R.I.P. Roger Ebert

Below is a video in which Siskel and Ebert reviewed 'Full Metal Jacket'...Roger wasn't impressed with the movie but thought Vincent was good. It turned into a heated argument between the duo. Roger Ebert passed away from cancer which had come back after being afflicted years back when he had most of his jaw removed. Just recently, he had fallen for the second time and broke a bone and when it was found the cancer had returned. His courage and inspiration will be remembered in facing the public with his deformed face for an article that shocked many. It did not stop him from continuing his reviews that were written because he could no longer speak nor could he eat and took nutrition through a feeding tube. There's an aisle seat for you in Heaven, Roger; rest easy.

'Interview: Matthew Modine on Kubrick and His 'Full Metal Jacket' App'

FIRSTSHOWING.NET

by Jeremy Kirk
February 19, 2013

Few would truly argue that Full Metal Jacket is the greatest film about the Vietnam War. Some would say Platoon. Others Apocalypse Now. But Stanley Kubrick and his war film from 1987 showed audiences the preparation for war as it was under the draft, hard conditions that broke men down into heartless, sometimes mindless, killers. The star of that film, actor Matthew Modine, has made an iPad App that serves as a behind-the-scenes look on how Full Metal Jacket got made and how Kubrick, one of the great filmmakers of all time (not arguably), pulled it together. You can download the app from theApp Store now.

Modine's Full Metal Jacket Diary is an interactive, digital version of his own autobiography about the making of the film (more info here). The app includes over 400 high-res photos from the set, five chapters from Modine's book, and a four-hour audio experience that takes you through the production, beginning to end. The actor spent nearly two years on the film, and it was Kubrick's idea to have him shoot so many candid shots of the set, something that was extremely rare for Kubrick. It's a fascinating experience for any lovers of the filmmaking process, particularly that of such an outstanding film made by a master filmmaker.

I was fortunate enough to ask Mr. Modine a few questions via email regarding the filmmaking experience, working with Stanley Kubrick, and a number of elements found in the Full Metal JacketDiary app. Enjoy:

Going back to how the photos and journal came to be, you said that Stanley Kubrick encouraged you to take and keep them. Was this to help you get in the mindset of a war journalist, and how did that experience help you get into the character of Private Joker?

Matthew Modine: I have no idea why Stanley Kubrick allowed me to take photos. I know he didn't care much for my Rolleiflex camera. He said if I was going to take pictures that I should use a new model Minolta camera that had just come out. The Minolta was a camera with auto-everything and I didn't care much for it. Stanley was very specific about what lenses I should purchase, what type, and speed film to use. Even the type of camera bag. But I loved the feel and the mechanics of my Rollei. I preferred the square, 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" frame to that of a 35mm camera. I'm dyslexic and I believe that part of the reason I leaned toward and preferred the Rollei was because when you peer into the viewfinder - the images appear backward - or normal for a person who sees the world backward.

As far as my characterization of Joker, I think keeping my on-set diary was much more of a tool for understanding Joker as a combat journalist than taking photos. I'd say keeping a good diary and working in the creative realm of photography had a positive impact on both my characterization of Joker and my personal life-long growth as an artist.

Of the directors you've worked with (Kubrick, Robert Altman, Alan Parker, Oliver Stone, Christopher Nolan; all great filmmakers) was there something you noticed that set Kubrick apart from the rest in the way he worked or handled the material or actors? Or is there a similarity in how great filmmakers work?

