Scene by scene analysis of 'Klute'

This is a scene by scene analysis of 'Klute' starring Jane Fonda

This is a plot and scene analysis of 'Klute' that you can follow along with your DVD or Blu ray copy of this film. In the meantime, enjoy this clip. 

Title 4 (00:09-12:02) (11:53) Stop after john pays Bree and wide scene of them on sofa

Summary

The film begins in the Pennsylvania home of business executive Tom Grunemann. He and his wife are hosting a dinner with invited friends including police detective John Klute and Peter Cable who is also an executive at the company that Tom works for. The atmosphere is very casual. Tom and his wife are at opposite ends of the dinner table smiling at each other. 

The following scene begins at the same dinner where 2 detectives interview Mrs. Grunemann concerning her missing husband. Klute is present as he and Tom were good friends. There were no signs preceding Tom’s disappearance as he and his wife were very happy. The cops produce a letter they found in Tom Grunemann’s desk at the plant, an obscene letter to a New York call girl. The letter is 1 of 7 letters they found in his desk addressed to the New York call girl named Bree Daniels.

In the next scene, a tape recorder plays a conversation between Peter Cable and call girl Bree Daniels.

Following the titles, the scene opens in Manhattan, New York at a casting call for a television commercial. One by 1, the casting director and his assistant send the models home, including Bree Daniels. She leaves the casting call and goes to a hotel to turn a trick with a john in town from Chicago.

Analysis

The opening of the film sets the stage for the Jeckyl and Hyde personalities of call girl Bree Daniels and the killer Peter Cable. There is nothing at the dinner table to indicate anything unusual about Peter Cable at all. The large window in the background shows a garden and allows the sun to brighten the room and faces around the dinner table. 

The following scene opens at the same table but it is shot at night and the window in the background is dark. The time of day in both of these scenes are contrasted as a metaphor for Bree and Cable who are both actors in this film, pretending to be people they aren’t and hiding dark secrets. 

In the opening titles, Cable plays a tape recording of Bree trying to get him to relax. Her words on the tape explains how she brought out Cable’s dark side: 

Bree: “Would you mind if I take my sweater off? I think that in the confine’s of one’s home one should be free of inhibitions…”

“You mustn’t be ashamed, you know, there’s nothing wrong. Nothing is wrong.” 

Where there are no rules or laws, there are only animals. We are capable of anything under the right circumstances. But rules, norms, discipline, and penalties keeps us civilized toward one another. Bree’s 1st statement on the tape provides the key to freeing Cable’s dark side because she is actually telling him that he could act out his repressed desires at night, in private, when no one is looking. Her 2nd statement on the tape gives Cable the moral justification to rationalize killing the prostitutes who, he later says, brought out his dark nature. 

After the opening titles, Bree reacts from being turned down for an acting part by manipulating a john out of $100.00. Her dream is to be an actress, to pretend she’s something that she isn’t, and acts out this desire to manipulate others on her johns. The john is very timid but she gets him to tell her what he wants by creating an atmosphere that makes him relaxed and not ashamed. Then, she brings him back down to earth by letting him know that all of her charms—her smile, discretion, interest—are an act when she asks the john for payment up front. The john’s face goes from total bliss to disappointment. You get the sense that she gets her kicks from manipulating the john this way because it validates her acting abilities. 

Title 9 (21:25—24:10) (3:15) Stop after Bree says “It’s just so silly to think that somebody can help anybody, isn’t it?” to her therapist. 

Summary

Bree explains to her therapist why she likes turning tricks with johns over acting, how they are similar and, at the same time, different from each other. 

Analysis

Bree tells her therapist that she isn’t getting anything from the sessions and can no longer afford them. The therapist is Bree in this encounter, a paid comforter providing no real warmth. Bree tells the therapist that acting with johns protects her because she doesn’t have to feel anything for them. This explains her anger towards Klute later. He coaxes feelings out of her like she does with her johns. But Klute really cares for Bree. Her last words in this scene are ironic: “It’s just so silly to think that somebody can help anybody, isn’t it?” These words are ironic because Klute helps her. 

Title 12 (31:01-37:41) (6:40) Stop after Bree says “You could get a perfectly good dishwasher for that.”

Summary

Klute blackmails Bree. He tapped her phone and has recordings of her and her johns. He offers to barter the tapes in exchange for information on Tom Grunemann. She has had so many johns over the years that she can’t remember if she’d dated Grunemann or not. She makes an attempt to seduce him for the tapes but she is unsuccessful in doing so.

Analysis

This scene shows just how disconnected Bree is from the johns she’s slept with. She d a john who beat her up and she can’t remember his face. This also explains why she is pursuing an acting career which is a way of distancing herself from emotions that might dredge up painful memories.

