This is the comment thread!

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Oberon

What makes you hate it?

Probably my own nature. I'm not much of an in-betweener. I loved the bootcamp scenes, especially since they gave us our first glimpse of R. Lee Ermey, but I thought the ancient Jack Webb movie The D.I. was better. They lost me when the fat recruit shot him. That has never happened, and is never going to happen. Back then the Navy called the Company Commanders (still do for all I know). The CCs were nowhere as frightening as a DI, but still no one would ever challenge one. They're just too intimidating. And, as said, the battle scenes were filmed in England, and to me they looked it. The whole movie just didn't feel right to me.

For a much better movie (to me, anyway) in the same vein, check out The Boys In Company C.

[Penguin]

Anyone who dislikes Full Metal Jacket, is a VC. Anyone who writes about hating it, is a well-disciplined VC!

Steve: how did you like Platoon? I also liked it, but there were so many scenes from FMJ which I could recite as I saw it quite often. However I think Platoon did much for the (public) insight of the normal grunts in Nam, and helped vets to talk about their experiences. This may be my personal impression, as I my first visit to the US was shortly after the movie came out.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Probably my own nature. I'm not much of an in-betweener. I loved the bootcamp scenes, especially since they gave us our first glimpse of R. Lee Ermey, but I thought the ancient Jack Webb movie The D.I. was better. They lost me when the fat recruit shot him. That has never happened, and is never going to happen. Back then the Navy called the Company Commanders (still do for all I know). The CCs were nowhere as frightening as a DI, but still no one would ever challenge one. They're just too intimidating. And, as said, the battle scenes were filmed in England, and to me they looked it. The whole movie just didn't feel right to me.

For a much better movie (to me, anyway) in the same vein, check out The Boys In Company C.

I'll have to do that, thanks, I do agree with you on Pyles 'moment', that was off the wall and did shatter the suspension of disbelief that was built up during the boot camp scenes, and certainly in the outdoor scenes in training you could tell it was in the UK, the trees and sky didn't look right, but I thought Hué was done right.
Have you seen Léon?

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Penguin

Anyone who dislikes Full Metal Jacket, is a VC. Anyone who writes about hating it, is a well-disciplined VC!

I just admitting to liking my "Made in Vietnam" Navy ball cap, so I can hardly cover it up now.

Steve: how did you like Platoon? I also liked it, but there were so many scenes from FMJ which I could recite as I saw it quite often. However I think Platoon did much for the (public) insight of the normal grunts in Nam, and helped vets to talk about their experiences.

I liked it and I didn't. Several scenes were very true-to-life as Oliver Stone was there and knew what he was talking about. I was in the Navy, of course, so I can't really judge from that point of view, but I had a friend who did two tours and barely survived, and he said the "overrun" scene had him sweating, and he loved the "morning after" scene in which the only survivor of the overrun slowly realized that several of his buddies had also made it.

What I didn't like was personal: From the ads for the movie I was expecting a generic story of what it was like for the soldiers there. What I got was a gangster story with bad guys and betrayal on a major scale. It had great acting (Tom Berenger and Willem DeFoe, among others) and really can't be faulted as a war film or as a film in general, but the actual story kind of put me off. Like I said, it was personal.

On the other hand, I loved Born On The Fourth Of July.

Originally Posted by Oberon

Have you seen Léon?

Léon, The Professional? About the assassin and the girl? I saw it on TV a few years ago, and remember almost nothing about it.

[soopaman2]

Originally Posted by Penguin

Anyone who dislikes Full Metal Jacket, is a VC. Anyone who writes about hating it, is a well-disciplined VC!

Steve: how did you like Platoon? I also liked it, but there were so many scenes from FMJ which I could recite as I saw it quite often. However I think Platoon did much for the (public) insight of the normal grunts in Nam, and helped vets to talk about their experiences. This may be my personal impression, as I my first visit to the US was shortly after the movie came out.

When you compare the 2 movies you have to look at the directors, and what they were trying to tell.

Stone with Platoon was trying to be hard hitting and giving it to you in a gritty way, as is his way. (Born on the 4th of July is another good example of this)

I felt Kubrick with FMJ was more using black humor to portray the same thing.. I mean think about it, it was an unintentionally funny movie, with alot of unfunny sitiuations.

Both are great movies for different reasons, and kind of hard to compare IMHO

[Penguin]

@Oberon:

I think they brought in several exotic trees to decorate the ruins of Hue. As I was the belief that you don't have trees in England at all, the wrong ones didn't come to my eyes!
The best scene in Hue was imo the camera guy who tilted along the row of soldiers, taking cover behind a small stone wall in a combat break, where everybody gave a short comment, accompanied by "Surfing Bird". This scene just looked like original footage.
But I saw in the other thread that you liked the music of that era, or to use Ricky Gervais from his gig in Liberty City: "Vietnam - The war with the best soundtrack"

The Private Paula's last stand moment was just a dramaturgic pointed emphasis to show the psychical pressure put on the recruits. And soap beatings were not uncommon, and I can't imagine any drill camp in the Us never had a suicide. Certainly the death scene was an exaggeration of real happenings, just like the end scene of the second part, and both endings scenes tie the two parts together.


