Platoon.

[penfold]

the only realistic part of full metal jacket is the Drill Sergeant, the bloke playing was an actual US marine drill instructor and he recently passed away.

On the same subject Dale Dye is often credited as a technical adviser on films and stuff and he also gets to play the odd bit part eg he plays Tom Hanks' CO in saving private ryan as well as appearing in a lot of steven seagal films, often as his former co.

[Khriss]

To compare any film about the Vietnam conflict with Apocalypse now is ridiculous. Apocalypse now is set during the war, but is more than war film. I would go as far as to say it's not a war film at all, more of a cinematic essay on the collective and individual insanity of war. It has a depth and grandeur to equal the writing of Chekhov. The shear scale of Coppola's tour de force work alone makes anything else seem like a TV movie. The film is stacked full of quotable lines that have become as part of our culture as one would hope they would. "Charlie don't surf", " I love the smell of napalm in the morning", "We train men to drop fire on people, but our commanders won't let them write F*ck on their airplanes". The sound design by Walter Murch is astounding. Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has never bettered the awesome beauty of this film. In Cinematic terms Apocalypse Now is a work of Genius. It is both literary and accessible.

I love the work of Oliver Stone, but Platoon despite being a fantastic war film is simply that, a war film.

 

 

Ooooh ! Mr Garn !

[Khriss]

Well-yes, Platoon is a favourite of mine more for its intimate relationship values.

 

However, try 'The Beast' for a truely extraordinary plot -set in the Russ-Afghan war in 1988.

 

 

K " Put him under the tracks "

[Khriss]

Hey! lets not forget that Apocalypse Now was based on the book Heart of Darkness, that had nothing to do with the Vietnam war.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Darkness

 

True Jay- " The horror -the horror " ( didnt need to look it up)

 

K

[Treewolf]

the only realistic part of full metal jacket is the Drill Sergeant, the bloke playing was an actual US marine drill instructor and he recently passed away.

 

The 'gunny' in FMJ was played by Ronald Lee Ermy who is very much still alive, at least according to the Internet Movie Database IMBD (see http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000388/).

 

Intersting and something I hadn't realised is that he was also in Apocalypse Now although uncredited, aa a helicopter pilot. IMDB credits him with 106 films.

 

He served 11 years in the USMC including 14 months in Vietnam.

 

Urban legend - unsubstatiated as far as I know - says that he was employed on FMJ as a technical advisor to start with but, as a former real gunny, he was so much better at being a gunny than the actor who was initially cast for the part that the first actor was sacked and he was given the part.

[Treewolf]

Just found this on the 'trivia' section for FMJ on IMDB:

 

"Former US Marine Corps Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was not originally hired to play Gunnery Sgt. Hartman but as a consultant for the Marine Corps boot camp portion of the film. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for 15 minutes without stopping, repeating himself or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann."

 

So it must be true.....

[PeteB]

Platoon. - Barbers Adagio for Strings. Also subsequently used as an Anthem for 9/11 victims. Youtube it and watch the Proms version. Can still make me shed a tear even though I've listened to that piece for umpteen years.

[Jason James Gairn]

Just found this on the 'trivia' section for FMJ on IMDB:

 

"Former US Marine Corps Drill Instructor R. Lee Ermey was not originally hired to play Gunnery Sgt. Hartman but as a consultant for the Marine Corps boot camp portion of the film. He performed a demonstration on videotape in which he yelled obscene insults and abuse for 15 minutes without stopping, repeating himself or even flinching - despite being continuously pelted with tennis balls and oranges. Stanley Kubrick was so impressed that he cast Ermey as Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann."

 

So it must be true.....

 

That video tape sounds priceless. I'm off to see if I can find it on the web machine.