Title 15 (47:57—58:49)(10:52) Stop after they make love and she taunts him saying “Don’t feel bad ‘cause you lost your virginity. Everybody always does.”

Summary

Bree auditions for a part but doesn’t get it. Afterwards, she and Klute go out for lunch and she agrees to help him find a prostitute named Arlyn Page who was assaulted by the man believed to be Tom Grunemann. They stop by a penthouse to question a madam Arlyn worked for. But Arlyn had a heroin habit, the madam told them, and had to be let go. They stop by a nightspot to question a lesbian Arlyn used to date but the lesbian had no knowledge of Arlyn’s whereabouts. They go by the police station’s morgue to check pictures of deceased women with no luck. Finally, they return to the apartment. Klute asks Klute if she can spend the night in his apartment because she hears noise in her own apartment. They make love. 

Analysis

Bree doesn’t get the part because she is incapable of putting her real feelings into the role. Therefore, she’s just faking it and her phoniness is obvious including her fake Irish accent. The irony is that when she is acting with her johns she comes across as real and they actually buy into her performance.

When she shows up at Klute’s apartment, she is not faking her feelings; she is afraid. To make up for not getting the part she auditioned for earlier, and for allowing herself to feel safe with Klute, she makes love to Klute, not out of desire or pleasure for showing him her real self. She taunts him for not making her have an orgasm. Bree is so accustomed to manipulating the feelings of others that she suspects others of doing the same to her.

Title 19 (1:02:56—1:10:20) (7:24) Stop after Klute and Bree embrace

Summary

Bree and Klute find Arlyn Page and her boyfriend who are both junkies and strung out. Bree returns to Frank—her old pimp—in his nightclub and he gives her heroin. 

Klute stops by a high-rise office building to report his investigation to Peter Cable. Cable pretends that he’s pleased but he isn’t. When Klute leaves, Cable plays a tape recorded conversation of himself and Bree on the night he beat her. 

Klute stops by Bree’s apartment. The heroin has her strung out and her place is a mess. He stays with her and helps her come down off the drugs in her system. 

Analysis

Bree is a human being despite the cold front she puts up to the world. And when she feels vulnerable she throws up a wall which is why she returns to Frank every time she shows Klute her unpretty side. She also uses heroin to numb herself to Klute. He sees Bree as she really is, the person and not the actor. He sees her worst and still he accepts her. By contrast, she is rejected by every acting agency which also explains her distrust for Klute, the fact that he accepts her and they don’t. 

Like Bree, Peter Cable is also an actor.  His image is the opposite of someone responsible for murdering prostitutes. This is why he doesn’t become a suspect until the end of the film. At the beginning of the film, he blends in with everyone at the dinner table.

Title 24 (1:18:47—1:25:31) (6:44) Stop at “Let it all hang out, you know, to do it all and fuck it.”

Summary

Bree is talking to her therapist and explaining the changes that Klute is bringing into her life. Later, she and Klute return to her apartment and find it trashed. 

Analysis

Bree is being herself with Klute and allowing herself to enjoy sex which she numbs herself from enjoying with johns.

She tells her therapist that she becomes angry at Klute for making her feel because she needs a certain distance to do her job. Klute is putting her back in touch with herself. 

And he is close to identifying the killer. Peter Cable, like Bree, became violent when Bree got him to let go of his inhibitions. He blames Bree for his violent tendencies. 

Title 27 (1:30:53—1:34:45) (3:53) Stop at “I’ll have her call you as soon as she gets home. I promise.”

Summary

Bree returns to her pimp. Klute beats up the pimp. Bree stabs Klute with a pair of scissors and he leaves. After this incident, Bree stops by to see her therapist who is unavailable. 

Analysis

Again, Bree is put a situation where she feels vulnerable and returns to her pimp, Frank, to distance herself from Klute who also makes her feel vulnerable. Like she told her therapist, when she feels vulnerable she becomes angry with Klute. When she stabs Klute with the scissors this shows that anyone is capable of anything under the right circumstances. This incident shows how Bree helped bring out the killer in Peter Cable. The recording of her urging him to let go of his inhibitions was the beginning. 

Title 32 (1:43:46—1:51:55) (8:09) Stop after she says “I’d go out of my mind.”

Summary

Peter Cable comes face to face with Bree Daniels. He admits to murdering Tom Grunemann and the 2 prostitutes, Arlyn Page and Jane McKenna. He blames the murders on Bree for exposing his weaknesses. He plays a recording he’d made of him speaking with Arlyn Page and killing her. Then, he stops the recording and attacks Bree but Klute comes to her rescue. Cable jumps out of the window. 

Bree moves out of her apartment.

Analysis

Peter Cable confronts his weaknesses and attacks the person he feels is responsible for exposing them like how Bree attacks Klute for bringing out her weaknesses. Later, Bree moves out of her apartment suggesting that she may also be leaving acting and prostitution behind.