@Steve & Soopa:

I think you can notice a shift of paradigm towards more realism and cynism in war movies at the end of the Seventies, maybe following a trend Western movies already began 10 years before: showing realistic fighting scenes, with desillusional (anti-)heroes as the main characters. This "cynical realism" is also a character trait that I noticed on many vets.

The Burnes-Elias conflict in Platoon, was the traditional hero/villian sceme. It follows the same beaten path as the portrayal of the strict separatrion between the Haggard-listening good ole beerdrinking boys and the long-haired pot smokers who listen to Hendrix. I'm a guy who says: why not do both? (Dear kids: I'm only talking about listening to both music styles. )

That's what i like about FMJ, it breaks away from these classical stereotypes, doesn't paint black and white, but many shades of gray. Though the fighting scenes in Platoon were a lot more intense. The nights scenes are definitely something made for the big screen.
Both films helped in my decision to become a draft-dodger.

FMJ was in this aspect a necessary follower to Platoon, published at the right time. As a bookpenguin, I can only recommend to give the book, on which the movie is based on, a chance. Written in a very down to earth language and giving much more insight into the protagonist's character.

I read books of both movies, I must admit to shame shame even the "Rambo 2" book, though at least I learned from the latter, that you're desalted when you can't taste salt with your tongue anymore.

[Penguin]

Murphy's Law at the workplace, part 1364:

- when you expect a nice and slow day after the weekend, any maniac will come to you with work

- Even eating garlic for diner can't stop the blabbermouth person to sit next to you, talking permanently when you have to listen on audio stuff

- when you do 3 jobs at the same time, expect a moaning colleague with nothing do to, to complain about how much workload she has

- walking home as one of the last staff members gets you a "what, still here? Why are you here so long, everybody's already home" by the doorman

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Penguin

@Oberon:

I think they brought in several exotic trees to decorate the ruins of Hue. As I was the belief that you don't have trees in England at all, the wrong ones didn't come to my eyes!
The best scene in Hue was imo the camera guy who tilted along the row of soldiers, taking cover behind a small stone wall in a combat break, where everybody gave a short comment, accompanied by "Surfing Bird". This scene just looked like original footage.
But I saw in the other thread that you liked the music of that era, or to use Ricky Gervais from his gig in Liberty City: "Vietnam - The war with the best soundtrack"

The Private Paula's last stand moment was just a dramaturgic pointed emphasis to show the psychical pressure put on the recruits. And soap beatings were not uncommon, and I can't imagine any drill camp in the Us never had a suicide. Certainly the death scene was an exaggeration of real happenings, just like the end scene of the second part, and both endings scenes tie the two parts together.

"Is that you John Wayne, is this me?"
"Start the cameras, this is Vietnam the movie!"

I loved that bit too, so did the other half, and it did look very much like footage I've seen from the war. I think the whole scene around Hue was done well, and it was at Parris Island that you noticed the trees and the sky not looking quite like the US, but to be honest it's only a minor niggle.
Yes, I have to agree with Gevais, there are so many songs that just conjure up the image of the seventies, and when people born after the seventies look back at it they usually wind up thinking of Vietnam, particularly those of us who are more militarily minded.
I understand why they put in the Private Pyle moment during the training but I think they could have done it a different way, perhaps having him assault Hartmann, but I guess that wouldn't have had the same dramatic effect as shooting him and then himself. Either which way though I enjoyed the film and the story it told.

[Betonov]

Bad news from my country, a Slovenian paraglider went paragliding in Bosnia and landed in the middle of a mine-field and triggered one. He'll live but they amputated both legs

[Sailor Steve]

Holy crud! That's one heck of a comment! Sorry to hear it though.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Betonov

Bad news from my country, a Slovenian paraglider went paragliding in Bosnia and landed in the middle of a mine-field and triggered one. He'll live but they amputated both legs

Extremely bad luck!!

[Betonov]

I don't know him personaly, but it's currently top news. But you don't really need a lot of bad luck for this, half of Bosnia is still mined

[frau kaleun]

I was gonna complain about the crown I have to get put on my back tooth but... er... doesn't seem like such a PITA now.



Poor guy, what a nightmare.

[Herr-Berbunch]

I've got a puncture!

Just waiting for the wife to come and pick me and my wheel up from work.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

I've got a puncture!

Just waiting for the wife to come and pick me and my wheel up from work.

Wuss, keep cycling. I once cycled 25km with a flat out of sheer stubornes