MM: Stanley was the first director I worked with that found a way around perhaps the greatest obstacle a filmmaker faces; time. How does an artist create an environment for creativity - in an art form that demands a filmmaker to work like a factory worker on an assembly line? For Stanley, it meant living in and working in a place where he could stop, or at least slow down, the clock. I can't speak for the size of productions he had on his other films, but on FMJ we had a crew smaller than many small budget independents I have worked on. He also owned much of the camera equipment we used on the film. We worked in locations that were very affordable, thus alleviating high production costs and allowing him more time to film in them. Because he was Stanley Kubrick, crew members and actors would work for reduced salaries for the chance to work with a master filmmaker. Each of these things have the effect of giving a filmmaker more time. Time allows the filmmaker to discover his film and the story he is telling. It allows them not to compromise. Arliss Howard, who played Cowboy told me a story a few years ago. On the final day of filming Stanley said to Arliss, "you're going to miss me." "Yeah. Of course I'll miss you" said Arliss. "No. You're going to miss me on every film you make after this one" said Stanley. "You're going to be working on a film and the director is going to say, 'Cut! We got it. Lets move on' and you're going to miss me. You're going to miss me because you're going to know that he didn't get it as good as it could be. And you're going to miss me." Arliss said he hadn't worked on a film since then where he didn't miss Stanley for the reason he stated. Stanley created an environment where he could create a film, not shoot a schedule. Which is a massive achievement.

For those who don't know, talk a little about the time the production of Full Metal Jackettook; how long it took, what that experience of waiting was like, how your personal life changed in that time.

MM: I was in London for nearly two years. I can't say exactly how many days of filming there were. I just know how long I was in England. While the experience was amazing and a great reward, it was, to speak in metaphor, like going to sea and getting lost along the journey. Stanley being the captain of the ship, we all had to have faith in his seamanship. Everyone had to pitch in and keep the ship seaworthy and we all did our share of bailing water out of the boat. The script was like the stars in the night sky. We all knew where we started and where we had to get to. There were so many nights when clouds made it impossible to chart our course. Then there were storms. Thankfully, Stanley brought us to shore and delivered the goods. Thankfully my "Full Metal Jacket Diary" app tells the story without metaphor. In it, you can go on the journey I went on and discover through the eyes of a young actor what it was like to work with the genius, Stanley Kubrick.

Was there a moment during the production of Full Metal Jacket where you remember thinking you couldn't take much more of it, and, if not, how did you keep your mind focused on getting through such a rigorous production?

MM: Kubrick told me in the early days of production, "The person who gets the most rest wins." I assumed when he said this that he wanted to be sure I was in bed at reasonable hours and not out partying and then showing up to work with my ass hanging out and blood shot eyes. The fact of the matter was, after 14 hour shooting days you couldn't wait to get home and get some sleep. I don't know how Stanley managed because during filming he never seemed to get any rest.

From the excerpts, it sounds like Vincent D'Onofrio (above) went through something of the same transition as his character, Pvt. 'Gomer Pyle' Lawrence, though obviously not as extreme. Was that the method actor in him, or did Kubrick's direction push him that way?

MM: I can't speak for Vince. The funny thing about acting is, your body doesn't know it's "acting." Mentally, consciously, an actor makes choices about what to do, how to do it, how to say it, what not to do, and dozens of other things. He or she makes all these decisions and then shows up on set or on stage and then has to - kind of forget them all - and "be" the character. The actor has arrived full of all the choices they've come up with. At that point, the emotions the actor feels - anger, hatred, love, passion, empathy, fear, desire, loneliness, hopefulness, doubt, and a thousand more nouns become real - to the body. The actor doesn't act perspiration. He sweats. He doesn't act an accelerated heart rate, his heart actually beats faster. His fears and adrenaline are real - to the body. The actors imagination engages the physical functions of the body and the body responds. This is what happens when an actor commits to the demands of the role or character they are "playing." For Vince, portraying the innocent Pyle who is then beaten into becoming a broken and damaged human being, well, lets just say sometimes roles take their toll on the actor playing them.

Between takes, when the camera wasn't running, what was your interaction on set with R. Lee Ermey, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, like? Did he stay in character?