'Klute': Plot Summary

This is a plot summary of director Alan Pakula's film 'Klute'.

This is a film summary of 1971's 'Klute,' one of my favorite films from my favorite decade. 

'Klute' directed by Alan Pakula

A Pennsylvania executive named Tom Grunemann vanishes. His wife and friends are left with no clues except for obscene letters he sent to a New York prostitute named Bree Daniels. 

Bree is rejected at a casting call. Later, she meets an out of town john at his hotel room. The client is shy but Bree gets him to relax and open up. She returns to her apartment and someone calls her breathing without identifying himself.

Peter Cable hires a cop named John Klute to investigate Grunemann’s disappearance, to go to New York and question Bree Daniels who is the last person to correspond with the executive who is also suspected of murdering 2 prostitutes.  

Klute rents the basement of the apartment where Bree lives. He taps her phone and records a number of her transactions. He blackmails Bree with tapes he recorded off her phone. He shows her a picture of Grunemann but she has had so many johns that she can’t recall his face. But she does remember the john that beat her, a john her pimp named Frank set her up with. A john referred to Frank by a jealous whore named Jane McKenna who is now dead. But there is another whore named Arlyn Page who also dated the abusive john. Klute and Bree visit a madam Arlyn worked for but, according to the woman, Arlyn is a junkie and has fallen off the map. 

Bree continues to get ‘breather calls.’ She shows up at Klute’s apartment afraid and he lets her sleep at his place. In the middle of the night, they make love.

Klute and Bree find Arlyn and her junkie boyfriend in a room in a rundown neighborhood waiting for a drug delivery. But when Cappie sees Klute and Bree, he becomes spooked and runs away leaving Arlyn and her boyfriend miserable. In a high-rise office, Peter cable plays a tape he’d recorded of him and one of the dead prostitutes. 

To Klute’s dismay, Bree returns to her old pimp and relapses back to her drug habit. Klute finds her later at her place. She is strung out and her apartment is a mess. He straightens up her apartment and watches over her until she gets all of the dope out of her system.

The police fish Arlene’s corpse out of the harbor. Klute rules out Grunemann. He now believes the killer is someone close to Grunemman. And the only person who can identify the killer is Bree. With Arlyn dead, Klute keeps tabs on Klute’s comings and goings. He tells her he worries about her. Bree tells her therapist that she met a guy who is making her feel again. 

Klute and Bree pick over produce at a farmer’s market. Later, they return to her apartment and find it in shambles. Someone cut up all of her clothes and came in a pair of her panties. Bree moves in with Klute. 

Klute and the police analyze the typed letters of everyone involved with the case, including Klute’s. But the only typed letters matching the style of Grunemann’s letters are those belonging to Peter Cable. Klute baits Cable with a lie, asking him for $500.00 dollars to buy Jane McKenna’s address book. The book contains all of her johns and possibly the DNA of the john who broke into Bree’s apartment and left semen in a pair of her panties.  

Feeling vulnerable again, Bree returns to Frank. Klute attacks Frank and Bree stabs Klute with a pair of scissors. Klute is able to avoid being stabbed and leaves Bree’s apartment. She comes to her senses and goes to see her therapist who isn’t available. Bree is desperate for someone to talk with.

Peter Cable cancels his scheduled flight to Pennsylvania to find Bree who has Jane McKenna’s address book. Klute finds out about Cable’s cancelled flight and searches for Bree. 

She stops by the garment factory to talk to Mr. Goldfarb who left money for Bree with his secretary. 

Bree waits for Goldfarb at the empty plant, unaware that Cable is also there. He reveals himself and confesses to murdering Jane McKenna, Arlyn Page, and Tom Grunemann. Grunemann caught him red-handed after he’d beaten Jane McKenna. Cable killed Grunemann to keep him from reporting the beating.

Cable accuses Bree of bringing out his sickness. He plays a tape recording of him torturing Arlyn Page. When the tape stops, he attacks Bree, chokes her, but Klute appears. Cable jumps through a plate glass window and falls to his death. Bree moves out of her apartment and leaves New York.

Themes from 'Klute'

Here are themes from the film 'Klute'

Klute is a 1971 crime thriller directed by Alan Pakula and starring Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Roy Schneider. 

Detective John Klute is hired to investigate the disappearance of Tom Grunemannn who is connected with the deaths of 2 New York prostitutes. The only clues to Grunemman’s disappearance are letters he sent to a New York call girl named Bree Daniels who also had contact with the man responsible for murdering the prostitutes connected with Grunemann’s disappearance. Bree is an aspiring actress who also suffers from insomnia because of a john that beat her a couple of years ago. She is also an expert at catering to men’s darkest fantasies. Not until she meets Klute does she realize that she also has a dark side and the closer Klute gets to her the blurrier the line between Bree and Peter Cable, the murderer, becomes. 

