I know I'm in the minority on this, but I prefer Lee Ermey's performance here to that in Full Metal Jacket. He's much more human here, as opposed to the cold-hearted machine he was in 'Jacket (which is what Kubrick wanted, I get it). Maybe it's because the dialogue here is much more realistic, as opposed to grossly over-quoted Full Metal Jacket.
I had completely forgot about this movie till a few minutes ago. I went through Marine Corps boot camp in 87. Everything R. Lee Ermey said here is exactly right. Everything R. Lee Ermey said in FMJ is exactly right. BUT one of the points where the movie ( and it is just a movie) and reality differ is that we didn't get explained to why the Drill Instructors were so hard on us. Most of us learned why before we went in. Those that didn't, didn't make it. And yet, these men were probably draftees. We were volunteers. HIs performance here is probably why he was tagged for FMJ.
It's definitely more realistic, almost like a documentary style film. Both are great performances though, I think they just go more into the characters of Loyce and Washington.
Yep this is where the movie separates itself from reality. A recruit would NEVER be given the privilege of talking to a Drill Instructor like that. Nor would a Drill Instructor ever need anything from a recruit to do his job. But it was still a good movie.
Fucking Gunny in his prime. Man, his voice brings me back to boot camp like it was yesterday and it's been over 34 years ago for me. God bless the Corps.
Diddo. Don't think of it often but all the same a timeless experience to be relived when you hear the "voice" (or that resonating sound of a powerful yet smooth cadence)... Can even bring back those certain smells of bleached canteens, cobra, bulldog and clp. Kevlars from nam where the leather parts of the interior had a certain odor, marinated black in the sweat of a thousand recruits before you, smell of hot rubber and sand in the dojo (that'd also find way into your nose). Short 'twas the 3 months spent in mcrd, out of what would be a 5 year run with the Corps for me. I figure that memory may never be forgotten as for others and myself, despite the chaotic ambiance of yells and screams this time it'd be, the first time to know what it's like to have a family. Ever so often I'm asked how was my time in the service? The answer to that I find is not so easy, as it was a series of the best and worst of times in this mans history. All in all a loss for words, what I can say respondt/answer tell them or fucking, how ever you want to put it what ever is that out of 26 years... I'm glad 5 of them were in the USMC. Fratres Aeternum
At least up though the 80's there seemed to be a Jesus lookalike in every batch of recruits in all branches of the US military and each time they were all butthurt about being called by that name throughout training. You'd think they'd have had the good sense to get rid of the beard and get a fucking haircut BEFORE reporting.
This is even better than Full Metal Jacket. R Lee Irmey is his total self here and shows his humanity. We need more like him training our new military recruits.
TBH, I enjoyed his performance more in Boys in Company C than Full Metal Jacket. Don’t get me wrong, I love FMJ, but his performance in Boys was more authentic.
Loyce the character wore his heart on his sleeve, but in my mind there isn't a drop of weakness in this man. Vulnerability, yes; weakness, no. That sounds like a contradiction, but not at all once you **get** that caring requires much more strength than coldness. Loyce gave a sh-t, and it broke his heart that so many came back from Nam maimed or dead. He comes off as someone who made the death/wounded count as his personal enemy. I can respect a NCO like this!!
Bird Topaz I particularly love the scene between Loyce and Washington. It shows the human side of Drill instructors and how much they really do care about the recruits and how hard they work to sculp good soilders. Though R. Lee Ermey even said that scene would never fly in real life lol
Ermey said he and his fellow DI's felt terrible when they saw the name of a recruit they'd passed with 'KIA' next to it. They felt they'd let that recruit down and it made them even harder during training.
Love the relationship between Loyce and Washington. Loyce sees the making of a good Marine in Washington,,even if Washington himself doesnt. And the last interaction between the two shows that Loyce cares.
R. Lee is speaking from the heart in this scene. When he was a drill instructor he and the other drills looked in Stars and Stripes for KIA/WIA names they'd had in boot camp and felt personally responsible for not training them well enough.
the DI's saw in washington not only a good marine but a leader to. the only problem with him was his lone warrior mentality, which left his comrades stranded when they couldn't keep up with him.
lol wat. For what it's worth, Sgt. Gerheim (the character who became Hartman) was WORSE in the novel that Full Metal Jacket adapted. Kubrick actually toned him down.
I love the scene were Loyce and Washington have a one on one. It shows that Drill Instructors are human beings and care about the recruits and are not just cold emotionless robots.
Goddammit Washington you just pushed two privates on the tripwire! You just wiped out everybody within a 50 meter radius you dummy, YOU WIPED ME OUT!!!
5:05 best scene of the movie. Basically the drill instructor saying "You think your stressed?! Try being me! And don't bring that racial shit into my corps, there are no minorities in the Corp only the majority! The Corp! When you understand that you will be a Goddamn marine!" at least in my opinion anyway
There is some debate on it.. In some interviews Ermey said that he based this character off of his own actual Drill Sgt. Days, and in others he said his Real Drill Sgt. Days were more like FMJ. I'm not really sure. It could perhaps be that he wasn't the senior drill instructor as he was in FMJ.
