History YMMV / FullMetalJacket

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: Creator/GeneSiskel came down '''hard''' on Creator/RogerEbert on ''Series/SiskelAndEbert'' for giving ''Full Metal Jacket'' a Thumb's Down while giving ''Film/BenjiTheHunted'' a four-star Thumb's Up (both films were released the same year). This got parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: Creator/GeneSiskel came down '''hard''' on Creator/RogerEbert on ''Series/SiskelAndEbert'' for giving ''Full Metal Jacket'' a Thumb's Down while giving ''Benji The Hunted'' a four-star Thumb's Up (both films were released the same year). This got parodied in ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic''.

** Ask the average person about this movie and pretty much the only character they'll talk about is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Not bad for someone [[spoiler: who doesn't even survive the first half of the movie.]]
** Pvt. Pyle to some.

** At least one book on Kubrick's filmography explicitly frames Animal Mother as a [[Foil dark reflection]] of Gomer Pyle, a snapshot of what Pyle might have become had he not snapped under Hartman's abuse and the pressure of basic training, and instead lasted long enough to become dehumanised by the war itself.

* EpilepticTrees: WebVideo/RobAger theorizes that Private Pyle's suicide never actually happened, but that it was a dream sequence symbolizing his rebirth from a fat, slovenly moron into the brutal warmonger Animal Mother--played by a different actor to subconsciously emphasize how the military machine has transformed him.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Pvt. Pyle is commonly speculated to have some kind of developmental disability, as he struggles to grasp even simple tasks and directions.

** Poor, poor private Pyle. Though he was [[AcceptableTargets fat and dumb]], he didn't deserve his fate.

* SignatureScene: Lots of candidates.
** The "war face" scene with Hartman and Joker.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYlXEUo-Lo Hartman's entire opening monologue]] is iconic in and of itself.
** Pyle in the bathroom.
** The jelly donut scene.
** The blanket party scene. Hell, just search up "blanket party" on Google Images right now, and all of the results will almost exclusively be from that scene.
** While the Vietnam War half may not be as memorable as the boot camp sequences, there's also the "me so horny" scene, the door gunner scene, the mass grave scene, and the final confrontation with the VC sniper.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** The Door Gunner crosses it in seconds as he's introduced gleefully killing unarmed civilians. He then boasts about his "prowess" and then casually jokes with a [[LeadTheTarget technicism]] when asked how he can kill women and children (and 50 water buffaloes too, all certified). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWsgTuVbdU Ain't war hell?]]
** The mass grave scene is one for the VC.

* ParodyDisplacement: Mention the name "Gomer Pyle" to someone. A younger person will probably think of "the fat Marine recruit from ''Full Metal Jacket'' who [[spoiler:blows his brains out]]" instead of "the gas station worker from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' who got a spin off sitcom where he was in the Marines," wwhich is where the name came from and why Gunny Hartman gives it to him.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Which drove Kubrick absolutely bonkers. Even when he tried to make war as shitty as possible, some people still got off to things like the heli gunner shooting the civilians, and the dehumanizing boot camp led by ''[[TropeCodifier the]]'' DrillSergeantNasty. Creator/SamuelFuller called it "another goddamn recruiting film," believing that teenage boys going to Kubrick's picture would come out impressed and seduced by the idea of wartime combat and flouting authority.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Pvt. Pyle is commonly speculated to have some kind of developmental disability, struggling to grasp even simple tasks and directions.

*** Pretty much anyone in the US military (and many people outside of it) trying to sound witty and badass will quote selections from the same scene of Hartman singling out recruits in the barracks. Anyone from Texas is probably [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore quite familiar]] with [[FalseDichotomy the list of things that come from Texas]].

* TearJerker: Pyle's entire arc. The poor guy simply is not suited to being a Marine but Hartman refuses to see that and simply comes down even harder on him to shape him to be a killer and turns the other Marines against him. He ends up so broken he ends up killing Hartman and himself.