Acting

Bree Daniels, like Peter Cable, is an actor, hiding her true self behind a fabricated image.

Why Bree Daniels wants to be an actress

• To protect herself from feeling and being hurt
• She’s insecure with who she really is
• Having power of others’ feelings and perceptions makes her feel powerful
• She can’t remember the john that attacked her because she doesn’t want to experience or ‘feel’ the incident again. Acting is a metaphor of how she distances her emotions in relationships with men.

Why Bree feels uncomfortable with Klute

• He sees who she really is, without her makeup and phony confidence. He sees her afraid, vulnerable, weak, and insecure

Why Bree can’t land an acting job

• She can’t get an acting job because she shuts down her emotions when others are in control. But she is a great actress when she is in control of the situations such as when she caters to the fantasies of her johns.  

Peter Cable

Like Bree, Peter is also an actor who hides behind a make believe image. This is why the film reveals him as the killer early on and also why he doesn’t become a suspect until the end of the film. As a business executive, Cable is rational, professional, stable. Most of all, his decent image doesn’t match that of a maniac killing prostitutes. 

Bree shows her dark side

Fear

Underneath all the numbness, Bree is a human being and whenever she shows this side of herself she throws up a wall between her and Klute. This explains why she returns to Frank who represents a barrier of protection between feelings and those who can potentially hurt her. And this also explains why she uses heroin to hide feelings.

Bree is frightened by the feelings Klute brings out of her, weaknesses she is used to exposing in her clients.

Anger

Bree tells her therapist that she becomes angry at Klute for making her feel. This is why she stabs Klute with scissors. Cable’s anger comes out the same way. At the end of the film, he accuses Bree and the other whores of exposing his fantasies and weaknesses. “I was never fully aware of mine (his moral weaknesses), until you brought them out,” he tells her. 

Letting go of Inhibitions

Bree gets Cable to free his moral inhibitions and brings out his murderous tendencies. She does this by pretending that she cares about him the way she pretends to care about the commuter in the hotel:

• She asks the commuter what he wants and he whispers it in her ear, too shy to say it out loud. We never get to know what he wants but she says with a smile “That sounds fantastic.” 
• But when she stops to ask him for payment upfront, the commuter’s face changes to disappointment because he knows that Bree is only acting

Klute gets Bree to reveal her real self by simply caring for her. She needed someplace to sleep and he let her sleep at his place; he protects her; he accepts her despite her being a prostitute; he doesn’t judge her; he helps her kick her drug habit; he doesn’t leave her when she insults him and leaves him to run back to Frank twice!

In real life, people sometimes become violent when they find out that their partner or spouse is unfaithful. The person who opened themselves up feels deceived, tricked into believing something false. This is also an analogy explaining Peter Cable’s actions and Bree’s hostility towards Klute. Bree got Cable to show his dark side to her even though she cared nothing for him; on the other hand, Klute gets Bree to open up but unlike her his concern and feelings are real and in her world real concern is just part of the “hustle.” 

Money can’t buy love or friendship

Having gotten by by acting, Bree has no one she can talk to and be herself with. Neither her paid therapist nor her favorite john are available when she really needs them. In the end, it is Klute who saves her from Peter Cable. 

Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket': plot summary

This is a plot summary of director Stanley Kubrick's film 'Full Metal Jacket'. 

This is Kubrick's 2nd war film, his 1st being 1957s Paths of Glory Starring Kirk Douglas and George Macready. That film, set in WWI, took an anti war position from the standpoint of a French officer ordered to execute 3 soldier's for cowardice. By contrast, Full Metal Jacket is an ambiguous look at war through the eyes of Joker, a soldier conflicted by his nature to kill and his desire to see peace. Anyway, this is one of my favorite war films and I put this summary together highlighting key moments in the film. This clip is one of the funniest scenes in the movie.  Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment. 

Production

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war action movie shot in London, England and directed by Stanley Kubrick who co-wrote the script with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford, based on Hasford’s 1979 novel “The Short Timers.” The film stars Mathew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, Lee Ermey, and Dorian Harewood. 

Plot summary

The film is set in 1968 prior to and during the war’s bloodiest campaign, the Tet Offensive. On Parris, Island South Carolina, new recruits are beginning 8 week U.S. Marine bootcamp training. The opening scene shows the recruits having their heads shaved. The following scene shows the recruits in their dormitory, at attention, being inspected by their drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. Here we meet Private Joker, named so by Hartman for his John Wayne impersonations. There’s Cowboy, and finally there’s an overweight recruit named Leonard whom Hartman names Gomer Pyle. Pyles’ and Hartmans' relationship is the focus of the 1st half of the film. 

