This film is a riot.I doubt that the big ugly,mocho,jug earred freak,Mr.Webb,would think so,tho.This stuff is just comical in the extreme.I loved to watch the stupid scene with the men looking for a sand flea in a sand dune.Or my favorite's in ALL Jack Webb films are the scenes he wrote with the ultra trampy skanks he imagines are hot for him.LOL.As if.What a MAN!!!!
shareThere are comical moments (very tongue in cheek) that are remininisent of some of the exchanges between Gannon and Friday in the 1960s version of Dragnet.
However, many of the actors were real marines who probably fought in Korea and would eventually probably be in Vietnam in very real combat conditions.
I'm sure that when they weren't filming, the marines were training in the real world, in real time.
I think that's what makes this movie so believable. That being said, I'm sure that real drill instructors are a heck of a lot tougher than Moore in the real world.
Have some respect for the actors. Many of them would soon be involved in a very real war.
That "hillbilly" private reminds me of Gomer Pyle.
Well, heaven forbid that a Marine D.I. would be portrayed as "mocho."
As for the film's female lead, she was a former Miss USA whom Webb later married. I guess she was sorta hot for him after all.
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Great point ! I thought that was a very good film.
shareTypical over the top Webb acting. Stilted, overly rehearsed. I have little respect for him as an actor, especially after reading that he used a teleprompter for his lines on 'Dragnet'. ~L A M E!~ He did have a LOT of success with his Mark VII company, which also produced this film. He was better as a producer and writer than as an actor. The D.I. in this film has EVERY stereotype that a D.I. could have in 'real life', except that the Hollywood film censorship board allowed no 'colorful salty Marine language' in movies in 1957. The real way a D.I. talked to a recruit/platoon is part of what made 'Full Metal Jacket' so appealing to me.
I love his TV series and films a lot, mostly for the 'campiness' and 'cheese factor'. This is a decent film, over all and it is pretty cool that Webb used real 'Jarheads' in the film!
I recommend the film for the entertainment value, though it is no Oscar winning type stuff.
Not a Webb fan, either, but to call ANYONE portraying a DI as being 'over the top'?? Isn't that how real DIs act??? that was the whole point....
shareActually Drill Instructors are actors. Their whole routine is scripted. They have different roles to play depending upon weather they're the Senior, or Assistant DI's. The Senior plays the father figure and by the end of bootcamp and for the rest of your life you'll respect him/her. Then of the 2 Assistant DI's, one has to play the Heavy Hat psychotic DI who you know wants to kill you and hates every single iota of your being. When they get their next platoon they might switch roles. I don't think it's changed for over 50 years. If you ever meet a former DI I think you'll find a smart, well adjusted Gentleman or Lady. They don't let crazy people become DI's. They're very well vetted. Semper Fi.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”
Well said, Pete. I was Navy, not USMC, but 'Semper Fi' right back at you.
You brought up one of the little known (outside of military circles) aspects of the relationship between D.I.'s (the different branches of military have different terms) and trainees. In civilian life, the very common image is that of the borderline psychotic maniac senior enlisted man (Chief, Gunny Sgt., etc) who makes life a living hell for the trainees who end up hating him for the rest of their lives. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Here's the secret: the D.I.'s don't hate the recruits, they love them and the military so much that they do absolutely everything in their power to make the recruits the smartest, best trained Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen that they can be. They do everything they can do to ensure the trainees will not be killed in combat. At some point, the little light goes on, and the young men end up having a love and respect so deep for their D.I.'s, that they would follow them to the gate of Hell.
The thorn defends the rose, yet it is peaceful and does not seek conflict.
ta2me92704
Thank you for your sevice!
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”
I like to say more, "there's a method to the madness..." lol. My best friend went to the drill field, and I remember that fool telling me once, "i hate these fvcking recruits". I know it wasn't literal hate, but, them things can get on your nerves. But all the games like find the sand flea, etc, are real. That's where the method in the madness is, that's where the magic happens. Pete2141 (tank mech I'm guessing?), you know what I'm talking about.
share8 years USMC. Truck driver/SRB Clerk/Airframe repairman 3531/0121/6042. 4 years USMCR. 23 years fulltime with Air National Guard.
Retired (E-7) July 2011.
“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”
Some years ago I answered a for sale ad and went over. There were 4 guys in which 3 were former Marines and the 4th was their former DI. They still called him Sarge even though he wasn't a boss, just a little more knowledgeable about some things (they mostly built car & motorcycle motors & other mechanically related stuff) Never had I seen such a bond within an individual group like that before.
How it started was some time after discharge, one of the guys ran into his former DI at a bar and "settled a score". The former recruit beat his former DI to a pulp. After that, they shook hands and have never looked back. It's interesting how something in the past whether it would be school, the military, a former job, an individual, etc, often leaves a lasting legacy on our lives. It definitely has done such to me in my life.
Semper Fi