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“ | I am in a world of shit! | „ |
~ Private Gomer Pyle to Private Joker. |
“ | 7.62 millimeter.... full metal jacket. | „ |
~ Private Gomer Pyle having a mental breakdown in the bathroom. |
“ | THIS IS MY RIFLE! THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT, BUT THIS ONE IS MINE! MY RIFLE IS MY BEST FRIEND! IT IS MY LIFE! I MUST MASTER IT AS I MUST MASTER MY LIFE! WITHOUT ME, MY RIFLE IS USELESS! WITHOUT MY RIFLE, I AM USELESS! | „ |
~ Private Gomer Pyle shouting the Rifleman's Creed in the bathroom before getting cut off by Hartman, and his last words. |
Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence is the secondary antagonist of the 1987 war film Full Metal Jacket.
He was portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio, who also played Edgar the Bug in Men in Black, Carl Rudolph Stargher in The Cell, Bob Fittler in Chained, David Hagan in Fire With Fire, Lester Clark in Escape Plan, Kingpin in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Vic Hoskins in Jurassic World. He has also voiced Luca Abele in Dishonored 2.
Biography[]
Private Gomer Pyle is a large, obese, and slightly dimwitted man who earns the name "Gomer Pyle" after incurring Gunnery Sergeant Hartman's wrath. Unresponsive to Hartman's harsh discipline, Pyle is eventually assigned to Joker's squad. Pyle improves with Joker's help, but his progress halts when Hartman discovers a contraband jelly doughnut in Pyle's footlocker.
Believing the recruits have failed to improve Pyle, Hartman adopts a collective punishment policy: every mistake Pyle makes will earn punishment for the rest of the platoon, with Pyle being spared. In retaliation for their misery caused by Pyle's failures, the entire platoon hazes him with a brutal blanket/soap party (shades of All Quiet On the Western Front): they restrain him in his bunk while beating him with improvised blackjacks (bars of soap wrapped in towels). Although hesitant at first, Joker ultimately struck Pyle harder than the rest of the platoon. While Pyle had struggled in every other area, upon engaging in marksmanship training, he excels. Afterwards, Pyle reinvents himself as a model Marine. This impresses Hartman but worries Joker, who recognizes signs of mental illness in Pyle, such as him talking to his M14 rifle.
After they graduate, Pyle suffers a severe mental breakdown in the bathroom at the camp. Upon his breakdown, he begins loading his rifle with live ammunition. Joker attempts to calm him, however, Pyle eventually loses it and loudly executes drill commands and loudly recites the Rifleman's Creed. This wakes up the platoon, including Hartman who comes into the bathroom, and notices Pyle with his rifle. He tries to get him to surrender by orders, yet upon disobedience, he again starts yelling more insults at him, only for Pyle to shoot him dead. He then proceeds to aim his rifle at Joker and considers killing him as well, however Joker calms him down by calling him Leonard and saying "take it easy man" - seeming to trigger memories in Pyle of how Joker had been his sole friend and mentor. Broken by his experiences he lowered his rifle and sat down, sparing Joker's life but then promptly taking his own via a shot to the head as he adjusted the rifle and put it in his mouth before pulling the trigger, much to Joker's horror.
Trivia[]
- Initially Pyle was going to be a "skinny ignorant redneck." Director Stanley Kubrick decided it would be more impactful if Pyle was an obese, clumsy man. D'Onofrio was required to put on 70 lb (32 kg) of weight for the role of Pyle bringing his total weight to 280 pounds. The weight exacerbated a knee injury he suffered while filming.
- While in the past, soldiers did turn on their regiments and commanders during many wars, the likelihood of Pyle being able to get his hands on a fully loaded rifle in the bunkers is extremely small. Live-rounds would be locked away and security paramount (to prevent just such a scenario): however, such things would obviously be excluded for the sake of the film's plot, and to show the brutality of war and its dehumanizing nature.
- In The Short-Timers by Jerry Gustav Hasford, which was the source material for the film, the same character appears but is named Leonard Pratt. The novel goes another step further by having Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Gerdheim in the book) smile and say "Private Pyle, I'm proud," just before he is shot.