MM: In my opinion, Lee wasn't acting. He was who he is in life. He was basically the same guy off camera as he was on camera. Only when the cameras weren't running, he was more of a barking man instead of a shouting DI. I have seen Lee in other films where I feel he was acting, and acting well -Mississippi Burning and Dead Man Walking are two examples. But I don't think Lee has any burning ambition to play Hamlet.

How do you and the other actors from Full Metal Jacket remember the production when it comes up in conversation? Not wanting to minimize actual war, but would you think it's akin to remembering the "time in the trenches"?

MM: I'd say we are all happy to have worked on a film that transcends time. It is not a film that no longer has relevance. It is a film that plays as well - or even better - today as it did upon its release date. It is rare when a film accomplishes this. FMJ actually gets better with time. In Gus Hasford's book, The Short-Timers, which is the inspiration for FMJ, Hasford talks about a phenomena soldiers and Marines experience after long tours of combat. They call it the "thousand yard stare." The people that worked onFMJ have something similar. Not a thousand yard stare, perhaps it's only nine hundred. Or Seventy-five. But it's a look. And then it's always followed with a smile. Smiling because we know we survived something really hard and we know we worked on and created something great.

I need to ask about the whole Mickey Mouse element to the film, because it's not just the soldiers singing at the end. There are at least two other references to Mickey Mouse in Full Metal Jacket. Was this Kubrick's blatant commentary on the Vietnam War in general, and was this ever anything he discussed during production?

MM: Stanley and I never directly discussed it. Michael Herr, who wrote the screenplay and the definitive book about war and in particular the Vietnam War, often referred to Vietnam as Disneyland and all the political and military aspects that made no logical sense as "Mickey Mouse." This was often followed by "bullshit," or preceded by, "fucking." "I cannot wait to get outta this fucking Disneyland. It's all such fucking Mickey Mouse bullshit." I think lines like this slipped from the lips of tens of thousands of young men and woman participating in a war that will never be fully understood or completely explainable or ever justifiable.

If you take the words from the song and put them in the context of capitalism or globalization, disguised or camouflaged in a cloak called democracy, the lyrics become eerie and evil. "Who is marching coast to coast and far across the sea? Who's the leader of the gang that's made for you and me?" It's just as eerie as "You are the caretaker. You've always been the caretaker" from The Shining or Slim Pickens riding the atomic bomb to his death with "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when" over the end credits. Fatalistic endings of Kubrick films? Or clarion calls from a great humanist, a realist, a man who sees humankind's folly and presents it to an audience - begging us all to see us as we are - and hoping we recognize the urgency to be better, to do better. This is the hope of a real humanist. A man who begged humankind to look in the mirror and see ourselves as we really are and to work, not just aspire, to be and do better. If we don't, we are little more than the early man that beat another early man to death with an animal's bone. That is the dream of the man that I knew and worked with.

If you're interested, you can download"Matthew Modine's Full Metal Jacket Diary for iPad in the App Store. It includes many more reflections and stories from the set of Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket just like those found here. Thank you to Matthew Modine for taking the time and answering our questions in such detail.

Vincent D'Onofrio speaks of 'Full Metal Jacket' and Stanley Kubrick with Movie Geeks United!

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Recently, Vincent was in California to film 'Broken Horses' and stopped by LACMA a few times to see the Stanley Kubrick Exhibit.  Here he is engaging the fans with stories of filming 'Full Metal Jacket'.  Photo courtesy of Xenia via Twitter.

'Touring Stanley Kubrick exhibit lands at LACMA and it's a cinephile's dream'

TheVideoMouse ‏@TheVideoMouse Vincent d'onofrio, watching the bts of full metal jacket. I saw him on screen then I looked to my right and http://instagr.am/p/SJp89DxjM6/

  HIT FIX

LOS ANGELES – If LA film lovers are looking for something to do this holiday, look no further than the Stanley Kubrick exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A touring treasure trove of artifacts from the famed filmmaker's career that has already made stops all over the world, from Frankfurt to Berlin, Melbourne to Ghent, Zurich to Rome, Paris to Amsterdam, it has set up shop in LA through June 30, 2013 and is well worth the $20 admission price.