** Poor, poor private Pyle. Though he was [[AcceptableTargets fat and dumb]], he didn't deserve this fate.

** Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in general, thanks to the epic performance by Creator/RLeeErmey.

*** "What is your major malfunction?" (you know the rest)
*** "''Holy Jesus''. What is ''THAT''? ''WHAT'' THE ''FUCK'' IS THAT?" - Hartman's reaction to finding Pyle's jelly donut. Has since been repurposed to illustrate shock at other things.

** "Me so horny, me love you long time" -- much to the chagrin of any East Asian woman walking down the street. The controversial HipHop group Music/TwoLiveCrew even sampled that line in the song "[[IntercourseWithYou Me So Horny]]" on their infamous album ''As Nasty As They Wanna Be'', as did Music/SirMixALot in "[[StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks Baby Got Back]]" (albeit only in one line of the song).
*** Another part of this scene, "Sucky sucky five dollar", became better known when it was used by ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.

* MisaimedFandom: It goes over a lot of people's heads that this was an anti-war movie.
** Tons of people seem to love Sgt. Hartman, particularly military personnel who think that more drill sergeants should be like Hartman. The entire point of the character is that he's meant to be an asshole and a demonstrable failure of a drill instructor. Hartman doesn't understand Pyle and is ultimately out of his depth in dealing with him. Hartman praises Lee Harvey Oswald, the man who killed JFK, [[SkewedPriorities for good marksmanship]]. He's physically abusive to his troops, [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure punishing all of them for the actions of one]], and even slaps Joker and chokes Pyle. And Hartman considers his troops hating him to be a good thing. [[spoiler:These character deficiencies ultimately gets him and Private Pyle killed in a MurderSuicide, and leaves mental scars on Private Joker.]] In fact, Ermey said in interviews that he deliberately played Hartman as a very ''bad'' drill instructor who stays just barely within the rules to avoid getting in trouble. And yet, the DrillSergeantNasty character was codified by this film, Ermey was typecast as this sort of character for the rest of his life, and it's still what most people think of when they imagine a drill sergeant.

** In-universe, Hartman gloats about the Marine-taught shooting prowess of Austin sniper Charles Whitman and [[WhoShotJFK Lee Harvey Oswald]]. Doubly obnoxious because Whitman's massacre would have been barely a year old by the time the movie was set - which would be the ''point''. The insensitivity is another sign that Hartman isn't a very good person. The problem is, most people don't even ''remember'' the Whitman massacre anymore, so it just seems like a trivia piece to modern viewers. On top of this, Oswald actually demonstrates piss-poor marksmanship, with one missed shot, one neck shot, and one off-centre headshot when, with a 4x scope at 88 yards, Kennedy's head would have taken up the entire scope.
** Once again proving Creator/FrancoisTruffaut's maxim that it's impossible to create an anti-war movie, the film overall is very popular with military personnel, especially Marines. And Vietnam veterans, naturally. And some [[ForumSpeak YouTube War Experts]] who [[PhonyVeteran claim to be Vietnam veterans online]].

** The Door Gunner crosses it in seconds as he's introduced killing unarmed civilians, gleefully. He then boasts about his "prowess" and then casually jokes with a [[LeadTheTarget technicism]] when asked how he can kill women and children (and 50 water buffaloes too, all them certified). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWsgTuVbdU Ain't war hell?]]

** The Da Nang prostitute ("Me love you long time"), and the door gunner who shoots Vietnamese civilians from a helicopter ("Get some, get some!").
** Ngoc Le as the VC sniper. The sniper is slowly built up over the course of several minutes a remorseless and deadly accurate killing machine, picking off the platoon one by one. Finally, they infiltrate the sniper's lair, and the sniper is revealed to be a remorseless and deadly accurate killing machine who's a ''pigtailed teenage girl''. Even after Rafterman empties an entire magazine into her, she still isn't dead, but asks them to shoot her. [[spoiler: Joker does so, completing his character arc.]]
* ParodyDisplacement: Mention the name, "Gomer Pyle" to someone. A younger person will probably think of "the fat Marine recruit from ''Full Metal Jacket'' who [[spoiler:blows his brains out]]" instead of "the gas station worker from ''Series/TheAndyGriffithShow'' who got a spin off sitcom where he was in the Marines" (Which is where the name came from and why Gunny Hartman gives it to him).

