Full Metal Jacket (1987)

3 character mistakes - chronological order

★★★★☆

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: When Sgt Hartman is giving the lesson about Charles Whitman, he says that he killed 12 people - in reality he killed 17. (00:30:00)

Character mistake: Hartman calls the "beds" bunks. Marines always refer to them as a rack.

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Suggested correction: There's no evidence to support this claim. It's not a rule. In fact, marines use both "rack" and "bunk."

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Mistakes

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)

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Quotes

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Do you suck dick, private?
Pvt Pyle: Sir no sir!
Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Bullshit! I bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

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Trivia

Trivia: While R. Lee Ermey has received high praise for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, Ermey himself stated that Hartman is an inept drill instructor because Hartman not only physically abuses the recruits, which is never allowed, but also because any drill instructor would have noticed that Pyle was having a mental breakdown.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: They sure did punch you. Back in '69, I got punched just like that, and I wasn't the only one to get hit.

That does not address the point - Lee Ermey himself regards Hartman as an inept drill instructor. If he did assault cadets, it was strictly against the rules, and how could he not see that Pyle was having a breakdown?

To add, R. Lee Ermey himself was a DI, so he would know a Marine's code of conduct.

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Questions

Question: Why was Gunnery Sergeant Hartman so mean to Leonard Lawrence AKA Private Pyle? Why was he always mad at him?

Socks1000

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.

Captain Defenestrator

Answer: It also promotes unity and brotherhood against a common enemy, the drill instructor.

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