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Jarhead
Promotional poster for Jarhead
Directed by	Sam Mendes
Produced by	Douglas Wick Lucy Fisher Bobby Cohen Sam Mercer
Written by	William Broyles Jr. (screenplay) Anthony Swofford (book)
Starring	Jake Gyllenhaal Peter Sarsgaard Jamie Foxx Lucas Black Chris Cooper
Music by	Thomas Newman
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	November 4, 2005 (USA)
Running time	123 minutes
Language	English, Arabic
Budget	$70,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Jarhead is a 2005 film based on U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's 2003 Gulf War memoir Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Swofford. The title comes from the semi-derogatory slang term used to refer to Marines (sometimes by Marines themselves). The film was directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, most famous for his 1999 film American Beauty.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Response 3 Awards 3.1 Wins 3.2 Nominations 4 Characters 5 Differences from the Book 6 DVD release date 7 See also 8 Footnotes 9 External links

Jarhead (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff" (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom... Foxx portrays Sergeant Sykes, a Marine lifer who heads up Swofford's scout/sniper platoon, while Sarsgaard is Swoff's friend and mentor, Troy, a die-hard member of STA-their elite Marine Unit.

The film received mixed reviews from critics, registering a 61% Tomatometer rating (53% Cream of the Crop) on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert gave the movie 3 1/2 out of 4 stars, crediting it for its unique portrayal of Gulf War Marines who battled more boredom and a sense of isolation rather than enemy combatants. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone and Richard Schickel of Time Magazine also filed positive reviews. Other critics, however, such as David Denby in The New Yorker, cited an unstructured plot. In an interview with the UK film magazine Empire Mendes stated he thought Jarhead would be his most misunderstood film. Nathaniel Fick, another author who served in the Marines, gave the film a mixed review (and panned the book on which it is based) in Slate.^[1]

The movie was liked but not lauded like Mendes' first two films. It primarily received technical praise.

• San Diego Film Critics Society Special Award (Jake Gyllenhaal for Body of Work) (also for Brokeback Mountain and Proof)

• Art Directors Guild Excellence in Production Design Award for Contemporary Feature Film (Dennis Gassner, Stefan Dechant, Christina Wilson, Marco Niro, A. Todd Holland, Christopher Tandon)
• Black Movie Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Jamie Foxx)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Jake Gyllenhaal)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Peter Sarsgaard)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Film Editing (Walter Murch)
• Satellite Award for Outstanding Screenplay, Adapted (William Broyles Jr.)
• Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture (Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt)
• Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Peter Sarsgaard])

Lance Corporal Anthony Swofford "Swoff" (Jake Gyllenhaal) - The protagonist. Swoff comes from an odd family: His father is a still-shellshocked Vietnam War veteran who may have PTSD, his mother seems to have a form of depression, and his sister is in an insane asylum for an unknown reason. He joins the Marine Corps and after going through a lengthy training process, he becomes a scout sniper and his spotter is Troy. When they are part of Operation Desert Shield, Swoff struggles with boredom and the fact that he does not know if his girlfriend is cheating on him. He receives a letter confirming his suspicions. He often has Fergus take his watch for him, which leads to an explosives accident on Christmas, resulting in Swoff's demotion. When the war begins, Swoff and the others taunt Troy upon learning that he is a drug dealer. While they are under heavy artillery barrage, Swoff has to run through a gauntlet of explosions twice for radio batteries. He and Troy desperately want to shoot the two Iraqi Army colonels they were assigned to kill during a mission towards the end of the war, but an airstrike takes them out instead. At the film's end he learns from Fergus his friend Troy is dead. He attends Troy's funeral where he reminisces about the war.

Corporal Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) - A drug dealer who joined the corps illegally. He joined the Marine Corps so he could make something of himself. He is more sensitive than the other Marines, as shown when he is the only Marine to keep the others from watching the video Dettman's wife sent him. Troy is Swoff's spotter during the war. Right before the invasion, Sykes tells Swoff that Troy will be unable to reenlist after the invasion because he lied about a criminal record on his first enlistment forms. He melts down when they are not allowed to shoot an Iraqi colonel, as this may be his first and last chance to get a kill. The penultimate scenes of the film show Fergus informing Swoff about Troy's death, and Troy's funeral. The movie does not say that Alan Troy was a drug dealer, however the character implies it in one small scene. The real-life Marine upon whom the character was based was Troy Collier from Greenville, MI and he was killed in a car accident just two months after returning from the Gulf War in December 1991. He was 22 years old. In reality he was not a drug dealer, but was not allowed to reenlist due to a failed drug test.

Staff Sergeant Sykes (Jamie Foxx) - A gung-ho sergeant who leads the Scout Snipers. He disciplines the Marines by drilling them randomly for things like gas attacks. Sykes demotes Swoff after he has Fergus take his guard duty and accidentally cause an explosion. He comforts Swoff several times over the conflict, including telling him about Troy's life before the war, when the troops are on the bombed highway, and when Fowler plays with a dead corpse. At one moment he explains to Swoff that he could have a better paying job and a family, but he loves being a Marine, and he thanks God for every day that he has in the Corps. He is the only character that stays in the Marine Corps and fights in the next conflict in Iraq.

