Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket

1987

A group of young American recruits are brutalised into soldiers during boot camp under a sadistic drill sergeant, then thrust into the chaos and moral horror of the Vietnam War's Battle of Hue. Stanley Kubrick's unflinching war film examines how institutions dehumanise individuals and the psychological cost of combat.

Director

  • Stanley Kubrick

Cast

  • Matthew Modine
  • Ed O'Ross
  • Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Adam Baldwin
  • R. Lee Ermey
  • Dorian Harewood
  • Arliss Howard
  • Bruce Boa
  • John Terry

Filming Locations

  • Bassingbourne

    The Parris Island scene was shot at a real military training camp here.

  • Beckton Gas Works

    The final sniper scene was filmed here.

  • Galleons Reach

    Part of the east London docklands area used by Kubrick to represent war-torn Vietnam; the derelict industrial landscape near the Thames was dressed alongside the Beckton gasworks to depict the city of Hue.

  • Isle of Dogs

    The Da Nang scenes, set at the beginning of the Vietnam section of the film, were filmed at the Isle of Dogs in the former docklands area of east London.

  • Pinewood Studios

    Interior sets including the Parris Island barracks, the Stars & Stripes newspaper headquarters, and other enclosed scenes were built and filmed at Pinewood Studios.