Jarhead [WS]

Director: Sam Mendes Sam Mendes

Overview

A young man gets a crash course in the madness of war in this fact-based drama from director Sam Mendes. Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) decides to join the Marines, just like his father and his father before him, and signs on just in time to be sent to Iraq to fight in the Gulf War in 1991. After experiencing the rigors of boot camp, Swofford and his pal Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) are trained to be snipers, and under the leadership of Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx) and Lt. Col. Kazinski (Chris Cooper), the two land in the middle of a desert where they're up against an enemy they can't always see under a blazing sun with hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Swofford, Troy, and their fellow soldiers rely on the wits, their sense of humor, and their friendship of their brothers in arms to deal with a situation that doesn't much resemble what they saw on television at home. Jarhead was based on the memoirs of the real-life Anthony Swofford, who did serve as a sniper in the 1991 Gulf War; the title comes from military slang for a Marine enlistee.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/07/2006
UPC:	0025192784224
Original Release:	2005
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:03:00
Sales rank:	51,729

Special Features

Over 35 minutes of deleted scenes including more of Swoff's fantasy sequences; In-depth "Jarhead" interviews

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jamie Foxx	Staff Sgt. Sykes
Jake Gyllenhaal	Anthony Swofford
Peter Sarsgaard	Alan Troy
Laz Alonso	Ramon Escobar
Scott MacDonald	D.I. Fitch
Chris Cooper	Lt. Col. Kazinski
Lucas Black	Kruger
Brian Geraghty	Fergus O'Donnell
Damion Poitier	Poitier
Jocko Sims	Julius
Dennis Haysbert	Major Lincoln
John Krasinski	Corporal Harrigan
Craig Coyne	Young Mr. Swofford
Katherine Randolph	Young Mrs. Swofford
Skyler Stone	Actor
Kevin Foster	Branded Marine,Vietnam Vet
Rini Bell	Swoff's Sister
Wade Williams	Actor
Matthew Atherton	Actor
James Morrison	Mr. Swofford
Ming Lo	Bored Gunny
Brianne Davis	Kristina,Dettman's Neighbor
Evan Jones	PFC Dave Fowler
Todd Jensen	Lieutenant (uncredited)
Nick Dash	Corp Marine (uncredited)
Ernest Ozuna	Sergeant Major
Jacob Vargas	Juan Cortez
Iván Fenyö	Pinko
Martin Papazian	Brian Dettman
Becky Boxer	Dettman's Wife
Jonathon R. Mize	STA Graudate
Joel Prato	STA Graudate
Kareem J. Grimes	Welty
Donna Kimball	Reporter
Christian Reeve	Bedouin
Toufiq Tulsiram	Bedouin
Jubin K.	Bedouin
Hari Bali	Bedouin
Kurt Larson	Arguing Corporal
Mike Akrawi	Bedouin
Ammar Daraiseh	Iraqi Officer
Thomas Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

William Broyles Jr.

Sam Mendes	Director
Douglas Wick	Producer
Lucy Fisher	Producer
Pippa Harris	Producer
Bobby Cohen	Executive Producer
Sam Mercer	Executive Producer
William Broyles Jr.	Screenwriter
Kyrsten Comoglio	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Sam Mendes' Jarhead does not tell a new story. Countless other films have shown how war affects soldiers. Mendes is savvy enough to know this and goes so far as to reference Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now early in the film almost as a way of admitting how pedestrian his basic story is. What sets this film apart is that although the story is old, the characters are new. The characters played by Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard become real people over the course of the film, making their experiences all the more compelling to an audience. In addition to developing a pair of specific characters, the film smartly teaches the audience more than a few aspects of what daily life was like during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. The film demonstrates the pent-up energy of young men not allowed the release of either sex or war. The soldier's unique war experience is expressed beautifully in the film's final act when, once the men actually get close to real combat, cinematographer Roger Deakins lights the film by the shifting light from fires that burn in sabotaged oil fields. There has never been a film sequence that looks like that one does, just as there has never been a war film quite like Jarhead. The film lacks profundity, but it does contain a specificity that makes it a compelling experience.