History Film / FullMetalJacket

* BloodKnight: Animal Mother and Crazy Earl.

* IntimidationDemonstration: After a Vietnamese boy steals a camera and tosses it to his friend on a bike, he turns around and starts doing a series of palm strikes in the air and making fierce screams, then does a spin kick.

* LargeHam: Hartman, of course.

** Inverted by the Viet Cong; they launch the Tet offensive during the Vietnamese New Year to surprise the Americans, who had assumed the party would halt the warring.

* ShoutOut: Gomer Pyle is a young character in TheAndyGriffithShow, who left to join the Marines in his own spinoff sitcom.

* AdamWesting: ''Full Metal Jacket'' is the [[{{expy}} source]] of most subsequent RLeeErmey's roles. Ermey is playing himself, [[ActorSharedBackGround given his past as a real drill sergeant]].
* AllPartOfTheShow: When their [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs base comes under attack by NVA]], the Marines at first think it's part of the fireworks that are being shot off.

* ATeamFiring: Sort of in the sniper scene. When [[spoiler:Eightball]] is shot, the group starts shooting at the two front buildings. Then [[spoiler:Doc Jay]] goes to recover him and gets shot too. Then when Animal Mother reaches them, he realizes that [[spoiler:there's only a sniper, far behind in a distant building, and that they've wasted bullets shooting at literally nothing.]]

* BlackIsBiggerInBed: At one point, a hooker initially refuses to sleep with an African-American man because of his so-called "Alabama blacksnake".

** [[spoiler: Hand Job]] had just qualified for a Section 8. Too bad the papers didn't get processed sooner.

* DownerEnding: The war ain't over yet, and Joker's got a whole lot more hell in store for him.

* GenreSavvy: Cowboy knows better than to try recovering the wounded Marines shot by the sniper because he knows the sniper is just trying to lure them into the line of fire one by one. [[MilitaryMaverick Animal Mother]], on the other hand, though not GenreBlind, just doesn't care. After all, his best friends are getting shot up.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene:
** The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvI door gunner]] for the Americans. The mass grave for the Vietcong.
** Animal Mother could've not cared less about Cowboy's orders when [[spoiler: Doc and Eightball were getting wasted.]]

''Full Metal Jacket'' is the story of the VietnamWar seen through the eyes of a US Marine known to the audience as "Joker". The movie, directed by StanleyKubrick, is split into two parts. The first part follows Joker alongside his fellow Marine recruits through Boot Camp as they suffer under the colorful [[DrillSergeantNasty Gunnery Sergeant Hartman]], and the second part follows Joker's struggle to keep his humanity while he covers the Vietnam War as a combat correspondent.

* AdamWesting: Almost every role RLeeErmey has played is an {{expy}} of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman.
** That's because Gunny Hartman was him just playing himself. Most of his dialogue was ad libbed.
* AllPartOfTheShow: When their base comes under attack by NVA, the Marines at first think it's part of the fireworks that are being shot off.
* AntiVillain: Hartman. Yeah, he's a jerk and treats his recruits like shit. But after all he's just doing his job to motivate the recruits into becoming soldiers.
* ArmchairMilitary / [[SoldiersAtTheRear Marines At The Rear]] Lt. Lockhart, Joker's "Stars and Stripes" CO.
-->'''Joker''': Maybe you should go out on some ops yourself, sir. I'm sure you could find a lot more blood trails and drag marks.
-->'''Lockhart''': Joker, I've had my ass in the grass. Can't say I liked it much. Lots of bugs and too dangerous. As it happens, my present duties keep me where I belong; in the rear with the gear.

--> '''Rafterman''':I hate Da Nang, Joker. I want to go out into the field. I've been in country almost three months, and all I do is take handshake shots at award ceremonies.

