[Nightcrawler]

Gunny Ermey had a great little segment about the M1911. Unlike the VAST BULK of "gun related" television, I actually LEARNED something from that bit. I didn't know when the 1911A1 was adopted. He said it was....oh, crap, now I forgot. 1924, I think. LOL

Good segment. I can tell he likes the weapon, too. Best of all, Rule 3 was observed when he held the pistol! The History Channel found themselves an honest-to-God professional for that show, I think. :cool:

[true believer]

saw it, and love his show....:D i got to get me of those flame throwers.....
bob

[notbubba]

I didn't see the 1911 part, but I really like the show.
He "kills" a lot of watermelons.:p They never had a chance.

[larryw]

Do enjoy the show. What's the story on Ermey, is he a real Gunny that became an actor, or is he a fabrication?

Sure hope its the former!

LW

[Hkmp5sd]

is he a real Gunny that became an actor

He's real. He was a DI in the 60's and added many of the lines he used in "Full Metal Jacket" directly from his days in the corp.

[ruger357]

Sorry I missed it.:(

[NewShooter78]

I can't believe I missed that one! I'll have to see when its going to be on again. I love Mail Call. Its one of the best shows on the History Channel right now, if not THE best. Ermey was a real DI, as already stated. And he always seems to use proper firearms handling in the show. See, not everyone on tv walks around with their finger on the trigger or sweeping everyone in sight.

[Hkmp5sd]

BTW, everyone needs one of these! :D

http://www.rleeermey.com/images/RLEfig1.jpg

R. Lee Ermey (http://www.rleeermey.com/introindex.php)

[Navy joe]

What's the story on Ermey, is he a real Gunny that became an actor, or is he a fabrication

He is for real. He was recently promoted to the honorary rank of Gysgt. In his active duty career he made it to Ssgt. He was medically discharged due to wounds recieved in Vietnam. Started as the consultant for FMJ. Filmed himself doing a 15 minute long DI rant for the actor to watch. Kubrick liked it so much that the actor was fired and Ermey put in the role. Cool website too.

[Boats]

That's not exactly true.

Ermy's movie career starts with Apocalypse Now not FMJ

[Correia]

He pretty much played himself in Seige of Firebase Gloria as well.

R.Lee Ermey rocks. Recently he was quoted in the news insulting Hollywood liberals, specifically Barbara Streisand. He said "her alligator mouth outruns her hummingbird brain." or something like unto that.

[Strayhorn]

If your dish carries BBC, watch for a documentary on the life of director Stanley Kubrick.

While discussing "Full Metal Jacket", he mentions how he came to fire the actor and hire Ermey. The actor had asked Ermey to "dress him down" during a rehearsal so he could get the flavor of the real thing. Kubrick happened to be watching and was astounded that anyone could curse, threaten, hammer and otherwise badmouth someone for five full minutes without *once* repeating himself.

Kubrick laughed, and said he had a track record for secondary characters outshining the stars of his movies. In "2001" everyone remembered HAL 9000, and in "FMJ" the audience prefered Sgt Hartman to Joker.

All these rappers who think they know how to curse can take a lesson from Sft. Hartman

[alamo]

I actually liked him better in "Boys in Company C", seemed more realistic. This was a number of years before FMJ. He played a DI of course. The first part of the movie is pretty good, the boot camp sequences, and it goes rapidly downhill from there.

[Navy joe]

Started as the consultant for FMJ

That's all I said. I didn't say his movie career started with FMJ, just he started that movie as a consultant. I'm well aware of previous movies.

[Blackhawk]

Recently he was quoted in the news insulting Hollywood liberals, specifically Barbara Streisand. He said "her alligator mouth outruns her hummingbird brain." or something like unto that.If the truth is an insult, maybe it was more than just an observation.... :D

[Airwolf]

Here's the low down on R. Lee's film credits. Quite an amazing amount of stuff he's been involved with.

http://us.imdb.com/Name?Ermey,+R.+Lee

Oh, and there' s another thread about the show going on here.

http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3897

[teombe]

By far, his lowest point had to be "Saving Silverman"... lol.

[Strayhorn]

There was an obscure comedy called "Action" starring Jay Mohr (another Hollywood conservative, judging from what I've heard him say) that ran for six episodes on Fox. This was originally set for HBO, so Fox had to bleep all the cursing and sex jokes, and ended the series after six episodes. It ran as a summer replacement.

Anyway, you can find all 12 of the original episodes on the "Trio" network under a program called "Brilliant but Canceled". In the later episodes, R. Lee stars as a film director who's a bit addled from a life of drugs and drink. I had my doubts that R. Lee could play comedy but I sure laughed out loud several times. Once, a pigeon flies into the studio ruining a take. He pulls a Desert Eagle, of all things, out of his waistband and nails the pigeon in one shot.

Worth looking for. Some of the digs at Hollywood Liberals are pretty mean, too.

[BigG]

The way I remember the FMJ story, Ermey was doing a screen test for Kubrick who told him to curse like a drill instructor for the camera. Ermey kept up a continuous stream of invective for some 15 minutes all the while being pelted with tennis balls by Kubrick who wanted to see if he could break Ermey's concentration. He couldn't and Ermey never repeated himself once by the time Kubrick told him to cut.

[ReadyontheRight]

Mail Call is a great show. And you could tell he really likes the 1911.

In one episode he outshot some Civil War reenactors with their own Enfield and Springfield rifles.:D

[larryw]

RotR: that was a classic. Here he's doing a weapons of the Blue and Grey side by side eval. The re-enactors take their best shot, then Ermey grabs their guns and out shoots both of them. As I recall, Ermey's comment was along the lines of, "Its not the weapon, its the operator." Those two didn't look too happy afterwards. :D

[thisaway]

There is an episode of Mail Call in which R. Lee has a Revolutionary War reenactor demonstrate the use of his flintlock musket. The reenactor outshoots R. Lee, who seems less than happy with the outcome.

Mail Call is a great show, and R. Lee is a great actor.