The S scripts preserved in the Kubrick archive include copies with different annotations, an approval from Michael Herr, and a sheet removing two scenes. The catalog records make it possible to study these differences without confusing written revisions with filmed footage.
The S version does not refer to a single, identical copy
The Stanley Kubrick Archive catalog preserves several documents in the S script series. Record SK/16/1/14/1, dated 1985, describes a 118-page script with a yellow cover and two duplicates. The letter S appears in the bottom margin of the pages. This identifier makes it possible to locate a specific working state, but it does not make every copy bearing the same letter an object with identical annotations or a shared history of use.
The difference is documented in the catalog entry itself: the main copy has handwritten corrections on the title page that do not appear in its two duplicates. A reproduction of one of those duplicates could therefore preserve the same general text without showing the intervention on the cover. This article draws on the catalog descriptions, not a direct inspection of every sheet. The distinction between text and physical copy matters before drawing any conclusions about a correction.
Another record, SK/16/1/14/4, describes a bound 156-page photocopy associated with Michael Herr. It includes a note of approval from Herr and a communication from Kubrick dated March 25, 1985. The description also notes Herr's initials beside the version or date marks on the pages. The catalog interprets these initials as possible approval of each page; that interpretation should remain an indication, not become certainty about who wrote each line.
These documents help situate revision and circulation within the project's development. They do not justify inferring that every difference in pagination corresponds to an equivalent number of new scenes. Format, insertions, and text layout also affect length. To connect a change to the structure of the film would require identifying the affected passage, not simply comparing the thickness of the scripts or the page count listed in a catalog entry.
A cover correction does not assign authorship by percentage
In the yellow-cover copy, the title page credited Kubrick and Herr with the screenplay and listed Hasford's novel as the source. According to the catalog, the wording about the adaptation was crossed out and replaced with a reference to additional dialogue. The correction changes how Hasford's contribution is described in that document. By itself, it does not show how much material each collaborator wrote or who physically made the handwritten change.
The released film's credits are a separate piece of evidence: Stanley Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford are listed as screenwriters, with The Short-Timers identified as the adapted novel. The working cover should not replace that final attribution. Nor can the shared credit automatically reconstruct each earlier phase. The documents record wording used at different times and on different media; keeping them separate avoids presenting a provisional correction as if it were the final release credit.
The relationship between Hasford, Herr, and the literary voice calls for this kind of care. A line may recall a writer's style without that impression identifying its author. The cover provides information about an attribution made in one copy; correspondence, an identified revision, or textual comparison would offer different kinds of evidence. None of these should be turned casually into a percentage of responsibility for the film as a whole.
Herr's approval note also has a limited scope. Accepting a copy is not the same as certifying that no changes were made afterward during preparation, filming, or editing. The document establishes one instance of approval within the collaboration; it does not close the book on its entire history. Its date is useful precisely because it places that acceptance at an identifiable moment, rather than turning it into a timeless claim about every version that circulated.
A scene removed on the page does not prove that footage was cut
Record SK/16/1/14/6 describes a copy bound in blue and five identical duplicates. After the first 55 pages, a sheet labeled 55a announces the removal of scenes 34 and 35. The entry distinguishes papers by color and records dates from January to November 1985. These are material signs of revision to the document. The catalog description does not explain the content of those scenes or prove that they were filmed.
The annotation supports the claim that the scenes were removed from the written version preserved in this copy. It is not enough to claim that footage was lost, that a sequence was removed after a screening, or that a completed alternate cut existed. Each of those claims would require other evidence. The distinction is not just a matter of terminology: it changes which event is being reconstructed. Revising a script before filming and removing shots that have already been filmed belong to different stages of production.
The editing by Martin Hunter and Kubrick works with audiovisual material, while a draft preserves planned actions and words. A sequence can change as it is performed, filmed, and edited even if no corresponding correction appears in the copy being consulted. The comparison with Hasford's novel adds another layer: it makes it possible to study selection and adaptation across works, but it does not replace identifying written versions or takes that were actually filmed.
The S catalog entries establish specific facts: there are copies with different annotations, a copy linked to Herr's approval, and a revision noting the removal of two scenes. They also make their limits clear. On their own, they do not identify the full authorship of the corrections or the audiovisual fate of each passage. Script research is more precise when it uses these material traces without turning them into the complete history of a process that continued beyond each surviving document.
References: Stanley Kubrick, Full Metal Jacket (1987), original English-language version and credits. University of the Arts London, Stanley Kubrick Archive: SK/16/1/14/1, S Script (1985); SK/16/1/14/4, S Script Herr (March 25, 1985); SK/16/1/14/6, Blue S Script (January 21–November 30, 1985). Catalog descriptions were consulted; the complete copies were not.
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