Part of the old but not too old Clint Eastwood series of films, including In the Line of Fire and Unforgiven. Here, he’s Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway, a badass Korea/Nam veteran who ends up in charge of an (implausibly slovenly) Marine Recon platoon. My favourite parts of (the many) special forces memoirs I’ve read were the training sections, just as my favourite part of Full Metal Jacket was the first half with Sgt Hartman; so here, you basically have a film which is 75% training, but training with Clint Eastwood at his most vicious and acerbic, calling people faggots and homos, disrespecting Big Ed Hurley/Stilgar who plays his stupid boss, and punching huge Swedes in the jaw. The last 25% is the Marines taking on the Grenada jaunt, it’s actually a good choice as they are far too green and boyish for anything serious & harrowing.

It strikes me as a slightly bitter love song to the Corps; not sure if it would make sense with today’s tranny-LGBT US military but certainly it captures some of the atmosphere of the pre-decadence US military, as a second home, in some ways a better home for men like Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway.