Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Cowboy, Joker, Rafterman and the other Marines are running across the buildings to get to Animal in the final sniper scene, watch the foreground. Right before they reach Animal, you can see they run by a crouching crew member, in the foreground at the bottom of the screen. (01:38:52)

Visible crew/equipment: When all the recruits hit Gomer Pyle with soaps while he's on the bed at night, the shadow of the camera can be seen on the left side of the screen projected on the recruits while they walk around the bunk bed. (00:29:19)

Full Metal Jacket mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Gomer Pyle is in the toilet with his rifle and after shooting the drill instructor, Pyle sits down on the fourth toilet seat from the back of the room. In the next shot where Pyle kills himself, he is sitting on the third toilet seat. You can see this already from the front shot of Pyle when he kills himself because there is a rise in the wall next to the third seat, which is visible through the whole scene. It is more obvious in the following shot where you can see the row of toilet seats and Pyle sitting dead on the third one. (00:43:00 - 00:43:35)

More mistakes in Full Metal Jacket
More quotes from Full Metal Jacket

Trivia: Not really a mistake, given the need to maintain the story arc in the first half of the film, but in real life, Pyle would have been discharged from the Marine Corps within days of his starting basic training - for his own good. It happens all the time - dropout rate of boot camp recruits varies but is generally around 10%.

More trivia for Full Metal Jacket

Answer: It was Gustav Hasford's idea. It happened in the original book that the story is based on, "The Short Timers."

Captain Defenestrator

More questions & answers from Full Metal Jacket

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.