Joker (Matthew Modine) shows exceptional motivation and is quickly promoted to squad leader. Pyle, by contrast, lacks motivation and has trouble following instructions. Hartman assigns Joker to bunk with Pyle and teach him. Unlike Hartman who shouts and curses, Joker’s patient teaching style seems to motivate Pyle for a while. One morning, Hartman inspects the platoon and finds a jelly donut in Pyle’s footlocker. Infuriated, Hartman punishes the whole platoon instead of punishing Pyle. Late 1 night as Pyle is asleep, the platoon throws him a blanket party, pinning him down in bed and each striking him with bar of soap wrapped in a towel. This traumatizes Pyle. Cowboy warns him that it was all just a bad dream. 

After this beating, Pyle has the 1,000 yard stare. Now, he follows instructions and does his drills with precision. He names his M14 rifle Charlene and begins to talk to it. He becomes the best rifleman in the platoon and earns Hartmans' respect who calls him “Born again hard.”

The recruits complete their training and Hartman gives them their MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) job codes. Joker is assigned to journalism; Pyle is assigned to infantry. On their last night on Parris, Island, Pyle wakes everyone up. Joker finds him in the head (bathroom) reciting the Rifleman’s Creed. He loads 7.62 mm rounds into Charlene. Hartman bursts into the head and orders Pyle to put down the weapon. Pyle shoots Hartman, turns the rifle on himself, and the film’s 1st act ends.

The 2nd act of the film opens in Saigon. Corporal Joker and Private 1st Class Rafterman are outside at a table drinking beers and negotiating with a prostitute. Two teens make off with Rafterman’s camera and speed off on a moped.

The next scene is at Da Nang where the press corps prepares for the Tet Holiday. Fireworks light up the sky over Dogpatch, a small City outside of Da Nang. The NVA and Viet Cong break the cease fire, springing surprise attacks on military bases throughout South Vietnam. The U.S. Embassy in Saigon is overrun and taken over. The Marines at Da Nang hold off the NVA and Viet Cong but all of the planning around the Tet Holiday goes out the window. Lieutenant Lockhart, the Public Affairs Officer, sends Joker and Rafterman, the photographer, to Phu Bai in central Vietnam south of Hue.

At Phu Bai, Joker and Rafterman visit a mass grave and interview one of the lieutenants. South Vietnamese soldiers (ARVN officers), government officials, and educators number the dead.

Joker and Rafterman go to a platoon area outside of Hue City called Hotel 2-5 and hook up with the Lusthog squad. Here, Joker reunites with Cowboy who introduces him and Rafterman to the rest of the squad including Animal Mother and a Black CO named Eightball. Joker and Rafterman travel with the Lusthogs into Hue City and participate in a number of skirmishes with the enemy. Later, the media interviews members of the platoon whose attitudes range from indifference to sarcasm courtesy of Joker who compares Vietnam to a vacation resort. 

While patrolling Hue, squad leader Crazy Earl steps on a booby trap and Cowboy replaces him as commander. The squad gets lost and Cowboy changes direction, sending Eightball to scout a path through a building complex. There, a sniper shoots Eightball but Cowboy orders the squad to wait for tank support. Meanwhile, the sniper continues to shoot Eightball carefully, hoping to lure the rest of the squad out into the open. Doc Jay defies Cowboy and goes to rescue Eightball. Doc Jay finds Eightball and is shot trying to drag him to safety. Animal Mother defies Cowboy and rushes into the city firing his weapon and screaming like a madman. They squad lose sight of him. Moments later, he comes out and gives the all-clear. The rest of the platoon make their way into the city. The sniper shoots Cowboy through one of the buildings. Cowboy dies, however, the angle of the shot gives away the sniper’s position and the platoon makes their way into the sniper’s building. Joker spots the sniper and tries to shoot her but his rifle jams. She turns around but a concrete pillar protects him from being shot. Rafterman shoots the sniper and she falls, alive but mortally wounded. The Lusthogs surround her. The rats would finish the job if they leave her. But she looks directly at Joker and begs him to kill her. After a long time, he shoots her and the Lusthogs are awed, calling him hardcore. 

Triumphantly, the platoon marches out of the burning city singing “Mickey Mouse.” 

Scene Analysis of the film 'Full Metal Jacket'

This is an analysis of themes from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War epic 'Full Metal Jacket'

Full Metal Jacket is one of the best war movies ever set in 1968 prior to the Tet Offensive in South Vietnam. There's a lot of debate on the continuity of the 1st and 2nd parts of the film, the 1st of which focuses on the systematic dehumanization of the new recruits, particularly, a recruit named Leonard Lawrence who eventually goes over the edge after being broken. The 1st half of the movie is so powerful that it can seem front-loaded being that the tone changes completely in the 2nd half which follows Corporal Joker, the Lusthogs and their experiences in the battle of Hue. I saw the continuity but my view is subjective. Thanks for checking out my blog and I hope this plot analysis clarifies some of this film for you. The titles of each scene corresponds with the DVD version of the film. 

