Boot Camp yes (maybe). Nam - no!

Rating: 6/10 (6 November 1998)

Six years in the Corps, late 50's early 60's, I know the old Corps well. I was there when McQue (spelling?) marched the "little end first" through the swamps of Parris Island. Gunny Hartman is the real thing, no doubt about it. My exception with the first part of the film is the loaded rifles in the barracks; it would never happen. Pure Kubrick. Another display of his constant ill-informed and misguided bias against America's military. Otherwise the boot camp scenes were well done and honest.
The second part of the film left me flat, uninterested & angry with Kubrick. Maybe the rear echelon troops enjoyed access to whores, but the grunts never did.
The first part of the film rates an 8, the second part rates a zero.