DVD Talk Forum - Do R. Lee Ermey's "antics" undermine the integrity of Full Metal Jacket? (2024)

True

The answer is no, and the second half of FMJ is indeed inferior to the first brilliant half.

And yes he did a Geico ad recently, and I thought it was pretty damn funny :shrug:

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They had to make it clean or otherwise it would sound like: Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Thanks for reading my post.

This is the biggest problem. The advertisers and the people on Mail Call seem to want the "Sgt Hartman" persona but they don't want the full 100% Hartman. So he's always shouting but there's no profanity, he's always holding back. It desecrates the role.

Also, to those saying he is "just trying to have a career": He has had many roles where he doesn't play the Drill Instructor character. He has a very fine career: Seven, Leaving Las Vegas, Switchback, Texas Chainsaw remake, etc.

+1000

Dreadfully unfunny commercial.

I agree, I like the second and third acts better.

But no there's nothing he could do to ruin his scenes or the film.

I agree. I liked his role in Willard. A movie that wasn't all that bad, and Lee did a great job with the role of Willard's boss.

The first half was better, but the second half was good too.

Here's a lot of trivia from IMDB, in spoilers due to it's length:

Say what you want about Ermey, Kubrick or the posters in this thread, but you leave Sesame Street the hell alone!

"Desecrates" seems fairly hyperbolic. (The judges would have accepted, "detracts from the role.") Anyway, we often see actors and comedians known for "mature" content appear in places where they tone it down. It's nothing new, or unique to Ermey.

I do think there's far greater allowance for someone going from adult-oriented to family-friendly than vice versa. Remember the controversy when Steve from Blue's Clues appeared on Homicide: Life on the Street? Yet, I've seen Mariska Hargitay, Christopher Meloni, Ice-T and Richard Belzer all appear in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit-themed skits on Sesame Street with nary a peep from anyone. (The skits were shot on the SVU police station set, with the actors in their SVU wardrobe and as I recall at least one of them even mimicked the L&O cue card.)

And he was pretty good as a detective/sheriff in Se7en and Switchback, respectively as well as his portrayal of the Base Commander in Body Snatchers.

The guy does a good job in most of his work and I don't see how any of his ancillary stuff hurts FMJ.

I just saw his pistachio nuts commercial, and I'm going to say that the impact of his performance in FMJ has been diminished --or (I should say) will be diminished for anyone seeing the movie for the first time.

Even though, there had been notable DI characters before, the FMJ performance was really jarring with its ferocity. That Ermey has pretty much made a career off turning that into a media cliche will lessen the impact of that part of FMJ for anyone seeing the movie now for the first time.

I'll agree with this, to a point.

I think the intensity of his DI in FMJ stands on its own, and it should be used as a point of reference as to how to do DI roles.

As sad a I get he's holding back, nothing short of a complete mockery of DI's everywhere is going to ruin the role.

Nope, does not undermine the integrity of that role at all. Guy has to make a living, more power to him.

The only thing that disappoints is that no one mentions about his actual "debut" as a drill instructor in the movie Boys in Company C. That role makes him seem like a puss* cat in FMJ:) It's not a big part, but that part alone is why I thought he was given the role for FMJ. Suprises me here hearing that he was not originally considered for his role in FMJ, did not realize that.

I've never seen the film but please tell me it's not as generic as it looks....

ALSO...WTF?! Golden Harvest?! Wow.....

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Isn't the opposite allowable, though? That someone will be even more affected hearing the unfiltered version of this persona in FMJ after only being aware of it in the more family-friendly version? Think, if you will, of how the generation that grew up watching Full House responded to finding out about Bob Saget's stand-up material.