As soon as you walk through the giant glass doors you're met with a career spanning three shorts and 16 features, including the uncompleted "Napoleon" and "Aryan Papers," as well as the Steven Spielberg-directed "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence," which Kubrick developed. A pair of video walls in a dark room greet you first, with clips from a number of films to get you in the right frame of mind. Then the journey really begins.

There is a separate room or wing dedicated to most of the features. A brief wall with elements from the shorts and "Killer's Kiss," as well as a glass case featuring "The Killing" soon gives way to the first considerable presentation: 1957's brilliant "Paths of Glory." Twisting and turning through the exhibit you're met with costumes from "Spartacus," miniature models from "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," bright white statues from the Korova Milk Bar of "A Clockwork Orange," art department elements from "2001: A Space Odyssey" including a simian costume and the star child model, the giant, NASA-developed lens used to capture mere candle light for "Barry Lyndon" and much, much more.

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Off in one alcove is a thoughtful presentation of Kubrick's use of pre-existing music to 

sometimes eerie, often visceral effect in films like "The Shining" and "Eyes Wide Shut." There you'll hear the sounds of György Ligeti's "Atmospheres" or Krzysytof Penderecki's "De Natura Sonoris No. 1" and "No. 2." Another detour offers pre-production imagery and an interview with a would-be star of "Aryan Papers."

Screenplay drafts, notes, production boards, sketches and models litter the expansive collection. One case is dedicated to Kubrick's many cameras and lenses, while another wall features numerous posters from his (relatively small but potent portfolio of work.

Most arresting is a scale model of the bedroom suite from the finale of "2001: A Space Odyssey," wonderfully lit and impeccably detailed. Though a major stand-out is the vast collection of "Napoleon" materials. It would be the most extensively researched film of Kubrick's career, with a pre-production boasting so much that Taschen dedicated a coffee table book to it. Yet it would never be made, and Kubrick would use the natural light cinematography techniques he was developing for the film on "Barry Lyndon" instead.

Also intriguing are the many informative elements regarding production design. Whether it's Anton Furst's creation of a bombed-out Vietnamese town at a strategically detonated factory in England for "Full Metal Jacket" or the gimbal rig used for the space station sequence in "2001: A Space Odyssey," Kubrick's films were marvels of design, and that isn't lost on the exhibit. 

You could spend countless minutes peering into the scale model of the hedge maze from "The Shining." (The room for Kubrick's Stephen King adaptation features Jack Torrance's typewriter bearing one of the countless pages indicating his descent into insanity, as well as the framed photo of the Overlook Hotel's July 4th ball that eerily closes the film.)

Further to all of that, there is an entire wall dedicated specifically to the director's use of the color red throughout his career: the eye of HAL-900 in "2001: A Space Odyssey," the redcoats of "Barry Lyndon," Gomer Pyle's post-suicide blood splatter from "Full Metal Jacket," it's all thoroughly, fascinatingly analyzed.

As you walk through the final areas featuring elements from "Eyes Wide Shut" and "Aryan Papers," past a wall of film markers from the set of a handful of films, you might heed the security guard's warning: "If you go out here it's exit only." I humbly suggest turning around and going right back through the exhibit on your way out the entrance, because for Kubrick fans -- indeed, for fans of cinema -- once truly isn't enough.

Check out a gallery of sights from the exhibit below

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The Stanley Kubrick exhibition at LACMA opened November 1 and runs through June 30, 2013.

"EXCLUSIVE: Behind-the-Scenes Clip from 'Full Metal Jacket' + Giveaway"

FILM.COM    By Jenni Miller

It’s been 25 years since Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” was released, but this Vietnam War drama still packs a wallop. The Oscar-winning director let us look through the lens of one young Marine as the men in his troop break down and crack up through their military training and brutal fighting in Vietnam.

