Gus on the set of FULL METAL JACKET, October 1985

I went out to the set where Stanley was supposed to be filming in a little place called Beckton, near Essex. It's on the Thames, an abandoned gasworks.  I wanted to see in fact whether the picture was being made.  I was contemplating legal action at the time, and it would've been pointless if there were no movie.

I took a couple of friends along with me. We dressed up in tiger-stripe clothes. Our idea was that they'd be shooting and we'd simply blend in as though we were extras. We went in, and this little go-fer took us over to the commissary tent while somebody checked out who I was.

We were having doughnuts and the go-fer asked: "Who are you? Why'd you come here?"

I said: "Well, I'm the guy who wrote the book that this film is based upon."

His eyes lit up and he said: "You're kidding! You're the guy? That's you?"

I said: "Yeah, yeah, I wrote the book."

He said: "Well, I want to shake your hand, because Dispatches is the best book I ever read."

"Hey, I think so too," I said.

--from The Several Battles of Gustav Hasford, LA Times Magazine, 1987

Army Times picks their 10 Best Military Films

And number one is:

1. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Private Joker, are you trying to offend me?

Our pick for the best war movie of the past 20 years, if not all time, and it didn’t even crack the Top 400 ballot. Words fail to express how wrong that is.

“Full Metal Jacket,” directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey (in the role that made him a star), could be considered two great war movies for the price of one. The first half of the film shows Marine recruits at boot camp, preparing for Vietnam, while the second half deals with the violence and uncertainty of that war.

Perhaps it was the vulgarity and brutality of the film that made it such a tough sell for the voters. Or the vulgarity. Maybe the racism. Did we mention the vulgarity?

Not for the faint of heart, “Full Metal Jacket” is about as real as it comes without signing a contract. Even today, many of the themes still ring true.

And that’s all we have to say about that.

Full text of the article here

Full Metal Jacket Diary

Even though it first came out back in October 2005, you still may have missed the boat on this one. FULL METAL JACKET DIARY collects actor Matthew Modine's thoughts, observations and personal photos from his time spent playing Private Joker. Sadly, it doesn't mention much at all about Gus Hasford, but it's still a must for any Full Metal Jacket fan. This first printing is a limited, numbered edition with a special metallic cover.

Copies available at Amazon
Reviews collected at MatthewModine.com