** While it's necessary for RuleOfDrama, and possible given the RealLife shortage of recruits during the Vietnam War, the entire character of Leonard/Pyle. His being in the military at all, let alone the Marine Corps, and especially an infantryman, is a bit far fetched. He's extremely overweight and borderline retarded and most likely would have been barred from service, either enlistment or conscription.
*** In the original book he isn't overweight, and he actually finishes the training course as the outstanding recruit from his platoon.
** R. Lee Ermey, formerly a real-life DrillSergeantNasty, once said in an interview, that a drill instructor would never slap, choke or punch a recruit (at least openly), even back in his day as a young marine . He also was far more verbally abusive in the movie than what is permitted in real-life.
*** Subverted in the book, slightly. He calls people into his office in private to beat them. Other punishments, he encouraged or ordered the other recruits to do it. He also wasn't near as vulgar. Some punishments were worse.
-->Gurheim: Ready, Whiz!
* AsianHookerStereotype: This movie is a famous example, with it's infamous line "Me love you long time". The second half of the movie takes place in Vietnam, yet [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12tce-THLUE the hooker saying this line]], another hooker in a later scene, and [[spoiler:the sniper]] are the only Vietnamese characters who get any dialogue ''at all''.
** Note that the soundtrack just happen to be about a woman breaking up and getting revenge. [[spoiler:The movie end with most of the squad getting gunned down by a Vietnamese sniper - who is then revealed to be young and female.]]

---> "Put a nigger behind the trigger."

--->'''Crazy Earl:''' I will never forget this day. The day I came to Hue City and fought one million N.V.A. gooks. I love the little Commie bastards, man, I really do. These enemy grunts are as hard as slant-eyed drill instructors. These are great days we're living, bros! We are jolly green giants, walking the earth with guns. These people we wasted here today ... are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting.

* DeathByIrony: [
** [spoiler: Gunny Hartman]]. More emphasis on this in the book than in the movie. In the book, when he gets shot, before he dies, he says "[[spoiler: Private Pyle, I'm so proud." (He's glad that was finally able to make him a killer, which he had been struggling to do all through boot camp.)]]

* GoryDiscretionShot: Averted. It's a Kubrick film.
** Played straight, however, with [[spoiler:The Sniper's]] death.

* {{Irony}}: Kinda... Joker puts a peace sign in his helmet, on which is written "Born to Kill" ("I think I was trying to suggest something about [[CarlJung the duality of man]], sir.")

** Private Joker.

** After meeting Joker, Hartman tells him that "you can come over to my house and fuck my sister."
** Subverted. While cleaning the head (bathroom) Joker says to Cowboy "I wanna slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?" to which Cowboy simply replies "What've you got?" Cowboy later brings it up again in Vietnam, when he ask if Joker has been getting any to which Joker replies, "Only your sister".

** The entire ''point'' of the film. [[spoiler: See how Leonard has to become crazy to be a ''good soldier''.]] This is keeping with the concept of dehumanization,

* TemptingFate: Happens subtly. "I am f**king bored to death, man!" Not for long, you aren't.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler: Corporal Eightball]] is the one sent to do recon and the first to be gunned down by the sniper. He's [[GenreSavvy helplessly aware of the trope]].

** TruthInTelevision, as in real life black soldiers (Marines, whatever) in the VietnamWar often got assigned the less desirable or more dangerous tasks as a matter of course.

* BrickJoke: In a meeting with his fellow "Stars and Stripes" personnel, Joker and the other Marines are being informed by their CO, Lt. Lockhart, of upcoming events, one of which is a USO visit by actress, Ann Margaret. A few scenes later, after being informed by Lt. Lockhart about the Tet offensive by the NVA and how bad the situation is, Joker, asks, after a few moments of silence, [[MoodWhiplash "Sir, does this mean that Ann Margaret's not coming?"]]

** MickeyMouse is referred to at the end of both segments. At the end of the boot camp segment, Gunny Hartman yells "What is this Mickey Mouse shit." At the end of the Vietnam segment, the Marines are singing the theme song to ''TheMickeyMouseClub'' as they march away from the burning city of Hue.
*** Also a FreezeFrameBonus: look toward the background of Lt. Lockhart's office at the right time and guess what you'll see? Figurines of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

* CastTheExpert: RLeeErmey was originally just a technician on the film, there to make a couple of films to advise the actor playing the DrillSergeantNasty on how it should be done. Then Kubrick saw his tapes...
** Said tapes were of Ermey performing his DrillSergeantNasty speeches while being constantly pelted with rotten oranges for fifteen minutes. He never stopped, flubbed, or repeated himself throughout the whole thing.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: During the boot camp segment, while waking up the recruits, Hartman yells out, "Drop your cocks and grab your socks."
** How about this? "This is my rifle! This is my gun! This is for fighting! This is for fun!" What's for fighting? The rifle? And for fun? Grabbing your slinky during caedence.