We’ve got an exclusive behind-the-scenes clip of Kubrick hard at work on set, along with interviews from his collaborators about the charismatic and dedicated director. Learn more about the auteur’s filmmaking methods and what he was like to work with from some of the people who knew him best.

Plus, we’re giving away two fully loaded 25th anniversary “Full Metal Jacket” Blu-rays so you can revisit this masterpiece in its full glory.

Although it’s been even longer than 25 year since the US went to war in Vietnam, “Full Metal Jacket” and its crew of young Marines is as relevant as ever. Matthew Modine appears as narrator James “Joker” Davis in a breakthrough performance, alongside Arliss Howard and Vincent D’Onofrio as Joker’s closest pals and Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother. And who could forget R. Lee Ermey as the furious, screaming Sergeant Hartman? “Full Metal Jacket” is an unforgettable movie about violence and its effects on our psyche.

Get More:

For more from NextMovie: More videos | Trailers | Movie news | DVD & Blu-Ray

To enter for the chance to win a “Full Metal Jacket” Blu-ray, just shoot us an email at NextMovie@MTV.com and include your name, address, birthdate and be sure to copy and paste the following statement:

“By sending this email, I accept and agree to: (1) the Official Rules of the “Full Metal Jacket” Blu-ray Giveaway and (2) Film.com’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.”

The contest runs from now until 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, August 9, 2012. Entrants must be at least 17 years old and reside in the U.S.

Click here for complete rules and further details.

''Full Metal Jacket': 25 Things You Didn't Know About Stanley Kubrick's War Classic'

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This was emailed to me by Mary who thought it was interesting and so do I...thank you, Mary!

(excerpted)

1. Kubrick developed the idea to do a Vietnam War movie out of his desire to collaborate with war correspondent Michael Herr, author of the celebrated Vietnam War memoir "Dispatches." At first, Kubrick wanted to make a movie about the Holocaust, but the pair soon settled on a novel about Vietnam that they both admired, Gustav Hasford's bestseller "The Short-Timers."


2. Like his protagonist, Private Joker, Hasford was a Marine who had also served as a combat correspondent during the war. Kubrick and Herr eventually enlisted him as a co-scripter of the screenplay. The collaboration was carried out over the phone; Hasford didn't even meet Kubrick in person until an ill-fated dinner party well into the writing process.


3. Kubrick changed the title to "Full Metal Jacket," inspired by the name of a kind of bullet commonly used by Marines in Vietnam.


4. Initially, Kubrick envisioned Anthony Michael Hall as Joker. According to Hall, negotiations between the director and the "Breakfast Club" Brat Packer went on for eight months before ultimately falling through. Instead, "Vision Quest" star Matthew Modine landed the role.


5. R. Lee Ermey had been a real-life Parris Island Marine drill sergeant during the war. He'd acted in other Vietnam films, including "The Boys in Company C" (where he played his first drill sergeant role) and "Apocalypse Now." Kubrick had hired him as a technical adviser, but Ermey wanted to play Hartman, the Parris Island drill sergeant who dominates the first half of the movie. So he made an audition reel in which he generated a sponataneous stream of foul-mouthed insults directed at a group of extras -- all while having oranges and tennis balls thrown at him -- that ran for 15 minutes. That got him the job.


6. Kubrick was notorious for his meticulous oversight of every last detail of his productions, but for the sake of authenticity, he allowed Ermey to write his own lines. Ermey ended up generating 150 pages of insults, many of which found their way into the movie. About half his dialogue in the finished film is self-penned.


7. What's the R. in R. Lee Ermey stand for? Ronald.


8. Tim Colceri had been Kubrick's choice to play Hartman before Ermey seized the role from him. But Colceri got a nice consolation prize: a role as the helicopter door gunner and an unforgettable scene where he talks remorselessly about how many women and children he's killed. His dialogue comes straight from Herr's "Dispatches."


