"Don't Call Me Sir! I WORK for a Living!"

[Edgy MD]

As stock characters go, it's hard to beat abusive asshole drill sergeants for Oscar bait. Yeah, they're rarely the protagonist, so they have to go for supporting Oscars, but being that they allow you to go broad instead of deep, rattle off shtick at a shouting level nose-to-nose with recruits who are usually the stars of the film, putting emphasis in weird places, they usually get to steal virtually every scene they're in.



With luck, there will be an ambiguity of whether Sarge is just molding men, is an actual sadistic asshole, or even perhaps has an underlying personality disorder that only becomes fully clear later when he gets his drink on. Which one is it? Will we find out before basic training is over and we ship out? Oscar gold.



Some sergeants aren't sergeants at all, but higher-ups. Officers. But they still have to play the sergeant's role in the film, abusing recruits during training, trying to turn some sad sack of shit into a soldier. Or a sailor. Or a marine. Some sergeants aren't sergeants simply because the film is set in a different military branch where the ranks have different names.



Although several of these guys come from comedies, I tried with the choices to stay out of outright burlesques — like abusive boy scout leaders who act like drill sergeants, and shit like that. On the other hand, nothing is better than Andy Griffith Show episodes where Gomer and/or Floyd and/or Goober or some other Mayberrians get deputized and Barney tries to drill them into shape. Pure comedy gold.



Also, these films should be set in large part, or en toto, in training. In movies that are mostly combat, sergeants are usually cool dudes. They still scream, but they suck on stale cigars and wear dogface shaves and charge in bravely under fire and their men would follow them to the mouth of Hell. It takes three or four wounds (or more) to kill them and they usually die saving the day. But training sergeants are mostly colorful assholes.



I should probably take The Dirty Dozen out based on that distinctions, but it's already in there.



Vote three times. Also, even though the voting mechanism will only allow three votes per customer, I feel like MFS62 should get a few more.



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[Benjamin Grimm]

I knew who my pick was going to be even before I read the list. R. Lee Ermey. (Who was also in Toy Story. "Where is your honor, you dirtbag!")



Funny you included No Time For Sergeants. I watched that for the first time less than twelve hours ago.



The strangest thing about Myron McCormick in that movie is how different he looks from when he played Marcia on The Brady Bunch.

[Willets Point]

R. Lee Ermey was pretty much born to play this role.

[MFS62]

My trigger finger, first reaction was R.Lee Ermey.

But my heart goes to Warren Oates. Ermey's (as well as all the others')troops were obedient. Even Lee Marvin's were reluctantly obedient, but he was an officer. His D.I was Richard Jaeckel, and he wasn't that significant a character.

Oates had a different type of soldier to deal with. And I can say from experience (I trained troops) that his were the closest to a hyperbolic reality.

So only two get my vote.

And if I had to vote for only one, it would be Oates.

Thanks for the nod, Edgy.

Later

[Willets Point]

Well, Pyle wasn't obedient to Hartman in the end.

[Edgy MD]

Good job pointing out Ermey's other roles.



I guess James Caan and Jack Webb are the only ones here where the drill instructor is the protagonist.

[Edgy MD]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I knew who my pick was going to be even before I read the list. R. Lee Ermey. (Who was also in Toy Story. "Where is your honor, you dirtbag!")

Hey, you get three picks!

[Edgy MD]

POST-SEASON AWARD SUCCESS

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[TD]Eileen Brennan as Captain Doreen Lewis in Private Benjamin[/TD]	[TD]Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress[/TD]
[TD]Adolph Caesar as Sergeant Waters in A Soldier's Story[/TD]	[TD]NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture[/TD]
[TD]James Caan as Sergeant First Class Clell Hazard in Gardens of Stone[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]R. Lee Ermey as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Full Metal Jacket[/TD]	[TD]Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture[/TD]
[TD]Lou Gossett Jr. as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman[/TD]	[TD]Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture[/TD]
[TD]Tommy Lee Jones as Colonel Chester Phillips in Captain America: The First Avenger[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Lee Marvin as Major John Reisman in The Dirty Dozen[/TD]	[TD]Laurel Award for Best Action Performance[/TD]
[TD]Clarence Kolb as Col. Peter Fairbanks in Caught in the Draft[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Viggo Mortensen as Command Master Chief John James Urgayle in G.I. Jane[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Warren Oates as Sergeant Hulka in Stripes[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Nat Pendleton as Sergeant Michael Collins in Buck Private[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Christopher Walken as Plt Sgt Merwin J. Toomey in Biloxi Blues[/TD]	[TD][/TD]
[TD]Jack Webb as Gunnery Sergeant Jim Moore in The D.I.[/TD]	[TD][/TD]