"Hiiiii... Joker."
- Pvt. Pyle's treatment by Gunnery Sergeant Hartman and the other privates in general. As well as his breakdown.
- The "blanket party" scene — where in revenge for them all being punished by Hartman for his mistakes, the entire platoon ties Pyle to his bunk and pummels him viciously with bars of soap swung in towels for several minutes — stands out. Pyle's sheer defenselessness and helplessness makes the scene hard to watch, especially with him breaking down in agonised sobbing afterward right when things were finally starting to look up for him.Pvt. Cowboy: Remember, it's just a bad dream, fat boy.
- The "blanket party" scene — where in revenge for them all being punished by Hartman for his mistakes, the entire platoon ties Pyle to his bunk and pummels him viciously with bars of soap swung in towels for several minutes — stands out. Pyle's sheer defenselessness and helplessness makes the scene hard to watch, especially with him breaking down in agonised sobbing afterward right when things were finally starting to look up for him.
- The (pictured) face that Pvt. Pyle makes in his mentally broken down state doesn't help make the scene any better. It gets even worse from there.
- The moment when Joker finds the now-completely insane Pyle sat alone in the pitch-dark bathroom, who then looks up at him with a full-on Kubrick Stare and just dissonantly says "Hiii... Joker..." with his rifle nearby — which Pyle has loaded with live bullets — is bound to send chills down your spine.Joker: Are those... live rounds?
Pyle: Seven-six-two millimeter. (slowly, as he clicks another bullet into the magazine) Full. Metal. Jacket. (grins grotesquely)
Joker: (visibly shaken) Leonard... if Hartman comes in here and catches us... we'll both be in a world of shit.
Pyle: (stands up) I am... in a world... of shit! (begins drilling loudly) LEFT SHOULDER, HUT! RIGHT SHOULDER, HUT! LOCK AND LOAD! (picks up the magazine, and puts it into the rifle) ORDER, HUT! THIS IS MY RIFLE! THERE ARE MANY LIKE IT, BUT THIS ONE IS MINE! MY RIFLE IS MY BEST FRIEND! IT IS MY LIFE!
- The moment when Joker finds the now-completely insane Pyle sat alone in the pitch-dark bathroom, who then looks up at him with a full-on Kubrick Stare and just dissonantly says "Hiii... Joker..." with his rifle nearby — which Pyle has loaded with live bullets — is bound to send chills down your spine.
- Private Pyle's demented chuckle as he lowers the rifle to point at Hartman. He's gonna really enjoy this...
- Pvt. Pyle's on-screen suicide after he completely snaps and kills Hartman by shooting him in the chest. The blood and visible pieces of brain and skull splattering on the wall behind him do not make it any better — nor does Joker's horrified reaction as Pyle kills himself.
- Private Pyle's breakdown and death in the novel is as disturbing, if not more so, than the movie. Joker comes upon a completely psychotic Pyle having a full conversation with his rifle, speaking to it as it were his lover and back to himself in its "voice." When Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim (whose name was changed in the movie) tries to discipline him, Pyle shoots him, convinced that Gerheim is a jealous lover who is caught in a love triangle between him and "Charlene." Just before that, however, as he realizes that he's going to die, Gerheim immediately becomes calm, and congratulates Pyle on finally becoming a killer.Sergeant Gerheim is suddenly calm. His eyes, his manner are those of a wanderer who has found his home. He is a man in complete control of himself and of the world he lives in. His face is cold and beautiful as the dark side surfaces. He smiles. It is not a friendly smile, but an evil smile, as though Sergeant Gerheim were a werewolf baring its fangs. "Private Pyle, I'm proud—"
Bang.
- Private Pyle's breakdown and death in the novel is as disturbing, if not more so, than the movie. Joker comes upon a completely psychotic Pyle having a full conversation with his rifle, speaking to it as it were his lover and back to himself in its "voice." When Gunnery Sergeant Gerheim (whose name was changed in the movie) tries to discipline him, Pyle shoots him, convinced that Gerheim is a jealous lover who is caught in a love triangle between him and "Charlene." Just before that, however, as he realizes that he's going to die, Gerheim immediately becomes calm, and congratulates Pyle on finally becoming a killer.
- The deaths of Doc Jay and Eightball. The sniper, before finally finishing them both off, took her sweet time torturing the both of them by shooting them at least three to four times to try and lure extra enemies to them.
- The slow motion shots of them being shot and screaming in excruciating pain don't help either.
- Cowboy's death. He gets shot right through the chest and spends his last few moments shouting and cursing in disbelief along with gasping for air before dying in Joker's arms.
- The reveal of who the remorseless sniper is. And it's a pigtailed 15-year-old-girl.
- How close the sniper came to killing Joker just before being gunned down by Rafterman.
- How quickly the sniper goes from being a cold remorseless killer to praying as she lays dying from her gun wounds.
- Animal Mother suggests leaving the sniper to suffer at the mercy of the rats in the building ready to eat her.
- "Shoot... me... shoot... me...". Not to mention Joker's Thousand-Yard Stare after the deed is done.
- The door gunner, a cackling, mass-murdering Sociopathic Soldier whose first and only appearance heralds some of the most chilling episodes of War Is Hell within the film. That a man can conceivably be so broken and so psychotic he can thrive in the element of the Vietnam War is as horrifying as the violence itself.
- Quietly horrifying is the reaction of Joker and Rafterman. Namely the complete and utter lack of it. Forget for a second the grander issues of war, who's right or wrong. This is their comrade in arms, clearly insane, murdering civillians without even a pretense of a neccessity. And they're apathetic, mildly curious at worst. They don't try to stop him, don't report him to their superiors afterwards. They just shrug and go on their way.
- For another startling realization, this madman is what Private Lawrence would most like have turned into, had he not shot himself. Meaning that it's not even necessarily the horrors of the real war that breaks these people - they already come like this, thoroughly "prepared" by their drill sergeants and comrades.
- The Mass Grave, especially the creepy music and the bodies. The lime powder on their faces.Joker: The dead only know one thing: It is better to be alive.
- When Crazy Earl wants Rafterman to take a photo of him posing with the corpse of a dead NVA soldier.