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: Gunny Hartman]]. More emphasis on this in the book than in the movie. In the book, when he gets shot, before he dies, he says "[[spoiler: Private Pyle, I'm so proud." (He's glad that was finally able to make him a killer, which he had been struggling to do all through boot camp.)]]

* [[DrillSergeantNasty Drill Instructor Nasty]]: R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman is the TropeCodifier. TruthInTelevision in that he was an actual Marine drill instructor before he did the movie, and was indeed originally brought in to advise the actor playing [=GySgt.=] Hartman on how to be more convincing. So impressive was his performance that he got promoted to Gunnery Sergeant ''after'' he had already retired, and was allowed to improvise his lines by acknowledged ControlFreak StanleyKubrick.
** Marine drill instructors regularly use very similar hilarious instruction in an attempt to get officer candidates to smile, laugh, or otherwise break attention.

* FreudianExcuse: Invoked by Gunny Hartman to Leonard/Pyle. [[spoiler: And it kills him.]]

** This would prove to be [[spoiler:[[FamousLastWords the last thing he would ever say]], given that Pyle is in the middle of a ''psychotic breakdown'']].

* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: Private Joker.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: The VC sniper asks for this]].
** Also ComicallyMissingThePoint in the reactions of Joker's squad when [[spoiler: he performs it. They complement him on his cold-blooded killing, when it was really an act of mercy.]]

* MoodWhiplash: In-universe, done intentionally by Joker. In a meeting with his fellow "Stars and Stripes" Marines, after being informed by Lt. Lockhart about the Tet offensive by the NVA and how bad the situation is, Joker, asks, after a few moments of silence, "[[BrickJoke Sir, does this mean that Ann Margaret's not coming?]]"

* MoreDakka: Animal Mother and his [=M60=].
** Also, the Door Gunner taking potshots at civilians.

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Subverted. While cleaning the head (bathroom) Joker says to Cowboy "I wanna slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?" to which Cowboy simply replies "What've you got?"
** Also, referenced earlier, when, after meeting Joker, Hartman tells him that "you can come over to my house and fuck my sister."
** Cowboy later brings it up again in Vietnam, when he ask if Joker has been getting any to which Joker replies, "Only your sister".

* NotListeningToMeAreYou: While they're cleaning the head, Joker tells Cowboy that he's worried that [[spoiler: Pvt. Pyle might be going crazy]]. Cowboy didn't seem to pay attention, or perhaps wasn't concerned.
** That may be a small but of FridgeBrilliance. Given the theme of dehumanization, it is only natural that Marines would become indifferent to things that would cause most people to panic or show concern.
** Cowboy heard Joker and agreed with him. They both just thought [[spoiler: Pyle would wash out with a psych discharge (aka a "section Eight")]]
* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S06nIz4scvI door gunner]] for the Americans. The mass grave for the Vietcong.

* OhCrap: Hartman, upon being informed that [[spoiler: Private Pyle has a full magazine, and is locked and loaded.]]

** Interestingly enough the "world of shit" line was used again for G4's Bulletstorm videos, with R. Lee Ermey himself being the instructor.

--->'''Joker''': ''I wanna slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?''\\
'''Cowboy''': ''What've you got?''

* SirSwearsalot: [[DrillSergeantNasty You get three guesses, and the first two don't count]].

** ...which most people don't seem to know that that's the source of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's nickname of Gomer Pyle came from. (See TheWeirdAlEffect.)

* [[SociopathicSoldier Sociopathic Marine]]: Where do we ''start''... [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Animal Mother]] is probably the most spectacular example, as is the Door Gunner.

* SoundtrackDissonance: "Surfin Bird" by The Trashmen plays as the camera pans over a bleak, wasteland-like firing line.

* TooDumbToLive: Yes, continue to [[spoiler:''taunt'' the broken and apparently psychotic recruit who is pointing a loaded weapon at you.]] [[SarcasmMode Brilliant]].

* UnusualEuphemism: Lt. Lockhart refers to a combat kill as a "weenie".

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Bruce Willis was offered a role in Full Metal Jacket, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts.

* ScrewTheWarWerePartying: Whoring and comparing bodycounts are the most popular hobbies in 'Nam.
-->'''Joker''': ''I wanna slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?''\\

* MySisterIsOffLimits: Completely subverted. While cleaning the head (bathroom) Joker says to Cowboy "I wanna slip my tube steak into your sister. What'll you take in trade?" to which Cowboy simply replies "What've you got?"