9. A New York theater actor named Vincent D'Onofrio landed his first major film role in "Full Metal Jacket." To play the doughy Private Gomer Pyle, he packed 70 pounds onto his muscular frame, ballooning up to 280 pounds. That Method-acting stunt is believed to be the record-holder, exceeding the 60 pounds Robert De Niro gained to play Jake LaMotta in "Raging Bull." The extra weight caused torn ligaments in D'Onofrio's legs that had to be surgically repaired. After filming, it took nine months for him to return to his usual 210-pound physique.


10. Bruce Willis was offered a role in the film, but he had to turn it down, as the production would have cut into his contractual commitment to his TV series, "Moonlighting."


11. The New York City-born Kubrick had famously moved to England and shot all his movies there since 1962's "Lolita," in part to avoid the interference of Hollywood executives in his productions. So it was with "Full Metal Jacket," which recreated a Marine boot camp and a Vietnamese city in the English countryside. The Parris Island sequences were shot at the Bassingbourn Barracks army base. The abandoned and condemned Beckton Gas Works became the ruined city of Hue.


12. To create the rubble-strewn city, Kubrick said he spent two months carefully destroying the gas works, blowing up buildings and strategically punching holes in others with a wrecking ball, all with photographs of Hue circa 1969 as his guide.


13. To make England look more like tropical Vietnam, Kubrick said he flew in 200 palm trees from Spain and 100,000 plastic jungle plants from Hong Kong.


14. Modine, who documented the year-long shoot in photographs and published them in a book called "Full Metal Jacket Diary" in 2005, claimed that the gas works was an environmental disaster area, strewn with asbestos and other toxins, that made cast and crew ill.


15. Modine also wrote that he and the other actors playing Marines underwent realistic boot camp training, which included being yelled at by Ermey for up to 10 hours a day. They also had to have their heads shaved once a week.


16. After years of hours-long phone conversations with the director, Hasford came to England to meet him in person. They met only once, Hasford later noted, at a dinner. In "Kubrick," his own memoir about the production, Herr recalls that, during the meal, the director passed Herr a note that read, "I can't deal with this man." A bitter dispute over the writing credits followed (Hasford wanted a full credit, not an "additional dialogue by" credit), and Hasford was barred from the production. Contemplating legal action, Hasford said he wanted to make sure the movie was actually filming, so he and two friends snuck onto the set at Beckton. They were wearing camouflage, disguised as extras. Hasford was spotted, but he was mistaken for Herr.


17. One reason filming took so long is that Ermey was in a car crash in which he broke all the ribs on one side of his body. He was sidelined for four-and-a-half months.


18. The "Abigail Mead" credited with composing the score is actually the director's daughter, Vivian Kubrick.


19. According to Box Office Mojo, the film cost an estimated $30 million to make. It earned back $46.4 million in North America.


20. "Full Metal Jacket" earned just one Oscar nomination, for its adapted screenplay.


21. Hasford shared that nomination, having won his credit battle. Still, his career never reached similar highs. He wrote two more novels, including a "Short-Timers" sequel called "The Phantom Blooper," before he died in 1993 at age 45.


22. A few days after the movie's release, D'Onofrio was seen again in "Adventures in Babysitting," this time as the muscular, blond-tressed, Thor-lookalike mechanic. His complete transformation between the two films gave him a reputation for both intense preparation and chamelionlike acting skills. It's a rep he's maintained ever since, moving from indie comedies ("Mystic Pizza," "The Player") to big-budget spectacle ("Men in Black") to a long run as the brilliant and eccentric Det. Goren on TV's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent."


23. The melodically named model/actress Papillon Soo Soo, who played the Vietnamese hooker, also had a big pop-cultural footprint -- but it wasn't from her movie roles. (She'd been in just one other film, the James Bond movie "A View to a Kill," before "Full Metal Jacket," and she made only one more afterward, action drama "Split Second," with Rutger Hauer.)


