Harold Ramis and company must have been fans of the Bowery Battalion as it appears some of the idea for Stripes owes some nods to this earlier entry of misfits (mutts) in the army. What's missing in Stripes is the wonderful mangling of language in the mouth of Slip Mahoney (and the writers). I always wondered if today's teens would even recognize the multiple malapropisms. In this film Donald MacBride (Sgt. Herbert Frisbie) is the precursor of Sgt. Hulka. And instead of testing the new urban assault vehicle, the EM-50 project (a souped up RV), the bait is Bernard Gorcey (Louie Dumbrowsky), the inventor of the hydrogen death ray, who has been inducted into the army in order to flush out some spies. You know how it goes, the boys eventually sympathize their watches, capture the spies for the inquisition, and in concussion have the greatest ending of any picture that Sgt. Frisbie has ever scene.
Review of Bowery Battalion
