Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Vincent D'Onofrio, Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard
Character mistake: When the Marines are navigating through the Paris Island obstacle course, Hartman is shouting "It should take you no less than 10 seconds to negotiate this obstacle!" In other words, the LONGER it takes someone to get across, the better? (00:13:27)
Character mistake: Hartman calls the "beds" bunks. Marines always refer to them as a rack.
Character mistake: When Sgt Hartman is giving the lesson about Charles Whitman, he says that he killed 12 people - in reality he killed 17.
Continuity mistake: Pvt. Pyle is on the rifle range with Gunnery Sergeant Hartman right behind him. When filmed from Pyle's right side, he is wearing a white wrist wrap/brace but the shot moves behind him and it is gone. Back to the right side and it reappears. (00:35:50)
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: You had best un-fuck yourself or I will unscrew your head and shit down your neck!
Trivia: Ermey was convinced that the scenes in boot camp wouldn't be believable unless the actors were actually frightened of him. According to the commentary on the blu-ray, when he was acting as the technical adviser and training them to drill, or whatever he was training them to do, he never raised his voice. As soon as the camera was rolling, he started screaming at the actors. Much to Ermey's pleasure, the fear you see on the screen is real. Many times in the shooting the actors would become so flustered by Ermey that they would blow their lines. Ermey recalls that he's seen the other actors in the film around Hollywood from time to time, and they still won't speak to him.
Question: Why was Gunnery Sergeant Hartman so mean to Leonard Lawrence AKA Private Pyle? Why was he always mad at him?
Answer: It also promotes unity and brotherhood against a common enemy, the drill instructor.
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Chosen answer: A Drill Instructor is always mad at the recruits in order to forge discipline. Private Pyle was the biggest screwup in the unit, thus creating more work for him.
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