24. Rather, it was her memorable delivery of such phrases as "Me so horny" and "Me love you long time" that found their way into audiences' brainpans, thanks to endless uses as samples in rap songs. Most notoriously, there was 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny" (which made the group the center of a landmark censorship battle in 1990) and Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back."


25. Ermey, too, found his dialogue sampled in numerous rap and hard rock tunes. Now 68, he's spent the last quarter century capitalizing on his "Full Metal Jacket" fame by playing similar characters (usually Southern, authoritarian types) in dozens of movies (from "Fletch Lives" to "Dead Man Walking"), TV shows, video games, and commercials. He's been a pitchman for several products, including Glock weapons, SOG knives, Coors Light beer, and pistachio nuts. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema patrons know him as the voice warning them to be quiet during the movies. And when R. Lee Ermey tells you to shut up, you'd better listen, maggots.

Thanks, Marian for sending the link for this...

'Full Metal Jacket' 25 years old today...

In the film that jump-started his career, Vincent D'Onofrio portrays the character of 'Leonard Lawrence' best known as 'Private Pyle'. It would take a tip from his good friend, Matthew Modine, for Vincent to send a demo reel all the way to Stanley Kubrick in England to be considered for the part. There wasn't the technology in communication as there is today yet he landed the role. After settling in England, he put on 70 pounds, a record that still stands today, because it was thought that a heavier character would make a bigger impact rather than a thinly built 'weak' man.

At the beginning of the film when 'Private Pyle' is introduced we see the 'dumbly sweet' face of a young soldier who is lost in a place he clearly can't cope. Later, we see the face of a taunted/ridiculed man, complete with the infamous 'Kubrick stare', who spirals downward into a depression that causes the death of his drill sergeant and his subsequent suicide. It is raw and graphic; war is not pretty before, during and after.

Many people will comment that the first half of 'FMJ' is the most memorable because of the portrayal Vincent gives his character and the film sometimes feels like it is 'two halves' due to the strong contrast. However, there are moments in the 'second half' of 'FMJ' that are just as startling. For example, when 'Joker', Matthew Modine's character, must decide to put a suffering Vietnamese woman, who has been shot, out of her misery. It is a show of compassion for the enemy over a missed opportunity for his fellow comrade 'Pyle' who he describes as a 'Section 8' yet doesn't do anything to alert his superiors.

I'll admit I didn't even know that Vincent was in this film when I first saw it and it's true of most all of them. He has that way of morphing into a character that is unique to the point of remembering character over actor and isn't that the goal?

'Full Metal Jacket' was made with an estimated budget of 17 million dollars and has grossed over 46 million dollars to date.  On June 26, 1987, 'FMJ' was first released and in its first weekend box office earned over 2 million dollars.

Tonight, 'FMJ' will be shown on TV on various networks and after 25 years still holds up as an important film.  After all, it brought us to the attention of a young actor named Vincent D'Onofrio!

Biggest Oscar slight...

Vincent D'Onofrio in 'Full Metal Jacket'. He sent a reel of himself to Stanley Kubrick all the way to England. They had never met face-to-face. His monologue on his reel sold Stanley Kubrick in deciding to include him in the film. He spent over a year in England and gained a world record 70 pounds. He injured his knee while filming the military training scenes and required surgery. The movie would not have been memorable had it not been for the 'first half' in which Vincent's remarkable portrayal of the character of 'Private Pyle' was its highlight. Not a 'one trick pony', he went on to do over 50 films to this date. Nicknamed 'The Human Chameleon' and an 'Actor's Actor'...what does it take to get that golden statue? His only 'sin' is that he refuses to be 'Hollywood' and play the game. Shouldn't it be about the films and the acting? In this case, Vincent D'Onofrio should have won for Best Supporting Actor, period. I'd throw in 'The Whole Wide World' too.