Full Metal Jacket (1987)

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue. "Full Metal Jacket" joins "The Deer Hunter," "Apocalypse Now" and "Platoon" on the frontline of powerful films about the Vietnam War. Cinematic genius Stanley Kubrick ("A Clockwork Orange," "The Shining"), awarded Best Director by the London Film Critics Circle, traces a young Marine's (Matthew Modine, "Pacific Heights," "And the Band Played On") odyssey from dehumanizing boot camp to the bloody terror of the Tet Offensive. Co-starring Vincent D'Onofrio ("The Player"), Arliss Howard ("Tequila Sunrise"), Adam Baldwin ("Serenity"), Dorian Harewood ("Pacific Heights") and adding true grit to the Marines' basic training, a powerhouse performance by real-life former drill instructor R. Lee Ermey (the "Toy Story" movies). Adapted from Gustav Hasford's story "The Short Timers" by Hasford, Michael Herr and Kubrick. Marine recruits endure the grueling ordeal of basic training and later face the unrelenting Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive in this grim drama.