Full Metal Jacket Page #8

an

officer. Which?

JOKER:

Whichever you say.

LOCKHART:

Grunts like reading about dead officers.

JOKER:

Okay, an officer. How about a general?

A few laughs.

LOCKHART:

Joker, maybe you'd like our guys to read the

paper and

feel bad. I mean, in case you didn't

know it, this is not a

particularly popular war.

Now, it is our job to report the news that

these why-are-we-here civilian newsmen

ignore.

JOKER:

Sir, maybe you should go out on some ops

yourself. I'm sure you

could find a lot more

blood trails and drag marks.

Some laughs.

LOCKHART:

JOKER, I've had my ass in the grass. Can't say

I liked

it much. Lots of bugs and too

dangerous. As it happens, my present

duties

keep me where I belong. In the rear with the

gear.

DISSOLVE TO:

55 EXT. DA NANG BASE--DUSK

Rows of hootches. In the

distance, fireworks.

JOKER:

(voiceover)

Tet.

The Year of the Monkey. Vietnamese

Lunar New Year's Eve. Down in

Dogpatch, the

gooks are shooting off fireworks to celebrate.

DISSOLVE TO:

56 INT. HOOTCH--NIGHT

JOKER, RAFTERMAN, PAYBACK and the

others are in

their bunks, reading, lazing, smoking grass. JOKER

is

writing in a notebook.

JOKER:

(yawns and

stretches)

I am f***ing bored to death, man. I gotta get

back

in the sh*t. I ain't heard a shot fired in

anger in weeks.

PAYBACK:

Joker's so tough he'd eat the boogers out of a

dead

man's nose ... then ask for seconds.

Some laughs.

JOKER:

(John Wayne voice)

Listen up, pilgrim. A day without blood is like

a day without sunshine.

PAYBACK:

Shi-i--i-t! Joker

thinks the bad bush is

between old mama-san's legs.

Some laughs.

PAYBACK:

He's never been in the sh*t. It's hard to talk

about

it, man. It's like on Hastings.

CHILI:

Aw, you weren't

on Operation Hastings,

Payback. You weren't even in country.

PAYBACK:

Eat sh*t and die, you f***ing SpanishAmerican!

You

f***ing poge! I was there,

man. I was in the sh*t with the grunts.

JOKER:

(John Wayne voice)

Don't listen to any of

Payback's bullshit,

Rafterman. Sometimes he thinks he's John

Wayne.

PAYBACK:

You listen to Joker, new guy. He knows

ti ti.

Very little. You know he's never been in the

sh*t,'cause

he ain't got the stare.

RAFTERMAN:

The stare?

PAYBACK:

The thousand-yard stare. A marine gets it

after he's

been in the sh*t for too long. It's like

... it's like you've really

seen beyond. I got it.

All field marines got it. And you'll have it

too.

RAFTERMAN:

I will?

STORK:

Hey,

Payback. How do you stop five black

dudes from raping a white chick?

PAYBACK:

F*** you, Stork.

STORK:

Throw'em a

basketball.

Laughter.

They are startled by the dull boom of mortar

shells

outside.

DAVE:

Incoming.

PAYBACK:

Oh, sh*t!

CHILI:

They're outgoing.

DAVE:

That ain't outgoing!

Some closer explosions, much louder.

CHILI:

That ain't outgoing!

DAVE:

Now what I just

say?

The men grab their helmets, flak jackets and

weapons and run

outside.

RAFTERMAN:

Joker, is this for real?

JOKER:

Yes, it is, Rafterman.

57 EXT. DA NANG BASE--NIGHT

Men

running everywhere. Sirens. A mortar round

lands in the distance, then

others nearer. Fires

are breaking out.

58 INT. BUNKER--NIGHT

JOKER:

loads an M-60 machine gun, then hunches

down watching the main gate of

the perimeter.

JOKER:

Hey, I hope they're just f***ing

with us. I

ain't ready for this sh*t.

STORK:

Amen.

The sound ofa truck approaching.

The marines get set.

The truch

smashes though the gates.

The marines open fire.

The truck is hit

by a hail of automatic fire; it

explodes and starts burning.

N.V.A.

troops follow the truck through the gate.

The attackers are cut down

by a withering fire

from the marines.

The attack peters out.

People yell, "Cease fire."

The firing trails off:

DISSOLVE TO:

59

EXT. DA NANG BASE--DAWN

JOKER and RAFTERMAN walk through the wreckage

of the night's battle.

Prisoners are led past.

LOCKHART:

(voice over)

The enemy has very deceitfully taken

advantage of

the Tet ceasefire to launch an

offensive all over the country. So

far, we've

had it pretty easy here. But we seem to be

the

exception.

60 INT. SEA-TIGER OFFICE--DAWN

Dirty and still in. their

combat gear, JOKER,

RAFTERMAN, PAYBACK and the other correspondents

are slumped in, their chairs around the table.

LOCKHART:

(walking)

Charlie has hit every major military target

in

Vietnam, and hit 'em hard. In Saigon, the

United States Embassy has

been overrun by

suicide squads. Khe Sahn is standing by to

be

overrun. We also have reports that a division

of N.V.A. has

occupied all of the city of

Hue south of the Perfume River. In

strategic

terms, Charlie's cut the country in

half... the

civilian press are about to wet

their pants and we've heard even

Cronkite's

going to say the war is now unwinnable.

In other

words, it's a huge sh*t sandwich,

and we're all gonna have to take a

bite.

Long, serious pause.

JOKER:

Sir ... does this

mean that Ann-Margret's not

coming?

Laughter.

LOCKHART:

(pissed off)

Joker.... I want you to get

straight up to Phu

Bai. Captain January will need all his people.

JOKER:

Yes, sir.

LOCKHART:

And Joker, you will take

off that damn button.

How's it gonna look if you get killed wearing

a peace symbol?

RAFTERMAN:

Sir? Permission to go with

Joker?

LOCKHART:

Permission granted.

RAFTERMAN:

Thank you, sir.

JOKER:

Sir, permission

not to take Rafterman with

me?

LOCKHART:

You still

here? Vanish, Joker, most ricky-tick,

and take Rafterman with you.

You're

responsible for him.

61 EXT. HELICOPTER SHOTS--DAWN

A:

military helicopter flies past a huge sun.

62 INT. AERIAL

HELICOPTER--DUSK

JOKER Sits looking out the door.

RAFTERMAN is

frightened and airsick.

The DOORGUNNER laughs and yells as he fires

his

M-60 machine gun.

We see Vietnamese below running and falling.

DOORGUNNER:

Get some ... get some ... get some ... get

some ...

yeah ... yeah ... get some ... get

some.

After a while the

DOORGUNNER stops firing and

grins at JOKER.

DOORGUNNER:

(shouting to be heard)

Anyone who runs is a V.C. Anyone who

stands still is a well-disciplined V.C.

(laughs)

You

guys oughtta do a story about me

sometime.

JOKER:

Why should we do a story about you?

DOORGUNNER:

'Cause

I'm so f***ing good! That ain't no

sh*t neither. I've done got me

one hundred

and fifty-seven dead gooks killed. And fifty

water

buffaloes, too. Them're all certified.

RAFTERMAN gags.

JOKER:

Any women or children?

DOORGUNNER:

Sometimes.

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