Despite taking place during the Vietnam War, Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket never actually filmed in the country at all. Loosely based on the semi-autobiographical novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford, Full Metal Jacket follows Matthew Modine’s Joker, whose humor is tested as he goes from his Marine Corps basic training to his deployment in Vietnam. Full Metal Jacket takes its characters from South Carolina to various locations in Vietnam, ending in a gut-wrenching battle in Huế.
While Full Metal Jacket takes place in two main locations, Parris Island and Vietnam, the movie’s production never traveled to either location. Instead, to accommodate Stanley Kubrick’s location preferences, the entire production of Full Metal Jacket took place in England. Although Full Metal Jacket was filmed so far from its settings, culturally and geographically, the Stanley Kubrick movie creates an immersive Vietnam War scenery that makes its unorthodox filming locations feel authentic.
Bassingbourn Barracks, Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire
Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket is told in two distinct parts, and its first half, which takes place at the Parris Island Marine Corps boot camp, was actually filmed at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire. Kubrick, despite being American, lived most of his life in the UK, so rather than traveling to film on the real Parris Island, Full Metal Jacket used the British Army training base as Joker’s Marine boot camp. Despite being thousands of miles away from the real Parris Island in South Carolina, Bassingbourn Barracks looks remarkably similar to the real location, and with R. Lee Ermy’s drill instruction, it is an incredibly immersive, realistic location.
In addition to serving as the location for Parris Island, Bassingbourn lent itself to other Full Metal Jacket scenes. The area was also utilized for some of the Vietnam scenes that take place later in the movie. Some British Army recruits who were stationed at Bassingbourn even served as extras in Full Metal Jacket.
Barton, Cambridge
The first half of Full Metal Jacket sees Private Pyle (Vincent D’Onofrio) struggle with the training, but he finally gets his laurels from Sgt. Hartman toward the end of boot camp, which was filmed in Barton, Cambridge. Barton is a small village in Cambridgeshire, and the Barton Rifle Range, which is about 200 yards north of the village, is what can be seen in Full Metal Jacket. In addition to training the Marine Corps at the beginning of Full Metal Jacket, the Barton Rifle Range also regularly trains real military soldiers as well. This location can be seen when Sgt. Hartman congratulates Private Pyle on his improved shooting skills.
Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
While the surrounding London area was transformed into various locations in Vietnam for Full Metal Jacket, many of the movie’s interior scenes were brought to life at Buckinghamshire’s Pinewood Studios. First opened in 1936, Pinewood Studios features 23 stages, which helped bring Full Metal Jacket’s Parris Island barracks, the Stars & Stripes headquarters, and other interior locations to life. Full Metal Jacket is far from the only famous movie to have been shot at Pinewood Studios, with the British studios also serving as a filming location for movies like the James Bond franchise, Tim Burton’s Batman, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
Isle of Dogs, London
Full Metal Jacket was shot in several locations surrounding London, including Isle of Dogs. Located to the east of Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs features unique architecture, such as warehouses, industrial buildings, and houses with vibrant colors, making it a perfect filming location for Stanley Kubrick’s vision of Vietnam. The Isle of Dogs serves as Da Nang in Full Metal Jacket, which is featured at the beginning of the second half of the Vietnam movie.
Norfolk Broads
The Norfolk Broads helped double as the Mekong River in Vietnam for Full Metal Jacket. Located in Norfolk and Suffolk, the Norfolk Broads are a network of navigable rivers and lakes, also sometimes called the Broads National Park. Full Metal Jacket used various rivers in the Norfolk County portion of the Broads to stand in for Vietnam’s Mekong River. Rivers in the Norfolk Broads can be seen in Full Metal Jacket when Joker and Rafterman ride in a helicopter with a sadistic door gunner who suggests the two Marines write a story about him.
Cliffe, Kent
Cliffe helped bring some of Full Metal Jacket’s exterior scenes to life. Located in Kent County, Cliffe’s marshlands were used for the open country scenes set in Vietnam during Full Metal Jacket. To help achieve a more accurate look to Vietnam, Full Metal Jacket’s production added palm trees and changed some of the buildings’ signs in Cliffe to be written in Vietnamese. With the addition of convoys and tanks, Cliffe’s marshlands pass as Vietnam’s countryside for Full Metal Jacket, which can be seen during some of the movie’s battle sequences.
Beckton Gas Works, Newham
Finding a place in England to serve as the war-torn Huế in Full Metal Jacket was a challenging prospect, but London’s Beckton Gas Works in Newham proved to be the perfect spot. Beckton Gas Works was chosen by Kubrick for its close resemblance to Huế as well as the fact that it was scheduled to be demolished. To achieve the necessary look, Kubrick had some of Beckton Gas Works’ buildings blown up and smashed with a wrecking ball. This area has now been redeveloped, so the filming location as it existed is no longer there, but its former appearance is immortalized in Full Metal Jacket.
The Beckton Gas Works can be seen toward the end of Full Metal Jacket as the movie’s characters, led by Cowboy, traverse through Huế. It serves as the location for the movie’s stunning and high-emotion climax, which sees the group encounter a sniper, leading to the loss of some of Full Metal Jacket’s featured characters in the process. Because of the important scenes that took place there, Beckton Gas Works is definitely one of the most important filming locations in Full Metal Jacket.