FULL METAL JACKET By Stanley Kubrick from the novel "Short Timers" by Gustav Hasford

Titles: summary, my viewpoint, analysis

Title 1 (00:00-7:31) (7:31) Stop after Joker’s voice-over “The crazy brave”

Summary

The story begins on Parris Island, in South Carolina as new recruits have their heads shaved. Later, they stand at attention in the dormitory as the drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey), lays out the rules. 

Analysis

The film opens by showing recruits being systematically stripped of their individuality and humanity. First, their heads are shaved like babies. Next, their drill sergeant renames them. Finally, Sergeant Hartman begins psychological reconditioning. He calls the recruits maggots (a metaphor meaning that they are unborn and are being prepared for life). He, then, singles out specific recruits who become the focus of the film.

He attacks a wisecracking recruit whom he names Joker. Hartman punches Joker in the stomach and tells Joker that he will “not laugh” or cry and that he will learn “by the numbers.” This order suggests that Joker will disconnect from what makes him human so that he can be reprogrammed.

Hartman also attacks a recruit named Leonard, naming him Gomer Pyle. Pyle’s reaction to Hartman’s abuse is different from the Joker’s. Joker became angry when Hartman punched him in the stomach but Pyle, after Hartman chokes him, looks like he wants to cry. This sets the stage for the 1st half of the movie which focuses on Pyle and Sergeant Hartman. 

footnote (s): from wikipedia “Full Metal Jacket”

Former U.S. Marine Drill Instructor (Lee) Ermey, originally hired as a technical advisor, asked Kubrick if he could audition for the role of Hartman. Kubrick had seen Ermey's portrayal of Drill Instructor Staff Sergeant Loyce in The Boys in Company C (1978) and told the Marine that he was not vicious enough to play the character. Ermey improvised insulting dialogue against a group of Royal Marines who were being considered for the part of background Marines, to demonstrate his ability to play the character, as well as to show how a Drill Instructor goes about breaking down the individuality of new recruits.[10]:462 Upon viewing the videotape of these sessions, Kubrick gave Ermey the role, realizing he "was a genius for this part."

Kubrick estimated that Ermey wrote 50% of his own dialogue, especially the insults

Title 2 (10:00-16:19) (6:19) Stop after “Get the fuck down off of my obstacle.”

Summary

Recruits recite “The Rifleman’s Creed” in unison. Then, Pyle has trouble on the obstacle course.

Analysis

The soldiers are told to marry their rifles and they pray, reciting The Rifleman’s Creed. Hartman further prepares them for war and the battlefield by getting them to associate violence with manhood and sex.

Title 3 (17:56-21:33) (3:37) Stop after Joker says “Port, hut!”

Summary

Hartman asks Joker if he believes in the Virgin Mary and Joker says no and stands his ground even when Hartman slaps him to make him say otherwise. Therefore, Hartman promotes Joker to squad leader and assigns him to help Pyle. 

Analysis

Even though he is stripped of his individuality, his religion, and even his name, Joker refuses to surrender his beliefs. Character is important in life and Joker demonstrates his character under physical abuse and is rewarded for doing so. 

Pyle seems to do better with Joker than Hartman because Pyle is undisciplined and Joker is more accommodating, like a mother who can’t bring herself to really discipline a child for fear of hurting him. But Pyle, lacking a firm hand, moves away from the discipline that separates man from animals. The paradox of this is that Hartman teaches discipline at the same time that he dehumanizes the recruits by bringing out their killer instincts. 

Title 4 (23:50—26:18) (2:28) Stop after “They’re paying for it, you eat it!”

Summary

Hartman finds a jelly donut in Pyle’s footlocker and blames this on the platoon for not helping him to motivate Pyle and punishes them.

Analysis

Under Joker’s supervision, Pyle has become lazier, resulting in him smuggling this Jelly donut. After birth, children are no different from other animals in the respect that they follow their appetites. What separates humans from animals is discipline, learning to delay gratification, to discipline our desires, structure. Pyle is like a baby, someone who has not been taught any discipline and boot camp is hard for him.

Title 5 (26:50—31:03) (4:13) Stop after platoon says “Kill, kill, kill!”

Summary

Late at night, the platoon hazes Pyle with a “blanket party.”

Analysis

When they haze Pyle, Joker is the last to strike him and this is significant since Joker sort of empathized with Pyle. Joker has not disconnected himself from the feminine qualities of compassion, patience, and mercy. And this is why him killing the sniper at the end of the film is significant because he must completely cut off these human impulses to carry through and become a hardcore killer. 

