I liked both films but I think Full Metal is much stronger. I know both movies depict different aspects of war, but I think FMJ's message is much more powerful. Paths of Glory is all about greed and one's own reputation, while FMJ is all about the stripping of one's own humanity to the point where they become killing machines. Due to that, I personally believe FMJ is much darker and a stronger film. What's everyone else's opinion?
sharePaths of Glory by a slim margin. Their not really easy to compare. Kubrick said that PoG was an anti-war film and FMJ is just a war film.
shareYes, they're both great and they're both very different, even though they are "war movies".
share"Paths of Glory" is my favorite Kubrick film. It is indeed an antiwar movie. I love all of Kubrick's films, including "Full Metal Jacket".
I strongly suggest any Kubrick fanatic (such as me) find a copy of "STANLEY KUBRICK"-A Life in Pictures". It is narrated by Tom Cruise. It has scenes of every film he made (and the many he didn't). Some of the commentaries are other well known directors, such as Martin Scorcese, Sydney Pollack, Woody Allen, Steven Spielberg, etc. Also,many actors: (Sir) Charles Laughton, Jack Nicholson, Malcolm McDowell, Cruise, Kidman, and on and on.
Some of the best people they speak with are the former president of Warner Bros., producers, Arthur C. Clarke, who said Kubrick is the most intelligent person he ever met. It is produced by Jan Harlan, who knew and worked with Kubrick for probably 35 years.
Sorry to go on, but it is absolutely worth buying.
I beg to differ. FMJ isn't just an anti-war film, it's anti "war-film". The way it deals with the soldiers being brainwashed into killing machines, especially the cynical ones like Joker.
I'm going to find it and I'm going to destroy it. I don't know how yet. Possibly with dynamite.
Paths of Glory by far. I consider it to be Kubrick's greatest work.
I didn't think Full Metal Jacket was even anything special.
yeah i agree. i think full metal jacket felt like two films. the first part is extraordinary but the second is very average and muddled.
i saw paths of glory yesterday for the first time and am in awe of it. the performances all over are wonderful, especially of course kirk douglas and the three men who are put forward to the firing squad.
it is a much more powerful film, however saying that i definitely will watch both again and hopefully full metal jacket will have more of an impact on me.
"gentlemen make your lives extraordinary"
i think full metal jacket felt like two films. the first part is extraordinary but the second is very average and muddled. - timothysimon
100% agree. Once they leave boot camp, I don't even watch anymore. The first part is some of Kubrick's best, but the rest? Meh. Messy, muddled, and pointless.
I much prefer Paths of Glory, myself.
Whores will have their trinkets.
This.
I, too, turn off FMJ as soon as they leave boot camp but I can watch POG over and over from start to finish and still enjoy it.
I liked the thoroughness of FMJ, but I think I liked the conciseness of POG better.
sharePaths of Glory by a country mile. Full Metal Jacket was a decent movie, but I didn't think it came anywhere near greatness like many of its supporters seem to claim.
share[deleted]
FMJ for me but just because I am more familiar with that war I think. PoG is a great film and deals with it's own subject matter very well. I'm sure in 1957 the impact would have been much greater than that of FMJ.
Personally, I think the 2 halves of FMJ work brilliantly together. We go through the training with the men and then all of a sudden - we are all thrown into the mess that was vietnam.
...there's a cello in your house now...
Good question. I personally think this is a much stronger film, but I admit it may well be because I've got something of an inbuilt bias against American VietNam war films, simply because I loathe the way they tend to portray that conflict as an American story/ tragedy.
shareI agree with the posters who picked this masterpiece. I've seen Paths of Glory many times and am aways awed by it. In my opinion it is the best war movie ever made.
shareI adored Full Metal Jacket, but Paths of Glory never fails to move me profoundly. Simply put, I have to watch PoG by myself because it hits me on such an emotional level.
PoG is one of the best movies I have watched but FMJ is a hundred times better
This was freedom. Losing all hope was freedom.share
"Paths of glory" by million times
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