The Jacket (2005)

R
102 min
Drama
March 4, 2005

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Movie Details

Latest 'The Jacket' News

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Evan JacobsMay 30, 2015

From Anne Hathaway in Brokeback Mountain to Kristen Wiig disrobing in Welcome to Me, take a look at 13 of the most unexpected nude scenes of all time.

L.A. readers! Win tickets to a special screening of The Jacket!

Brian B.Feb 23, 2005

...starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley

The Jacket site is up!

Evan JacobsFeb 9, 2005

..get into the creep with Adrian Brody and Keira Knightley

New posters from The Jacket

Brian B.Jan 14, 2005

...we've got your first look at the two character posters

27 new photos from The Jacket!

Brian B.Sep 8, 2004

...starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch, Kris Kristofferson, Daniel Craig, Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody

Mackenzie Phillips to star in THE JACKET

Brian B.Feb 18, 2004

...alongside Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley

Brad Renfro joins the cast of THE JACKET

Brian B.Dec 29, 2003

...starring opposite Adrian Brody & Keira Knightley

4 more join THE JACKET

Brian B.Nov 6, 2003

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch, Kris Kristofferson and Daniel Craig...

Keira Knightly joins The Jacket

Brian B.Sep 10, 2003

...alongside Adrien Brody

If the JACKET fits

Brian B.Aug 6, 2003

give it to Adrien Brody...

Critics Score

44%

Release Date

March 4, 2005

Director

John Maybury

Writers

Tom Bleecker
Marc Rocco
Massy Tadjedin

Cast

Official Website

thejacketmovie.com

The Jacket Synopsis

1991: Jack Starks, a U.S. Marine Sergeant serving in the Persian Gulf War, receives a near-fatal gunshot wound to the head. Although he recovers, the incident leaves him with shock-related amnesia. After his release, with nowhere to go, Starks, who has no relatives, returns to his native Vermont.

Nine months later, hitchhiking along a snowbound Vermont highway, Starks encounters a broken down pick-up truck. The driver, a drunken, disoriented mother named Jean, and her eight-year-old daughter, Jackie, are stranded at the roadside. With Jean too drunk to speak with him, Starks approaches Jackie and offers his help and gets the truck started.

Starks continues hitchhiking, and is picked up by a station wagon driven by a young man headed for the Canadian border. Shortly afterward, the car is pulled over by the police and Starks blacks out. When he awakens, he finds himself on trial for murder in a small town court.

Found not guilty by reason of insanity, Starks is committed to Alpine Grove, a state institution for the criminally insane. There a staff physician, Dr. Becker subjects Starks to a jarring experimental treatment involving mind-altering drugs and claustrophobic physical restraint. Once medicated, Starks is wrapped in jacket-like restraints and left alone for hours at a time in a corpse drawer located in the hospital’s basement morgue.

And in the drawer, in the dark and under the influence, Starks initially experiences flickers of memory from the war and the shooting of the police officer. Under this regimen, he begins putting together bits of his past and tries to make sense of his circumstances.

The past gives way to the future when he is suddenly transported to a diner in Vermont where he meets Jackie, a waitress who takes pity on him and tries to help him find a place to sleep for the night. It is Christmas Eve, and all of the local homeless shelters are full, so Jackie allows Starks to sleep on her couch. In these hours, Starks begins to realize that the drawer he’s been confined to is the secret to his recovery and that his future and well-being lie in the hands of the girl he’s just met.