Full Metal Jacket
1987, R, 116 min.
D: Stanley Kubrick; with Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Ermey.

Kubrick’s study of war and men’s dehumanization is divided into two parts, the first set in the incubator of Marine boot camp on Parris Island and the latter in the war zones of Vietnam. As the press kit heralds, “In Vietnam the wind doesn’t blow; it sucks.” But the film’s most gut-wrenching horrors occur in the first half, thanks to the regimens imposed by real-life drill instructor Lee Ermey.

This article appears in June 23 • 2000.

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Marjorie Baumgarten is a film critic and contributing writer at The Austin Chronicle, where she has worked in many capacities since the paper's founding in 1981. She served as the Chronicle's Film Reviews editor for 25 years.