Summary
Joker explains in voice-over that the Marines received reports that the Viet Cong have retreated to outposts on the far side of a nearby river, which he and other squad members are instructed to patrol. After Crazy Earl is killed by a booby-trapped mine, Cowboy becomes squad leader. Reading a map of the area, Eightball tells Cowboy that he fears the squad is in the wrong place, and advises Cowboy that they change course.
Cowboy uses his binoculars to scout out the revised path, and tells the rest of the men they are changing course. Joker angers Cowboy by asking if they are lost. Eightball is the first to run along their new route, where he becomes a target for a nearby sniper. The sniper shoots Eightball in the groin, and the squad opens fire on the buildings ahead, until Cowboy orders them to cease fire. When the sniper shoots Eightball again in the arm, an enraged Animal Mother keeps shooting but eventually stops, so Cowboy can call for backup.
Cowboy suggests that they regroup, suspecting that "strong enemy forces," are setting the squad up for an ambush, but the other men are reluctant to leave Eightball in the field, still vulnerable to sniper fire. Against Cowboy's orders, Animal Mother continues to fire, and a soldier named Doc Jay sprints into the battlefield to rescue the seriously injured Eightball, where he too is wounded by the sniper.
As both men lay injured in the battlefield, Cowboy tells the men they must pull out, but Animal Mother, who believes there is only one sniper, refuses to leave Eightball and Doc Jay behind. Cowboy heatedly asserts his authority as squad leader over Animal Mother, who angrily rebels against Cowboy's orders and runs into the battlefield, guns blazing. Taking cover near Doc Jay's bloodied body, Animal Mother asks him where the sniper is, and Doc Jay manages to point before being riddled with more bullets, killing him. After Animal Mother takes fire from the direction that Doc Jay pointed, he shouts back to the men that although Eightball and Doc Jay are dead, there is only one sniper, like he suspected.
Irritated that his authority has been undermined but relieved that there are fewer enemies than he thought, Cowboy orders the rest of the men to move forward. As they crouch behind a wall, assuming they have cover, Cowboy phones for backup again, and is shot fatally by the sniper, dying in Joker's arms. His last words are, "I can hack it." Feeling more bloodthirsty than ever, Animal Mother urges the surviving men to go get "payback," and Joker agrees.
As the sun sets, the men throw smoke grenades to provide cover from the sniper, and enter the building where Animal Mother suspects the sniper is. On the second floor, Joker peers around a corner to find a Vietnamese woman with a sniper rifle stationed near a window. When Joker moves to fire, his rifle locks, drawing the woman's attention, who turns and opens fire on him. Joker drops his rifle and attempts to draw his pistol, before Rafterman shoots the sniper, incapacitating her.
As the rest of the men filter into the room, they debate over whether they should kill the sniper as an act of mercy. Animal Mother insists that she deserves a slow, painful death for killing Cowboy and the others, but Joker disagrees. After listening to her beg the men to shoot her, Joker kills her. The men return across the river as fires burn in the night, chanting the "Mickey Mouse March." In voice-over, Joker remembers Hartman's comments about "being in a world of shit," but is grateful to be "alive," and "not afraid." The film cuts to black, as "Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones plays over the credits.
Analysis
The finale of the film tests the moral character of every member of the Lusthog Squad, exposing them all to mortal danger and erasing whatever tenuous claims to innocence they have left. Kubrick symbolizes the destruction of innocence early in the sequence when Crazy Earl approaches a child's toy, a large stuffed bunny, only to be killed by a booby-trapped mine. As a result of Crazy Earl's death, Cowboy becomes the squad leader. Aside from Joker, Cowboy is the only character who appears in both the first and second halves of the film, becoming something like a secondary protagonist.
In the first half of the film, Hartman urged the men to become "born again hard"—cold and authoritative as killers, leaders, and survivors. Contrary to the goal of basic training, which was to transform the men into competent, obedient, interchangeable units of a larger military body, the finale demonstrates that all men are ultimately individuals—capable of error, susceptible to fear, and governed by conscience. Cowboy's last words—that he can "hack it"—echo Hartman's early declaration about weeding out "non-hackers."
Moreover, unlike Hartman's dictatorial, absolute control over his boot camp platoon, the finale reveals that wielding authority in war is a vastly more precarious endeavor. Cowboy's authority is challenged almost immediately by Animal Mother and the other men, who cannot fathom leaving Eightball and Doc Jay behind. At this point, the squad is lost, hunted, and left with virtually no information on which to base their actions, meaning they must make decisions based on gut instinct. Ironically, given his name, Cowboy is cautious and advises they retreat. Animal Mother, on the other hand, is uncontrollably vengeful and aggressive.
Despite his impulsiveness and volatility, Animal Mother's instincts are more accurate than Cowboy's. Throughout the film, Kubrick shows that psychological insanity and military capability converge in unexpected ways—for instance, it is only when Pyle begins to lose his mind that he begins to excel as a Marine. Similarly, Animal Mother's reckless, disobedient conduct proceeds from a correct hunch—that there is only one sniper, rather than a considerable enemy presence. Despite being correct, Animal Mother's actions lead to Cowboy's death. The moment encapsulates the larger fact that wild, unhinged "killing machines" like Animal Mother and the helicopter gunner fare better in wartime than more sensitive, rational men like Cowboy and Pyle.
The death of the sniper is the climactic moral event of the film—and in many ways, an ironic reversal of many of the film's themes. An agent of sadistic destruction, Animal Mother would prefer that the sniper remain alive, so that she can feel more pain before dying. A pacifist, Joker would rather kill the sniper immediately, fulfilling the "BORN TO KILL" message on his helmet. Rather than being a male soldier, the sniper is in fact a woman, undermining the film's links between maleness and violence. A final ironic reversal occurs when the men march back into Phu Bai chanting the "Mickey Mouse March," which in context becomes an eerie funeral dirge for their lost innocence.