Dmasterman If you notice, right around the point where this scene takes place he suddenly has a rocker under his stripes and at the same time the short Hispanic SSgt. ("CHU FIND AGAIN SOMTHEENG FONNY?!") is suddenly gone. Apparently that guy was up for rotation and Loyce got promoted and bumped up to Senior DI.
I know a lot of people have asked about the interaction between Loyce and Washington in the Duty Hut. I ran into R. Lee Ermey at the DI Reunion in 2013, and asked him about that particular scene. His Response: "I just went with the script! There is no fucking way that would have played out like that in real time." And yes, I have met R. Lee Ermey a few times, former Drill Instructor as well.
TheScribe114 yea id probably assume R. Lee Ermy would of said something completely different if he went off script which is what they let him do when they put him in movies now because he is great at improvising. but then again this is like his first role in a movie so who knows.
TheScribe114 Hey! i remember watching the movie and thinking that the Gunny was gonna bring it when Washington was raising his voice a little too high... By the way, Thanks For your service! I look forward to Enlisting in the USMC!
teller121 Absolutely! There is no freaking way that a recruit is going to get away with barking at a Drill Instructor. That scene was made up hollyweird bullshit.
US Army Infantry boot camp in '85. just like this - and I NEEDED IT!!!! Made me into a better man and able to handle life and all it's complications. WIMPY standards today - can't get in their faces like this, you can't swear at 'em, and heaven forbid you call these fat, lazy kids what they are...fat and lazy! Heck they subcontract KP and don't have to spit shine and press anymore...it's like a vacation today...and it DOES NOT prepare anyone for war...and let me tell you...you APPRECIATE YOUR TRAINING when the bullets start flying! Thank you to my drill sergeants and every hard-butt leader I ever had...kept me safe in the years to come.
It's ok, I don't mind. Since I was going infantry....and my basic and AIT were at the same place... we had the same DI's for both. We ran in combat boots back then....in uniform. In dusty OK in summer! No cutting corners...no "mamas boys, queers, or steers" (fatties) as they used to say. they cussed, spit in your face yelling, push-ups till puked, a 20 mile ruck at 5am to start a 20 hour day... hard DI's., some from 'Nam... but you know...they made men. I was lucky to have had them later when bullets started flying. So basic/AIT was same unit- all 13 weeks with same outfit - back in '85; In Fort Sill, OK, in July and August...lots of days over 100 degrees. Ah... the good times! Lol. Be Blessed -and Bless our soldiers and Vets!
Solocanoe, I did Basic/AIT 13F at Ft. Sill, Ok. 9/85 to 2/86. Cold as Ice. Ran our asses off, too. I keep telling my kids about "The Hawk", they don't know. Thank you for your service.
7:56 "...does that mean Vietnam? Goddamn right it means Vietnam numnuts. Goddamn-it 03 'hunderd' is basic infantryman, 03 fucking 'hunderd' is the United States Marine Corps. Goddamn bag o'...shits." Just great dialogue, I have a feeling R. Lee was improvising that dialogue. You can detect a bit of accent if you listen to him speak. When you're in the service you hear guys with all kinds of accents coming from the different parts of the country.
Interesting look at Lee Ermey before 'Full Metal Jacket.' He seems self-conscious in front of the camera here, but in 'Full Metal Jacket' he's doing Mach 1 intensity and he NEVER lets up. That was due to Stanley Kubrick who called for repeated takes of each scene, and in doing so forced Ermey to go beautifully over-the-top (so much so that filming had to be shut down at one point because Ermey lost his voice from all his repeated yelling for each take.)
Ermey's performance is a lot more human and realistic here. You can see it's just a man trying to prepare his troops for war, where as in FMJ he portrays a cold-blooded machine without a heart.
This is an amazing movie. It's a shame that R Lee Ermey is only known for Full Metal Jacket. This movie was probably filmed when he had only been out of the Marines for a year or so. He still has the look of a DI.
One flaw with this movie is that they talk about shipping out to Vietnam, then they are marching with M16s while still in boot camp. The Corps did not change from the M14 to M16 in boot camp until fall 73. Sept 73 while I was in boot camp we started seeing new platoon with M16s, we graduated in Oct 73 with our M14s. They had stopped shipping to Nam long before I went to boot camp.
It was sad to hear of Mr. Ermey's passing; his character portrayal as Sgt. Loyce is tame compared to Gunny Sgt Hartman in "Full Metal Jacket". He was custom-tailored for both roles. Thank you Gunny!!
"Oh yeah I was a Marine Vet back in '81 and THIS is the REAAAL Marine Corps" Well if you look closely you'll notice that this is actually a movie. I find that if you want to witness the real Marine Corps training you just drive over to Parris Island or San Diego
Old Corps they "kick your ass!" When I served the Smokey Cover the DI wear give me a major headache, and "bends and thrust broke you down." Almost forgot running with yourfootlocker (that was fun, not at the time). Semper Fi!