After the blanket party, Pyle is different. He goes through the motions like a robot and he has the 1,000 yard stare. His heart is black with hatred and his connection with humanity is gone. 

Title 6 (33:52—end of 1st half)

Summary

Pyle talks to himself and his rifle. He names his rifle, an M14, Charlene, becomes a superior marksman, and earns respect from Hartman. The recruits of platoon 3092 graduate and receive their MOS codes. Joker will be a journalist; Gomer Pyle, an infantryman. On the platoon’s last night on the island, Pyle shoots Hartman and kills himself. 

Analysis

“The drill instructors are proud to see that we are growing beyond their control. The Marine Corps does not want robots. The Marine Corps wants killers. The Marine Corps wants to build indestructible men, men without fear.”

Joker’s voice-over sums up the entire film. Hartman has nurtured the platoon from maggots to Marines. Now, his men are tough, disciplined, and ready to go out into the world. But Pyle is broken and won’t be leaving the island. He died the night of the blanket party and has become a trained animal full with rage. The moral restrictions that once prevented him from being a killer are gone. Pyle has no humanity for Hartman who had humiliated him and had the platoon to humiliate him. He shoots Hartman and turns the rifle on himself, sparing Joker who witnesses the whole thing. 

footnote (s): from wikipedia, Military Occupational Specialty (MOS)

A nine character code used in the United States Army and United States Marines to identify a specific job.

Title 7 (45:28-54:52) (9:24) Stop after soldiers leave tent and 1st explosion

Summary

The scene opens in Saigon. It’s been months since the murder/suicide at Parris Island, South Carolina. At a patio table outside under the hot sun, Joker and Rafterman negotiate with a prostitute. Afterwards, they and the staff of the military newspaper, Stars and Stripes, meet to plan for the Tet holiday. Joker overheard rumors that the NVA will break the ceasefire but Lieutenant Lockhart dismisses these rumors as “rear echelon paranoia.” The N.V.A. interrupts the Tet ceasefire and springs a surprise attack on Da Nang. 

Analysis

Disconnected from the taboos of American society, Joker and Rafterman negotiate with a prostitute in broad daylight. 

Later, Private Rafterman asks Corporal Joker for combat time but Joker denies his request because he is close to Rafterman and this plays a role in his decision. This is like people who think we should go to war with this or that country but who are either too old to go themselves or won’t let their own children go into the war. This explains why Americans turned against the Vietnam War when body-bags with American soldiers started coming home.

footnote: Wikipedia, Stars and Stripes

Is an American military newspaper that focuses and reports on matters concerning the members of the United States Armed Forces. It operates from inside the Department of Defense, but is editorially separate from it, and its First Amendment protection is safeguarded by the United States Congress, to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests, regularly reports. 

Title 8 (56:57—1:00:45) Stop after “Ain’t war Hell?”

Summary

Back at Stars and Stripes, everyone is pulled off their assignments and briefed on the Tet Offensive. The N.V.A. has attacked bases in South Vietnam and have taken over Hue City in Central Vietnam. Lieutenant Lockhart, the PAO (Public Affairs Officer), sends Joker and Rafterman to Phu Bai, just south of Hue, to assist I platoon 2-5 and the Lusthog squad. 

Analysis

In the previous clip, Joker turns down Rafterman’s request for “trigger time.” In this clip, Lieutenant Lockhart allows Rafterman to go to Hue City with Joker. Lockhart has no problem sending Rafterman to fight and possibly die because he doesn’t know Rafterman personally.

A door gunner in a helicopter laughs while picking off Vietnamese farmers on the ground. His callous attitude reflects the general attitudes of the soldiers in this film. The violent nature in man is free to run wild in an environment where there are no rules. But Joker is inhibited by his conscience which is why he wears the Peace button.

footnote: Wikipedia, The Tet Offensive

In the days immediately preceding the offensive, the preparedness of allied forces was relatively relaxed. Hanoi had announced in October that it would observe a seven-day truce from 27 January to 3 February for the Tet holiday, and the South Vietnamese military made plans to allow recreational leave for approximately half of its forces. General Westmoreland, who had already cancelled the truce in I Corps, requested that its ally cancel the upcoming cease-fire, but President Thiệu (who had already reduced the cease-fire to 36 hours), refused to do so, claiming that it would damage troop morale and only benefit communist propagandists.

Title 9 (1:05:52—1:10:23) Stop at “We’ll miss not having anyone around that’s worth shooting.”

Summary

At Hotel 2-5 in Phu Bai, we meet The Lusthogs of 1st Platoon. Here, Joker and Cowboy reunite. An American soldier poses to have Rafterman take his picture with the platoon’s mascot, a dead N.V.A. soldier. 

