Jump to content

Here You Are All Equally Worthless

TOR

By TOR
in Movies and TV

 Share

Recommended Posts

DixonHur

DixonHur 11301

Posted
Posted

I'm a huge Kubrick fan, and this is one of my favorite movies in large part to how accurate the portrayal of boot camp was.  I was only 16 when it came out, so I didn't see it right away.  Had I seen it before I enlisted I may have reconsidered, lol.

  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
safe sex

safe sex 11722

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

I'm a huge Kubrick fan, and this is one of my favorite movies in large part to how accurate the portrayal of boot camp was.  I was only 16 when it came out, so I didn't see it right away.  Had I seen it before I enlisted I may have reconsidered, lol.

How do you feel about the second half of the movie?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
safe sex

safe sex 11722

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, DixonHur said:

Love it.  One of the things I really like about the movie is that you get two completely distinct films.  

Haven't seen it in a long time, but as a younger person, the second half would often put me to sleep a couple of times. Definitely owe it a rewatch

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DixonHur

DixonHur 11301

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, safe sex said:

Haven't seen it in a long time, but as a younger person, the second half would often put me to sleep a couple of times. Definitely owe it a rewatch

Second half is definitely more nuanced, but I liked the exploration of Joker's internal struggle going from rah-rah "kill'em all" Marine to questioning what it was all about.

I joined during the build-up to the 1st Gulf War, so it spoke to the idea that war seemed kinda cool and romantic until reality sets in once it becomes real.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
HiggyBaby

HiggyBaby 2529

Posted
Posted
I'm a huge Kubrick fan, and this is one of my favorite movies in large part to how accurate the portrayal of boot camp was.  I was only 16 when it came out, so I didn't see it right away.  Had I seen it before I enlisted I may have reconsidered, lol.

Pretty sure 16 year old me watched it at my friend Andy’s house thanks to Blockbuster. He seemed to not have parents (have y’all seen Sleepaway Camp?)… but I digress. Great movie. And I can’t even remember the second half other than me so horny.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
South Austin

South Austin 52494

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, DixonHur said:

I'm a huge Kubrick fan, and this is one of my favorite movies in large part to how accurate the portrayal of boot camp was.  I was only 16 when it came out, so I didn't see it right away.  Had I seen it before I enlisted I may have reconsidered, lol.

My dad is a former Marine who served in Vietnam, and he said Full Metal Jacket is the most realistic movie about the war he had seen.

  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YGIFS

YGIFS 19450

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, South Austin said:

My dad is a former Marine who served in Vietnam, and he said Full Metal Jacket is the most realistic movie about the war he had seen.

My father (U.S.N.), one uncle (U.S.N.), one uncle (U.S. Army), and another uncle on mom's side (USMC) all served in/around the theater during that time.  All said the same thing.  

csb/ few years ago, hung "around" with Bill Murray on Red River during SXSW.  I didn't approach him, but overheard him telling the story that sure enough Kubrick had contacted him many years ago.  And instead of Sgt. Hulka getting severely injured, Gunny Hartman would actually be murdered in his version of "Stripes" and that sure enough, like "Stripes" being kinda two movies in one (basic and then a transition overseas eventually turning to less-entertaining combat), "FMJ" would do the same.  It's not quite a "Dark Side of the Moon" with "Wizard of Oz" parallel, but the similarities are noticeable. 

Anyway, brilliant film by a brilliant director.  I was too young to understand but I think it came out at the right time of self-inflection for our nation after being out of Vietnam's true shit for about 15 years.  And it was as raw and honest as it  got at that point.  All due respect to "Apocalypse Now" and others like it.   

  • Hook 'Em 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
dcar00

dcar00 14182

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, South Austin said:

Yes.  He thought it was too over the top.

certainly the whole  good cop v bad cop shooting situation was ginned up for the movie.  I always wonder if the scenes and feel other than that were representative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
South Austin

South Austin 52494

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

certainly the whole  good cop v bad cop shooting situation was ginned up for the movie.  I always wonder if the scenes and feel other than that were representative.

I've always loved Platoon, but having never served or experiencing anything like that, I have no reference point for reality.  And a really great cast all around.  The final scene with Adagio for Strings playing is gut wrenching.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DixonHur

DixonHur 11301

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said:

Oswald got off three shots with an old Italian bolt action rifle in only six seconds and scored two hits, including one head shot, at 250 feet against a moving target. This individual showed what one motived marine and his rifle can do. 

Sir, it was pretty far! From that book suppository building, sir!

  • Hook 'Em 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RPM

RPM 26320

Posted
Posted

Son, all I've ever asked of my Marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Viet-namese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've just got to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.

  • Hook 'Em 2
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TOR

TOR 5552

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 2/15/2024 at 1:06 PM, DixonHur said:

I'm a huge Kubrick fan, and this is one of my favorite movies in large part to how accurate the portrayal of boot camp was.  I was only 16 when it came out, so I didn't see it right away.  Had I seen it before I enlisted I may have reconsidered, lol.

18, right out of boot camp.  Best recruiting film ever made.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Braff Zacklin

Braff Zacklin 13566

Posted
Posted

 

7 hours ago, RPM said:

Son, all I've ever asked of my Marines is that they obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Viet-namese, because inside every gook there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've just got to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over.

I've linked that scene before and am compelled to do it again.

 

On 2/15/2024 at 1:09 PM, safe sex said:

How do you feel about the second half of the movie?

The first half is riveting and practically impossible not to watch, no matter how many times one sees it.

But the second half is also iconic, and the above scene is one of the movie's best. Love everything about it, from the Colonel's weird accent and delivery to his egomaniacal sociopathy and how intensely he believes everything he says.

  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
YGIFS

YGIFS 19450

Posted
Posted

Yeah, I've watched that movie probably 25 times.  And I have a very precise knack for accents like Major Hellstrom.  And I have never, ever been able to nail down where the fuck that Colonel's accent is supposed to be from.  The actor was Canadian and I guess trying to do kind of a southern, folksy accent thing.  I dunno.  But it was always goofy as fuck to me.  He was in several other films and shows of note and sounds totally normal.  

Fun fact I didn't know, which may have made the film very different just because of his overshadowing stardom, the role of "Animal Mother" who Joker encounters in country.  The sick bastard was originally going to be played by?  You guessed it...Arnold Schwarzenegger.  Adam Baldwin played it very well and Arnold would have made the third act too big in terms of his screen gravitas.  And for once, he'd had to have toned down his accent.  

Joker was to be played by several other actors from Anthony Michael Hall to Bruce Willis.  As per his usual attention to excruciating detail, Kubrick gets it right with Modine.  For all the vastness and largess of his films, there is no wasted moment in "Full Metal Jacket."  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RPM

RPM 26320

Posted
Posted
24 minutes ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Honestly this line is so cringe in its writing and delivery it always makes me wince. Maybe the only misstep for me in the entire film.

Dude, that's as boot camp as it gets. 

  • Hook 'Em 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
GhostOfTomJoad

GhostOfTomJoad 9324

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, RPM said:

Dude, that's as boot camp as it gets. 

Appreciate the insight as someone who never served. I get that Kubrick was trying to showcase the lack of education in many of the Vietnam-era enlistees/draftees, but that line always sounds forced to me. I'll try to hear it with new ears going forward.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Macanudo

Macanudo 12977

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, GhostOfTomJoad said:

Honestly this line is so cringe in its writing and delivery it always makes me wince. Maybe the only misstep for me in the entire film.

If you have spent any time around junior enlisted you would realize how spot on the line is.    

  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr. sunshine

mr. sunshine 2826

Posted
Posted
12 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

 

I've linked that scene before and am compelled to do it again.

 

The first half is riveting and practically impossible not to watch, no matter how many times one sees it.

But the second half is also iconic, and the above scene is one of the movie's best. Love everything about it, from the Colonel's weird accent and delivery to his egomaniacal sociopathy and how intensely he believes everything he says.

I use "Why don't you jump on the team and come on in for the big win?" all the time with clients, friends, co-workers et al. I either get a laugh or a look of bewilderment, usually depending on their age

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
TOR

TOR 5552

Posted
  • Author
Posted
40 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

***Cool story alert***

I met Matthew Modine last year, actually.  My wife was going on about him in some rom com but when I shook his hand, I said "Private Joker!"

He smiled.

***Cool story over***

He's very tall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
YGIFS

YGIFS 19450

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, RPM said:

My point was you found out real quick the bar was low. Not a lot of geniuses in Forming Company. Back during the draft there was no bar.

As I posted above, my father and other Vietnam era vets in my family said the first 2/3rds of the movie were pretty damn spot-on.  But years later he said the most realistic line about the draft was actually in "Animal House" when Dean Wormer told the Delta dropouts that he informed their draft board that they were all eligible for military service now.  And I thought, "What the fuck, why?"  He said so many of the guys he served with were beyond morons.  In real life, and the guys who dropped out/kicked outta college were immediately scooped up because at least the NCO's knew those guys could read and write and do maths.  Lotta the other guys couldn't.  

Between serving in the Cuban Naval Blockade and then going with his CSG in support of Vietnam efforts, he spent a year in Morocco.  I can't remember the name of the base.  I think it's still there.  Anyway, for a short while, there were no MAA/MPs so he had to collect drunken dipshits causing trouble in Rabat or Casablanca and take 'em back to the brig so some Marines could beat the shit outta them for a night.  And he said these guys would slur and misspeak on the way back to the ship and he just chalked it up to being drunk.  But then he'd speak with them days later when they were sober and they still had trouble speaking and conjugating verbs and pronouns and tenses and he just eventually concluded, "Oh so like booze aside, you're just like regular stupid 24/7?  Got it."  

csb/ The day we watched Full Metal Jacket, it was a visitation weekend as per the divorce so we'd go watch movies.  Afterwards, we went to a baseball card shop in the mall and I bought some mid-80's Topps card to complete my set.  Dad is flipping through the cards with me and pauses with held breath at the '84 or '85 Red Sox Manager card.  Ralph Houk.  And my dad got kinda emotional, which he never did.  Houk (who was awarded a Purple Heart for his service/sacrifice at the Battle of the Bulge) had a son, Robert.  Robert served alongside my father in the Navy during Vietnam.  My father said he was the only other NCO on their Destroyer who had a lick of sense.  I exchange messages with Robert every several years.  This thread reminds me I should reach out again.  TO JELLY DONUTS! 

  • Hook 'Em 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...