Full Metal Jacket

Continuity mistake: As the men get out of bed to attack Pyle, a close-up of Cowboy shows him looking to Snowball. Both are in bottom bunks. Between them we see a pair of legs lower and hang from a top bunk. The shot changes to a more distant angle and the legs repeat the motion. (00:28:50)

johnrosa

Continuity mistake: When Joker goes to see Cowboy and the squad are sitting in the temple, the dead Vietnamese's face can be seen without the hat covering it. When the photo is taken by Rafterman, his hat appears and is removed.

Continuity mistake: While Hartman is addressing the privates, who sit on the bleachers, the sky behind keeps swapping from dark grey to sunny, back and forth depending on the angle.

Sacha Premium member

Continuity mistake: After Hartman punches Joker, the scene shifts to Joker's point of view with Hartman pointing his finger directly in Joker's face while berating him. After the scene changes to a distant shot, Hartman is pointing behind Joker's head.

Rick

Video

Continuity mistake: When Hartman is messing with Snowball, Joker quotes John Wayne. Hartman seeks out who said something. He grabs Cowboy by the blouse and pulls it upwards forcefully while questioning if he made the joke. Then Joker admits to making the joke. Hartman moves over to Joker, but you can see Cowboy's blouse is now bunched up at the top and no longer properly tucked in. After Hartman reprimands Joker, he moves back to Cowboy. Cowboy's blouse looks as if was never touched by Hartman. (00:03:40 - 00:04:40)

luchador

Continuity mistake: When the squad is first ambushed they take cover around the corner of a building. Around the corner the window is boarded up. The next shot the window is unblocked and wide open and it enables the sniper to shoot Cowboy.

Continuity mistake: Just before the jelly doughnut scene, as Hartman is walking up the aisle, he is in front of Joker's locker, about to reach Pyle's locker. A moment later he comes to Joker's locker, before he gets to Pyle's.

Continuity mistake: When Hartman slaps Joker, Joker's head is turned sideways by the slap. A moment later, he is looking straight down.

Continuity mistake: During the scene where the Joker moves into the building to kill the sniper, the sniper sees him and starts shooting at the pillar he is behind. During this shot, large chunks of the pillar fall away, but in the next shot, when the sniper gets shot, the pillar is intact.

Continuity mistake: When Hartman is showing the doughnut to the Privates, it changes looks depending on the shot: smooth and sugar coated, or wrinkled with barely any sugar.

Sacha Premium member

Continuity mistake: The shape of the beam of light coming from Joker's torch, after he enters the bathroom where Pyle kills himself, is different from the shape of the beam before he enters.

Jack Vaughan

Full Metal Jacket mistake picture

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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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.

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Answer: It was Gustav Hasford's idea. It happened in the original book that the story is based on, "The Short Timers."

Captain Defenestrator

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