---> "Your days of fingerbanging ol' Mary Jane Rottencrotch through her pretty pink panties ARE OVER!"

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Which drove Kubrick absolutely bonkers. Even when he tried to make war as shitty as possible, some people still got off to things like the heli gunner shooting the civilians, and the dehumanizing boot camp led by ''[[TropeCodifier the]]'' DrillSergeantNasty. Creator/SamuelFuller called it "another goddamn recruiting film", believing that teenage boys going to Kubrick's picture would come out impressed and seduced by the idea of wartime combat and flouting authority.

** Ask the average person about this movie, and pretty much the only character they'll talk about is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Not bad for someone [[spoiler: who doesn't even survive the first half of the movie.]]

* FirstInstallmentWins: The boot camp half is better regarded and remembered than the one that actually goes to Vietnam.

** Sergeant Hartman warns Private Joker, "You had best unfuck yourself or [[CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck]]!" Then there's ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', when Duke not only says that to an Overlord [[spoiler:before killing it]], but he also means what he says, and [[spoiler: [[DueToTheDead he does it]] ''literally'', [[ExactWords keeping true to his word]]]].

* LoveToHate: Sergeant Hartman, due to his actor's memorable performance despite being made a HateSink by Kubrick.

* AwardSnub: It was nominated for one UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was not nominated for Best Picture, Best Director for Creator/StanleyKubrick or Best Supporting Actor for Creator/RLeeErmey or Creator/VincentDOnofrio, despite many people saying they felt that not only did it deserve to be nominated in these categories, but it deserved to win too. Unsurprisingly it lost its one Oscar nod to ''Film/TheLastEmperor''.

** Hartman's insults are meant to belittle and demean, but one could sympathize with Pvt. Pyle's giggling due to the sheer creativeness of Hartman's ranting. TruthInTelevision, many Boot Camp instructors are purposefully funny, they try to teach recruits to have the mental control not to laugh, which gives mental fortitude in other areas.
** The Door Gunner, heinous as he is, delivers his lines in such a casual, unapologetic and funny way that the war crime scene becomes borderline ComedicSociopathy.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Paint It Black", by Music/TheRollingStones, which plays during the end credits.

* MoralEventHorizon: The Door Gunner crosses it in seconds as he's introduced killing unarmed civilians, gleefully. He then boasts about his "prowess" and then casually jokes with a [[LeadTheTarget technicism]] when asked how he can kill women and children (and 50 water buffaloes too, all them certified). [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZWsgTuVbdU Ain't war hell?]]

* Tearjerker: Pyle's entire arc. The poor guy simply is not suited to being a Marine but Hartman refuses to see that and simply comes down even harder on him to shape him to be a killer and turns the other Marines against him. He ends up so broken he ends up killing Hartman and himself.

** The movie is set at the time [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000 Project 100,000]] was in place. Project 100,000 was an attempt to increase the number of drafted soldiers by drastically lowering the recruitment standards (''i.e.'' recruiting people who would previously be considered as physically[=/=]mentally unfit for service, as well as people with criminal records). The movie makes no mystery that Lawrence is unfit. We don't even know if he was a voluntary recruit. [[labelnote:The fuck kind of Marine gets drafted]]While the Marine Corps has been volunteer-only since its inception, during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and Vietnam it was not unheard for Marine recruiters to meet quotas by comandeering Army draftees.[[/labelnote]]
** WebVideo/RobAger theorizes that Private Pyle's suicide never actually happened, but that it was a dream sequence symbolizing his rebirth from a fat, slovenly moron into the brutal warmonger Animal Mother--played by a different actor to subconsciously emphasize how the military machine has transformed him.

--> "I'll PT you until your assholes are sucking buttermilk!"
--> "It looks to me like the best part ran down the crack of your mama's ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress!"
--> "Your days of fingerbanging ol' Mary Jane Rottencrotch through her pretty pink panties ARE OVER!"
--> "You climb obstacles like old people fuck!"
--> "I bet you're the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give them a reach-around!"

** The Door Gunner, heinous as he is, delivers his lines in such a casual, unapologetic and funny way that the ObligatoryWarCrimeScene becomes borderline ComedicSociopathy.