Full Metal Jacket (1987) is an Oscar-nominated Full Metal Jacket. IMDB. Accessed on November 4, 2007. Stanley Kubrick film based on the novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford. The title refers to the type of ammunition used by infantry riflemen. The film portrays the urban Vietnam War fought by the U.S. Marines. Plot The protagonist is J.T. Davis, nicknamed "Joker" (Matthew Modine), a member of 3092 platoon, beginning r