Full Metal Jacket Family Review

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. The first half follows a group of recruits in boot camp under the command of the punishing Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half shows one of those recruits, Joker, covering the war as a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, focusing on the Tet offensive.—Scott Renshaw <[email protected]>The lives of several young men who undergo Marine Corps basic training and are then shipped off to Vietnam. The main character is J.T. 'Joker' Davis who, along with all the other new recruits, constantly has to deal with their demanding Drill Instructor, Gny. Sgt Hartman. One recruit in particular, Leonard 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence, is having a particularly hard time, especially after DI Hartman punishes the entire squad anytime he screws up, which is often. It all leads to tragedy. Davis makes it through and soon finds himself in Vietnam working as a combat journalist where he gets to see the horrors of war first-hand during the Tet offensive.—garykmcdThe exploits of J.T. Davis in two distinct phases of his time associated to the Vietnam War are presented. He generally acts as an active observer of the proceedings around him, either by his own choice or by the design of others often in authority. The first phase is as a recruit in basic training for the US Marine Corps at Parris Island, where he receives the nickname Joker from his platoon drill sergeant Gunnery Sergeant Hartman for his sarcastic quips, generally muttered under his breath, usually mimicking John Wayne. He learns that Hartman's foul-mouthed and uncompromisingly harsh ways, probably a reflection of the Marines as an organization, is not to produce robotic troops as some may believe, but rather produce killing machines. Joker's time in basic training is largely affected by Hartman using overweight and slightly slow Private Leonard Lawrence as the platoon's whipping boy, Lawrence's nickname provided by Hartman being Gomer Pyle for his ineptness as a service member, much like his television character namesake. The second phase is in active duty in Vietnam - Da Nang - he assigned to write for Stars and Stripes. He is not to write exactly what he sees but to skew stories in a way to boost serviceman morale and to convince non-military people the reason for American political and thus military involvement in this region of the world, especially in many Americans seeing the war as futile. In covering what becomes the Tet offensive, Joker may come face to face with the kill or be killed mentality without it jibing either with his own outlook or his assigned job.—HuggoA two-segment story that follows young men from the start of recruit training in the Marine Corps to the lethal cauldron known as Vietnam. The first segment follows Joker, Pyle and others as they progress through the hell of USMC boot-camp at the hands of the colorful, foul-mouthed Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second begins in Vietnam, near Hue, at the time of the Tet Offensive. Joker, along with Animal Mother, Rafterman and others, face threats such as ambush, booby traps, and Viet Cong snipers as they move through the city.—Derek O'Cain2 moreAll