** Cowboy later brings it up again in Vietnam, when he ask if Joker has been getting any to which Joker replies, "Only your sister.

** There are numerous mood whiplashes in the film: 1. The opening 3-4 minutes with the heads being shaved followed by Hartman's rant are somewhat amusing. We could all realte to Pyle's stupid little grin, until he choked him and asked "are you through grinning yet?" He was, and so was the audience. 2. Rounds and rounds of fire being exchanged, cease fire, tense moments of silence.....Then Surfer Bird. 3. Standing over the body of their dead commander: "you're going home now". "Semper Fi". "We're mean marines sir". "Better you than me."

* OneSceneWonder: The Door Gunner and the Da Nang prostitute.

There are numerous mood whiplashes in the film: 1. The opening 3-4 minutes with the heads being shaved followed by Hartman's rant are somewhat amusing. We could all realte to Pyle's stupid little grin, until he choked him and asked "are you through grinning yet?" He was, and so was the audience. 2. Rounds and rounds of fire being exchanged, cease fire, tense moments of silence.....Then Surfer Bird. 3. Standing over the body of their dead commander: "you're going home now". "Semper Fi". "We're mean marines sir". "Better you than me."

[[FullMetal Not to be confused with]] ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' or ''FullMetalPanic''.

* AcousticLicense: In the scene in the helicopter where the gunner is getting interviewed while firing his gun, the characters act as if the headsets on the helicopter are there as ear protection (i.e. as gun range earmuffs) rather than as communication devices. Instead of talking normally into the mouthpiece of the headset and listening to each other through the earphones, they elect to raise their voices and shout over the din ([[JustifiedTrope probably so the audience can hear them]]).
** That whole scene can be chalked down to RuleOfFunny.

* GeneralRipper: The colonel who gives Joker grief over the peace-symbol button he's wearing. "Inside every Vietnamese is an American fighting to get out."

* [[CaliforniaDoubling London Doubling]]

** Throughout the boot camp segment, Hartman addresses the recruits as "Private (Insert Name Here)". In Marine boot camp, recruits are addressed as just that; "Recruit (Insert Name Here)", as Private is a rank which must be earned by completing boot camp. This was a post-Vietnam change, so referring to themselves as "Private" is accurate.

*** Cowboy actually is from Kansas, he only pretends to be from Texas. It's reveiled in "Phantom Blooper".

* AsianHookerStereotype: This movie is a famous example, with it's infamous line "Me love you long time". The second half of the movie takes place in Vietnam, yet [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12tce-THLUE the hooker saying this line]] and another hooker in a later scene are the only Vietnamese characters who get any dialogue ''at all''.

** Throughout the boot camp segment, Hartman addresses the recruits as "Private (Insert Name Here)". In Marine boot camp, recruits are addressed as just that; "Recruit (Insert Name Here)", as Private is a rank which must be earned by completing boot camp.

** R. Lee Ermey, formerly a real-life DrillSergeantNasty, once said in an interview, that a drill instructor would never slap, choke or punch a recruit, even back in his day as a young marine . He also was far more verbally abusive in the movie than what is permitted in real-life.

* AcousticLicense: In the scene in the helicopter where the gunner is getting interviewed while firing his gun, the characters act as if the headsets on the helicopter are there as ear protection (i.e. as gun range earmuffs) rather than as communication devices. Instead of talking normally into the mouthpiece of the headset and listening to each other through the earphones, they elect to raise their voice or shout over the din ([[JustifiedTrope probably so the audience can hear them]]).

* AcousticLicense: The scene in the helicopter where the gunner is getting interviewed while firing his gun. I know aircraft have headsets and microphones, but i can't really think of many examples where they USE them as intended, instead they act as though they're protective in nature (IE gun range earmuffs) rather than communication devices - instead electing to raise their voice or shout over the DIN.

* EmpathyDollShot: [[spoiler: Subverted '''hard.''' One of the Marines finds an oversized stuffed rabbit lying in the rubble of Hue, and picks it up out of confusion. Boom.]]

* GoryDiscretionShot: Averted hard. It's a Kubrick film, yeah?

** That may be a small but of ''((Fridge Brilliance))''. Given the theme of dehumanization, it is only natural that Marines would become indifferent to things that would cause most people to panic or show concern.