Jack Wongen My Drill Instructors were constantly yelling, "GET IN MY CLASSROOM!" At which time we would run to the front of the squadbay and commence "bends and thrusts, side straddle hops, mountain climbers, "etc. I'll bet they can't do that anymore. Remember shark attacks? Demolition Derby? Whiskey Locker Counseling? We even had a couple of blanket parties. Our DI would call the diet privates "Food Blister"! Those were the days.
When this movie was made, Ermey had only been off active duty for 6 years, and he'd served as a drill instructor. And this IS what the Marine Corps USED to be before mothers of America and all the politically correct assholes weakened us as a nation.
Jack Tackther Amen, my brother. But thank God for men like Ermey's character. There are STILL men like that in the Corps, particularly in the Marine spec ops community. I include my two sons among them; both Marine officers and both, this very day, stand in harm's way in parts unknown.
robert holden it's all good man if you wanna say that shit it doesn't bother me. I joined for experience and to grow the fuck up and believe me I fucking did. Just know I'm not fighting for you or anyone else like you but I am fighting for your right to say that bullshit you posted because that's one thing America got right. Just remember when one day shit hits the fan that it'll be you who's cowering in the corner while other people die to protect you. And you can bet that day is coming sooner than you think
R.I.P. Ronald Lee Ermey Films I loved: -Full Metal Jacket -The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 and 2006 remakes) -This is a show "Lock n' Load" You will be forever missed! Thank you for your service 🇺🇸 👼
In the late seventies I had a drill instructor and he was very similar to Ermey. I used to love the marching yodel. Not the marching but the way they would make left, right, left sound so cool. Peace.
I love it just like grandpa and dad I miss it I yell at my kids like that " everyday in the corps like a day working on the farm every day is hard work and every meal is a banquet and every paycheck is a fortune !!"
This is awesome. You really see how the drill instructor cares for his men in a way foreign to our culture. And that is appealing and refreshing. You can see the same thing in Emrey in Full Metal Jeacket. He changed the character from what the director had (sadistic for no real reason) to more caring although still tough as shit.
Full Metal Jacket is based off of Gus Hasfords novel the Short Timers. It's almost word-for-word save for Gunny Ermey's ad-libs as well as a few scenes in the book that didn't make it into the film. The similarities with The Boys in Company C are purely coincidental.
I love the scene between SSG. Loyce and Washington. It's just so damn honest. I think Loyce is right, he did have the worst fucking job in world trying to make 60-80 buckets of civilian shit - draftees and people who don't want to be there and just utter fuck-ups - and turn them into combat-ready Marines in two months. That it could be done at all is a testament to how good the DIs were in the Corps and elsewhere in the military in 1967-68 and Ermey was a part of it and why he was such a good actor. Because he didn't have to act.
WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, PRIVATE PYLE?!?!? God I love this guy...you can tell he's not a trained actor and it almost seems like he's ad-libbing his dialogue. What comes across is his raw energy and his own brutal reality...
The scene between Loyce and Washington is so good. There is a difference between leadership figures and authority figures........Loyce knows this and he is teaching Washington this...............Washington knows by the end that the only way he is gonna make it out is to become a leader..............Sometimes the best leaders, have leadership thrust upon them.............Washington proves this later in the film. Loyce was right.
Man R Lee Ermey nailed it so good with his insults and dialogue in this movie Stanley Kubrick couldn’t have chosen a better actor to play Hartman in FMJ. Plus Ermey was a real drill instructor.
1:50. My father went to US Army basic training in January 1974 at Fort Dix since the number of male enlistment was through the roof. He enlisted on his birthday. He had a brother who enlisted on his 17th birthday and needed Parental signature.
I love him here better as well, I think more realistic............., my brother went through the Marines and I went through the Army. Let's not forget he got blown away in FMJ, but here as the Marines were leaving you felt their pure respect for him. I really respected my Drill Sergeant and still remember him and his name, Drill Sergeant Kirkbride.................. a Vietnam vet and amazing man!
The one on one scene between Washington and Loyce is very telling. You can tell that Loyce doesn't WANT to care about these boys he's training... but he can't get to that point. He knows full well what he's sending them into, and the odds that many, if not most of them aren't going to survive it, and it's tearing him apart. With Washington though, he's found hope. Someone who has 20 years experience on the streets that may keep this batch of men and boys alive. A kind of redemption for him. At least with this group, long as Washington is with them, he's not throwing sheep to the wolves of war.
I had forgotten Ermy was in this movie. I graduated from MCRD Parris Island the week before Full Metal Jacket came out on Video. I was home on leave for a week and a friend at a video store wanted me to watch it. I was sitting on the couch about midnight when Lee Ermy started talking. My brain was telling me "This is just a movie" the rest of me was yelling "COME TO ATTENTION YOU FOOL, GET OFF OF YOUR FACE AND ON YOUR FEET". I guess it was the DI tone, it is like no other.