Analysis

This is the start of Joker’s odyssey to get the 1,000 yard stare as he links up with the Lusthogs. Like the door gunner in the copter, the Lusthogs view killing as an outlet. One of the marines happens to be named Animal Mother. 

Title 10 (1:19:47-1:25:31) Stop after Animal Mother takes the prostitute and somebody says “Fuck you!”

Summary

Field reporters interview members of the Lusthog for their views of the war. Later, the platoon negotiates with a prostitute. 

Analysis

The Lusthogs brag about killing and some even suggest that they enjoy killing. As one soldier says: 

“Does America belong in Vietnam? I don’t know. I know that I belong here.”

Generally, humans don’t like rules and following them aren’t natural which is why rules and discipline are necessary for us to live as a civilized society. A society or climate that disintegrates into lawlessness brings out the worst in people. In a society or climate where anything goes, moral inhibitions usually go out the window. This explains why the general tone of the soldiers is that they like Vietnam where they can freely kill and buy sex from prostitutes in broad daylight. 

There are 2 scenes in this film where men buy prostitutes and both scenes take place in broad daylight! Apparently, buying sex there openly is no big deal but the point is that the soldiers feel free to do something they wouldn’t feel comfortable otherwise, because of the norms and what's deemed acceptable behavior. This suggests that our idea of right and wrong depends on the norms of where we happen to be. Sort of like men who go to strip clubs where it's OK to act like a pig, to reduce the female to her body parts, but outside of the strip club, in proper civilized society, the same primitive behavior can get a man into all kinds of trouble. This is how the soldiers in this film are affected by being in Vietnam, where they are free to express their lowest nature which is not unlike that of any animal that lives by its urges. This may also explain Pyle’s inability to adapt in training camp under Joker who is more accommodating to his appetite for food and less strict than Sergeant Hartman.

Title 11 (1:28:26—1:37:03) (8:37) Stop after Doc Jay points out the sniper and Animal Mother says “Shit!”

Summary

The squad gets lost and Cowboy decides to change directions by cutting through the citadel of Hue City. Eightball enters the citadel 1st and is shot down by a sniper who then uses Eightball to bait the other soldiers out into the open. Cowboy sees the trap and orders his men to hold back. But Doc Jay disobeys Cowboy and is shot trying to pull Eightball to safety. Animal Mother rushes into the citadel and from a secure position he sees Doc Jay and Eightball on the ground. Eightball is dead. Doc Jay points to the sniper’s position before the sniper shoots him dead. 

Analysis

In this clip, we see the spiritual conflict in man through the struggle between Cowboy, Doc Jay, and Animal Mother. Cowboy is discipline and rational thought ordering the troops to pull back; on the other hand, Doc Jay and Animal Mother are human nature in disobeying cowboy’s orders and disregarding rational thought. “Two cannot walk together unless they are in agreement.” Somebody’s got to lead and someone has to follow. In this case, nature wins when Animal Mother leads the platoon to rescue Doc Jay and Eightball.

footnote: Wikipedia, Massacre at Hue

The Battle of Huế began on January 31, 1968, and lasted a total of 26 days.

Title 12 (1:44:02—end) Stop as soldier march singing “Mickey Mouse” in unison

Summary

The squad deploys smoke bombs and enter the building where the sniper is. Joker sneaks up behind the sniper as the young girl is at the window waiting for the smoke to clear up. His gun jams and she turns around. Rafterman shoots her and she goes down. The soldiers surround the dying girl and she asks Joker to kill her. He does and afterwards, the marching soldiers are silhouetted against a burning background singing Mickey Mouse. 

Analysis

Joker cannot shoot the sniper in the back because doing so would not involve any conflict between his nature and the qualities that make us humans such as empathy and mercy. Seeing her face to face as a human being, he now has to go against this to kill her. She helps him by appealing for mercy, to kill her and save her from a slow death of being eaten by rats.

Joker must cut off his feelings as a human being and commit to what Hartman trained him to be. And when he does finally kill the sniper, he becomes the ultimate killer, a man, and not a beast, in tune with his nature , a real Full Metal Jacket. The film ends with the Lusthogs marching and singing “Mickey Mouse” against a fiery background. This scene comes back to the 1,000 yard stare, “A characteristic of shell shock, the despondent stare reflects dissociation from trauma.” The innocence of this song is the soldiers’ way of disconnecting themselves from the battlefield and disconnecting themselves from the traumas of war.

footnote: Wikipedia, Thousand Yard Stare

Is a phrase coined to describe the limp, blank, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary soldier, but the symptom it describes may also be found among victims of other types of trauma. A characteristic of shell shock, the despondent stare reflects dissociation from trauma. The thousand-yard stare is thus often seen in cases of incipient post-traumatic stress disorder. It does not necessarily indicate PTSD, however, nor will it always appear in persons who will later develop PTSD