Kruger (Lucas Black) - A Marine who is vehement about his rights. He is the marine who questions their censorship in the reporter scene, and when they have to take pills that were not tested. He thinks that the war is only about oil and thinks more about the war's political side. After the war, he is shown to be a business executive.

Fowler (Evan Jones) - A Marine and gun enthusiast. Fowler is clearly uneducated, possessing a level of intelligence that is clearly below that of the average human being. He loves describing what a bullet does to a camel's head (and this seems to indicate that he did actually kill some Saudi civilians' camels), and he also teases Swoff about his girlfriend back home. He also refers to whites as the "master race" and mistreats Iraqis, harassing the civilians; later he is found playing with dead Iraqis. Sykes tells Swoff that Fowler will get kicked out of the Marines when they return from the war, and after the war he is shown in a bar with what appears to be a prostitute. However, at corporal Troy's funeral, Fowler is seen wearing his uniform leaving open the idea he is still actively with the Marines or that he just wore the uniform for appearance purposes.

Cortez (Jacob Vargas) - Another Marine. His wife is pregnant with a child when he goes to Iraq, and it turns out to be a boy. He joined the Marines to protect the rights given to him. After the war, he is shown to have another child, a girl, and enjoying life. Fergus was one of his friends in boot camp.

Escobar (Laz Alonso) - A Marine who is one of Cortez's friends. He is also fighting to protect the rights he was given as a United States citizen. He is religious and often prays over a picture of the Virgin Mary. After the war, he is a super market worker and does not appear happy with his life.

Private Fergus O'Donnell (Brian Geraghty) - A nerdy Marine from a small town. He gets off to a bad start with Swoff. He is not very close to any of the marines until the end of the war. He is very passive so the Marines usually have him take their guard duties while they party. On Christmas, he dozes off on Swoff's guard duty and accidentally causes an explosion. Swoff breaks down in front of him and aims a gun at him, saying he could kill him and it would "only be an accident". Troy rebukes Swoff for this incident and Fergus and Swoff have a better relationship by the war's end. During civilian life he is shown as being a hippie type and he tells Swoff about Troy's death.

Pinko (Iván Fenyö) - A Marine from Hungary, which is where he got the nickname of Pinko. In deleted scenes, he is shown as enjoying being an American, but still reads and writes in Hungarian. Even though he is older, he enjoys the Marines' shenanigans like scorpion fights. He is shown as getting particularly drunk in the Christmas party scenes. His life after the war is not shown. Most of his character is shown in deleted scenes on the DVD.

Bryan Dettman (Marty Papazian) - One of Troy and Swoff's friends. His wife sends him a copy of The Deer Hunter, but it is shown to be taped over with his wife having sex with his neighbor. This only deepens Swoff's concerns over his girlfriend's faithfulness.

Lt. Colonel Kazinski (Chris Cooper) - The leader of the Scout snipers' unit, he is optimistic about their mission and tells the Swoff and Troy "not to go Rambo" on their assassination mission.

Major Lincoln (Dennis Haysbert) - A Marine officer who played American football in College where he suffered an unspecified injury. He has an apparent disdain for Scout Snipers, calling in an air strike instead of letting Swoff and Troy shoot the Iraqi officers. This causes Troy to break down, the Major almost seeming to take a sadistic amusement in Troy's despair, calling him and Swoff "weird motherfuckers."

• In the book, Staff Sergeant Sykes is actually pronounced Sikes, spelled Siek, and he has a very small role in the book.
• The sniper tower scene didn't actually happen as it did. In the book, Swafford and Johnny were supporting some Marine Infantry taking the airfield, they were not interrupted by anyone. They were only ordered not to take the shot.
• Troy was not a drug dealer in reality, he died in a car accident on the way to work after he left the Marine Corps.
• The book goes into Swafford's childhood up until he joined the Marines, however in the film his upbringing is only explained in brief detail.
• The entire oil scene when they dig in the oil wells did not happen in the book.

Released: March 7, 2006 The movie is available as a single disc standard version (in both fullscreen and widescreen) and a 2-disc Collector's Edition. Oddly, the Collectors Edition was discontinued immediately following release, and is considered a rare item. It was available for only one week. While there has been no official word as to why, the second disc does contain a lot of political content which may be considered as controversial.

The single disc standard version has been included with a goodie protective silver casing, engraved on the front is the shape of a dog tag with the word "Jarhead" written on it. Stores to have given this goodie away include HMV and FYE.

Jarhead is also available on HD DVD.

• United States Marine Corps

• Official webpage
• Jarhead at the Internet Movie Database
• Jarhead at Rotten Tomatoes
• Richard D. North How fair is Jarhead to US marines? Social Affairs Unit Web Review, February 2006
• Thoughts on Jarhead US Marine First Lt. Jeffrey D. Barnett reviews Jarhead

v • d • e Films directed by Sam Mendes
American Beauty (1999) • Road to Perdition (2002) • Jarhead (2005) • Revolutionary Road (2008)