Full Metal Jacket question

I've seen the movie at least 4 times. But I never found out. Did R Lee Ermey die in it? It cuts from Gomer shooting him, to the graduation, to deployment.

Yea, Pyle shoots him then sticks the gun in his mouth and shoots himself.

But a shot to the chest isn't a killing wound. It'll probably hurt like a bitch, but wouldn't kill.

Raptor Jesus wrote:But a shot to the chest isn't a killing wound. It'll probably hurt like a bitch, but wouldn't kill.

I think they imply that he died later in the movie when Joker is talking about his time in boot camp.

Raptor Jesus wrote:But a shot to the chest isn't a killing wound. It'll probably hurt like a bitch, but wouldn't kill.

Even at that close of a range? It looked like a heart-shot to me, but I know very little about what would or wouldn't kill someone.

I don't think it's supposed to be important.

Yea, whether he died or not it still shocked me a bit. I watched the movie for the first time Friday and it's one of the few scenes in a movie that's made me cringe a bit.

I wish the movie didn't suck after the boot camp part.

Agreed. After camp, the whole thing went downhill.

Raptor Jesus wrote:But a shot to the chest isn't a killing wound. It'll probably hurt like a bitch, but wouldn't kill.

I'm guessing this is a joke right?

While it's possible to survive a shot to the chest or even multiple shots, don't count on it.
A single 9mm round to the chest will more than likely kill you if you don't receive immediate medical attention. Even if it misses your heart, lungs spine etc... there's still a chance hydrostatic shock will kill you instantly via brain hemorrhage.

I don't know. This was after boot camp and it's funny as hell:

I thought it was really good after the boot camp, I dunno what you guys were smoking.

The whole movie from start to finish is awesome. After boot camp was intense.

Yes the movie as a whole is a damn good movie.


It saddens me that you find someone shooting unarmed civilians as funny. Thats just sad on so many levels.

The well disciplined VCs? lol....

Brian wrote:The well disciplined VCs? lol....

No, watch the scene Private Grey posted.

Chewy wrote:I thought it was really good after the boot camp, I dunno what you guys were smoking.

Tell me about it...

I'm putting this right here...

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I'm talking about that scene. Can't watch it right now, but that's the scene with the dude talking about shooting women and children too. Then just killing those running across the field. Am I right? He makes a joke about it.

Brian wrote:I'm talking about that scene. Can't watch it right now, but that's the scene with the dude talking about shooting women and children too. Then just killing those running across the field. Am I right? He makes a joke about it.

Yea, but they're not VC. They're innocent civilians. Not really funny IMO

It's not funny. But he made a joke about it. It was supposed to be funny to him. It showed how gruesome soldiers can get. I thought the scene did what it was meant to.

A popular opinion by most is that the movie isn't good after bootcamp.

While the overall tone of the movie changes I don't think that the quality of the movie decreased because of this.

Boot Camp was a controlled environment, while the war was, well... war.

I think a lot of people like the Boot Camp part purely because of Ermey's character and I can see why.

When I was younger I felt the same way and thought everything after Boot Camp was boring, but after viewings later on down the line I came to see the beatuy and poignancy of the second act.

Wether Ermey died or not isn't as important (I think he did) as the message that Pyle shooting him delivered. It was a turning point in the film, it added chaos to a situation that was a very organized and rule-driven environment. It signified fighting authority and how stress can ultimately break a man. Awesome stuff.

A bigger discussion point is whether or not the shooting even happened. Anyone ever hear of the dream theory associated with this movie?

http://www.collativelearning.com/FMJ%20pt%206.html

Cool read about the dream theory.