, it could almost be told in the theatre with a very definitive first and second act, each with its own climactic drama. The first part of the movie basically follows a bunch of vietnam bound soldiers during boot camp, the second part meets the same characters in the middle of the Vietnam War.

The 1st half makes this movie, and the story it tells could stand on its own without the 2nd half. The drill instructor is one of the most iconic movie characters of the 20th century. From the very onset of the film viewers are immersed in the world of Master Gunnery Sargent Hartman.

The first 45 minutes is chock full of one-liners, creative dialog and a cruel since of humor. All of which leads up to the best moment in this entire film, the bathroom scene.

Curiosity, horror, empathy, shock, and ultimately tension fill the emotional spectrum during this scene. I love scenes that create a tapestry of emotion and this scene does that perfectly, ultimately ending the 1st act and setting the tone for the 2nd. 

The second part of the movie is much less entertaining, and at times drags but it has it's moments. The John Wayne impressions, the Saigon working women, the battle scenes and the ultimate show down with a Vietnamese sniper. 

The first half makes this movie what it is for me, the second half is an acceptable cherry on top with its own emotional and tension filled scenes.

This is may not be the vintage Kubrick that you'd expect, but it's a decent end cap to an unparalleled run at filmmaking and my favorite Vietnam movie. 

Teaser...number 57 on my list is another Kubrick film