Editing Stanley Kubrick (section)

==== ''Full Metal Jacket'' ====
Kubrick met author [[Michael Herr]] through mutual friend David Cornwell (novelist [[John le Carré]]) in 1980, and became interested in his book [[Dispatches (book)|''Dispatches'']], about the [[Vietnam War]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=170}} Herr had recently written [[Martin Sheen]]'s narration for ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979). Kubrick was also intrigued by [[Gustav Hasford]]'s Vietnam War novel ''[[The Short-Timers]].'' With the vision in mind to shoot what would become ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]'' (1987), Kubrick began working with both Herr and Hasford separately on a script. He eventually found Hasford's novel to be "brutally honest" and decided to shoot a film which closely follows the novel.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=170}} All of the film was shot at a cost of $17 million within a 30-mile radius of his house between August 1985 and September 1986, later than scheduled as Kubrick shut down production for five months following a near-fatal accident with a jeep involving [[Lee Ermey]].{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=175}} A derelict gasworks in [[Beckton]] in the [[London Docklands]] area posed as the ruined city of [[Huế]],{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=341}} which makes the film visually very different from other Vietnam War films. Around 200 palm trees were imported via 40-foot trailers by road from North Africa, at a cost of £1000 a tree, and thousands of plastic plants were ordered from Hong Kong to provide foliage for the film.{{Sfn|LoBrutto|1999|p=471}} Kubrick explained he made the film look realistic by using natural light, and achieved a "newsreel effect" by making the Steadicam shots less steady,{{Sfn|Ciment|1980|p=246}} which reviewers and commentators thought contributed to the bleakness and seriousness of the film.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0030.html |title=Regarding Full Metal Jacket |publisher=The Kubrick Site |accessdate=March 5, 2011 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603233024/http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0030.html |archivedate=June 3, 2011}}</ref>

According to critic [[Michel Ciment]], the film contained some of Kubrick's trademark characteristics, such as his selection of ironic music, portrayals of men being dehumanized, and attention to extreme detail to achieve realism. In a later scene, United States Marines patrol the ruins of an abandoned and destroyed city singing the theme song to the [[Mickey Mouse Club]] as a sardonic counterpoint.{{sfn|Webster|2010|p=135}} The film opened strongly in June 1987, taking over $30 million in the first 50 days alone,{{sfn|Baxter|1997|p=354}} but critically it was overshadowed by the success of [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Platoon (film)|Platoon]]'', released a year earlier.{{sfn|Duncan|2003|p=179}} Co-star [[Matthew Modine]] stated one of Kubrick's favorite reviews read: "The first half of ''FMJ'' is brilliant. Then the film degenerates into a masterpiece."<ref name="Modine1">{{cite web |url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/full-metal-jackets-matthew-modine-on-working-with-kubrick-and-movie-conspiracy-theories-6485969 |title=''Full Metal Jacket''{{'}}s Matthew Modine on Working With Kubrick and Movie Conspiracy Theories |work=Miami New Times |last=Morgenstern |first=Hans |date=April 8, 2013 |accessdate=August 11, 2014 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402062140/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/full-metal-jackets-matthew-modine-on-working-with-kubrick-and-movie-conspiracy-theories-6485969 |archivedate=April 2, 2015}}</ref> Ebert was not particularly impressed with it, awarding it a mediocre 2.5 out of 4. He concluded: "Stanley Kubrick's ''Full Metal Jacket'' is more like a book of short stories than a novel", a "strangely shapeless film from the man whose work usually imposes a ferociously consistent vision on his material".<ref>{{cite web |author=Ebert, Roger |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/full-metal-jacket-1987 |title=Full Metal Jacket |publisher=Rogerebert.com |date=June 26, 1987 |accessdate=August 17, 2015 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150806071252/http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/full-metal-jacket-1987 |archivedate=August 6, 2015}}</ref>