R. Lee was the real deal at that time: the filming of that episode would have coincided with the final days of his DI career, and shortly before he shipped off for his own tour of duty in Vietnam.
Hmm, I guess Kubrick really did think McKinney was the kind of guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the common courtesy to give him a reach-around.
R. Lee played the bad guy fake faith healing televangelist in the movie Fletch. Good performance, as I recall. But who’s got the testicles to tell him he’s giving a bad performance?
Now there’s an idea for a movie in and of itself! One of those “behind the scenes” Hollywood expose’ things like A Star Is Born or what have you. The next issue is who has the balls to write such a script?
In the Marines. Outstanding. Those individuals showed what one motivated Marine and his rifle can do. And before you ladies leave my Island, you will all be able to do the same thing.
Did I dream it or did R Lee Emrey host SNL? I remember him doing the whole DI skit but without any 4 letter words and it was just as awesome as FMJ? Anyone else remember this? I did a quick search but couldn’t find it.
The first time I saw Full Metal Jacket was at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton when I was there for CORTRAMID as an NROTC midshipman in the summer of 1988.
A USMC gunnery sergeant who was in charge of my group put the movie on for us. I remember thinking that it was ironic that a gunnery sergeant would put on a movie for a bunch of midshipmen in which a gunnery sergeant gets killed by a recruit, but I guess that Ermey’s outstanding performance as a DI outweighed this consideration.
I think you dreamed it, I never saw it and I checked the IMDB and they don’t list him.
I have seen him do a clean version of tearing someone down though as a skit on one of the Late Night Shows and of course his time as a therapist was awesome.
This must be one of the truly great performances in the history of film, because one does not dare parodize, deconstruct, or even really discuss it. One simply quotes it, chapter and verse.
Matthew Modine hosted on November 5th, 1988. The pre-credit sketch was called “Drill Sergeant” which as I recall had Phil Hartman (no relation, I assume) as the title character, ripping into a bunch of recruits in parody of Ermey’s Hartmann, with the joke being that he wasn’t very good or imaginative at it.
Drill Sergeant: From now on, your name is… [looks recruit up and down]… Mister Feet-Attached-To-Legs!
His performance in Boys in Company C was just as powerful as FMJ. And I always thought he was screwed out of a best supporting actor award. Sometimes people are so good, they defy belief. Plus, the Academy is anti military.
“Private Pyle! Whatever you do, don’t fall down! that would break my fucking heart!”
Do you suck dicks? Are you a peter puffer? Bullshit! You look like you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose!
One of my favorite roles for him was mayor in Mississippi Burning.
Mayor Tilman - “If the entire Secret Service couldn’t protect the President of the United States, how the HELL are we supposed to protect a few negroes! It is nothing more than some poor white trash drinking too much cheap alcohol. More likely paint thinner and snake juice because this state’s as dry as a martini, and we’ve got the alcoholics to prove it.”
Vincent D’Onofrio has some great acting range. From fat body Pyle, to Edgar the giant cockroach in Men in Black, to his Law & Order: Criminal Intent role, you would never even think it is the same guy.
Huh. A blooper I’ve never noticed: when Hartmann punches Joker in the gut in the opening scene, he pretty clearly starts the punch with his left hand. The camera angle changes mid-punch, and he finishes with his right hand.
“Today is Christmas. There will be a magic show at zero-nine-thirty!”
For years, I wondered why the fuck they would have a magic show for Christmas. It wasn’t until a few months ago, when I was reading a web page about Marine Corps slang, that I learned that “magic show” means a religious service.