‘Full Medal Modine’ Photo Exhibit at the Museum of the Marine Corps

An exhibit of photographs taken by the actor Matthew Modine during the filming of Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1987 Vietnam War film “Full Metal Jacket” opens March 2 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia. The exhibit is made up of dozens of large black-and-white images that Modine (who played the main character, the iconoclastic Private Joker) took with a then state-of-the-art 35mm Rolleiflex camera with Kubrick’s permission. The exhibit will run through September 2025.

At 11:00 Sunday morning, March 3, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation will present a screening of the famed movie at the museum that will include a Q&A with  Modine. It’s free and open to the public, but reservations are required. To do so, go to marineheritage.org/fullmetalmodine

The Foundation notes that while the film “doesn’t necessarily reflect Marine Corps values, it nonetheless inspired some to join the Corps and has become a cult classic. It is a Vietnam War/controversy-inspired fictional movie, not a documentary. The film is representative of the challenging, somewhat spiritual, and often personally conflicting journey associated with becoming a Marine and serving in the Marines, specifically in combat.

“Modine made the images available to the Museum for display and the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation graciously paid to have them printed on metal and framed. This exhibition is a rare opportunity to see filmmaking and the Corps through a different lens.”

–February 27, 2024

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