Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 BritishAmerican war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay by Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford was based on Hasfords novel The ShortTimers 1979. The film stars Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent DOnofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard, and Ed ORoss, and its storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their training and the experiences of two of the platoons Marines in the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The films title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by infantry riflemen. The film was released in the United States on June 26, 1987.
In 1967, during the Vietnam War, a group of new U.S. Marine Corps recruits arrive at Parris Island, South Carolina, for basic training. After having their heads shaved, they meet Senior Drill Instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, who employs excessively aggressive tactics to turn the recruits into hardened, combatready Marines. Among the recruits are privates Joker, Cowboy, and the overweight, bumbling Leonard Lawrence, who earns the nickname Gomer Pyle after attracting Hartmans wrath.Unresponsive to Hartmans discipline, Pyle is eventually paired with Joker. Pyle improves with Jokers help, but his progress halts when Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyles foot locker. Believing the recruits have failed to improve Pyle, Hartman adopts a collective punishment policy every mistake Pyle makes will earn punishment for the rest of the platoon, with Pyle being spared. In retaliation, the platoon hazes Pyle with a blanket party, restraining him in his bunk and beating him with bars of soap wrapped in towels. After this incident, Pyle reinvents himself as a model Marine. This impresses Hartman but worries Joker, who recognizes signs of mental breakdown in Pyle, such as him talking to his M14 rifle. ........
Source: Wikipedia