Corrected entry: In the movie Gunny Hartman tells the recruits that Lee Harvey Oswald was such a great shooter because he was trained by the Marines. In 1956 Oswald joined the United States Marine Corps, and was trained as an Aircraft Maintenance Repairman. Despite stories to the contrary, he never learned to fire his rifle as an "expert" and was never trained as a sniper.
Grumpy Scot
25th Nov 2009
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
12th Nov 2003
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Corrected entry: At the start of the film Private Joker states that he does not believe in Jesus, The Virgin Mary and God etc. Then later on in the film we see him singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Surely if he did not believe in him, then he would not sing happy birthday to him.
Correction: I doubt seriously that Drill Instructor Hartman cared whether he believed in it or not, he told them to sing and when the DI tells you to jump, you jump.
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.
Correction: Marines spend three to four weeks of their 12 week boot camp learning to shoot. The other three branches train for one. Marine marksmanship training is also more in-depth than any of the other services. Indeed, a basic tenant of Marine service is "Every Marine is a rifleman." which is repeated constantly during rifle training. There are four possible results qualifying in the Marines. 1. Expert 2. Sharpshooter 3. Marksman and 4. Noqual (or fail). Oswald qualified as a sharpshooter.
Grumpy Scot