Corrected entry: At the start of the film when Sgt. Hartman asks Private Pyle his name he says his name is 'Lawrence'. So why does Private Joker call him 'Leonard' just before he shoots the Sgt. and himself in the loo?
Corrected entry: When Joker and Rafterman are sitting outside in the first Vietnam scene, Rafterman has a pack of Marlboro Lights. Later, after he is robbed, he is seen walking through camp with a carton of Marlboro Reds. In the briefing room, later, he has Marlboro Lights again. (00:46:03)
Correction: It's a warzone, you smoke what you can get.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Pyle is caught with the doughnut and the Drill Sgt. makes the entire squad do pushups, you can clearly see people in the back that are struggling to do their pushups. If they were in boot camp for as long as they were, wouldn't they at least be to do 20 pushups?
Correction: This scene takes place at the end of the day, after all of the privates have had a hard days work, and are very tired. It's understandable if they are having trouble doing a few push-ups.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Pyle shoots himself, the back of his head splatters against the tiles, implying that the bullet has exited his head. No tiles were broken - one would assume that the bullet would have caused some damage. (00:45:08)
Correction: The bullet's trajectory isn't always the same exiting as it was entering. Even if the human matter does come out at the same angle as the bullet went in, the bullet may well be deflected in a wildly different direction when it strikes the last bit of bone on its way out. It may even be lodged in the ceiling, having never contacted the wall.
Corrected entry: When Cowboy's platoon commander is hit by shell fragments while walking behind the tank, focus your attention on the commander's back. You will notice that the light from the explosion is reflected onto his back, but the explosion was in front of him.
Correction: This is not a reflection on his back, but a 'lens flare' within the camera lens, similar to the light flares you'll see at night when headlights are moving left-to-right and a mirrored and flipped version of the lights travels right-to-left.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Joker and Rafterman are at the mass grave site in Vietnam, a colonel walks over and questions Joker about the writing on his helmet and about his peace sign. When the colonel is done and is about to walk away, the colonel salutes first. This is wrong because enlisted personnel always salute officers first.
Correction: This one is pretty iffy. While that is the general rule, an officer can always elect to salute first, usually as a sign of respect for the enlisted man. The colonel chastises joker at first, then tries to re-motivate him, by suggesting that he join the Hue city offensive. He even flat out says that all he expect from his marines is that they do everything that he says. Joker is pretty smart about it, and agrees to everything the colonel says, so I can see it's possible that the colonel would salute him; sort of saying "way to go marine, thats what I like to hear!", trying to keep his spirits high in an effort to motivate him.
Corrected entry: When Private Joker and Rafterman are interviewing Lt. Cleves in front of the row of dead Vietnamese covered with lye, Private Joker introduces himself as "Sergeant" Joker.
Correction: There's a large gap of time that isn't accounted for between the first bootcamp segment of the film, and the later vietnam segment. It appears to be at least three or four years, obviously Joker earned some promotions between that time.
Corrected entry: Sgt. Hartman's hat appears to change colour several times during the first half of the movie. At times it is olive drab, at others it is a darker brown shade.
Correction: It's the same hat, but the lighting makes it look different colors. Drill Instructors are also issued 3 covers upon graduating DI School. There are also different manufacturers of those covers. They don't wear the same ones every day.
Corrected entry: When Crazy gets killed by a bobby trap, Joker enters from the left and puts his gun down. When he is leaving to the right he picks up the wrong gun. His gun was the gun to the left and he picks up the gun to the right. (01:23:52)
Correction: Yes, Joker enters from the left, but we never see him put his gun down. If he never puts his gun down, then he can't pick up the wrong gun. Also, it never shows him starting to leave. It just cuts away while he is squatting next to Crazy.
Correction: His name was Leonard Lawrence, so calling him Leonard is fine.