Stripes (1981)

Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun.

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Len Blum, Daniel Goldberg (as Dan Goldberg)

Stars:

Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Murray	...	John
Harold Ramis	...	Russell
Warren Oates	...	Sgt. Hulka
P.J. Soles	...	Stella
Sean Young	...	Louise
John Candy	...	Ox
John Larroquette	...	Capt. Stillman
John Voldstad	...	Stillman's Aide
John Diehl	...	Cruiser
Lance LeGault	...	Col. Glass
Roberta Leighton	...	Anita
Conrad Dunn	...	Psycho
Judge Reinhold	...	Elmo
Antone Pagán	...	Hector (as Antone Pagan)
Glenn-Michael Jones	...	Leon

Storyline

At the end of a very bad day when he realizes his life has gone and is going nowhere, John Winger is able to convince his best friend, Russell Ziskey, whose life is not much better, to enlist in the army, despite they not being obvious soldier material. In basic training, they are only two of a bunch of misfits that comprise their platoon. However, it is still John that is constantly butting heads with their drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka. Two of their saving graces are Stella and Louise, two MPs who get them out of one scrape after another. Their entire platoon is in jeopardy of not graduating. But what happens during basic leads to their entire platoon being assigned to an overseas mission in Italy, to test a new urban assault vehicle, the EM-50 project. John and Russell decide to take the EM-50 for an unauthorized test drive to visit Stella and Louise who have been reassigned to West Germany. In the process, the rest of the platoon, Hulka, and Hulka's immediate superior, ...

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Plot Keywords:

u.s. army | military spoof | hare krishna | fish out of water | army | 

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Taglines:

The story of a man who wanted to keep the world safe for democracy...and meet girls

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Genres:

Comedy | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality/nudity, language and some drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Polish

Release Date:

26 June 1981 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cheech and Chong Join the Army

Filming Locations:

Kentucky, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,130,197, 28 June 1981

Gross USA:

$85,297,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min 122 min (extended) 117 min (extended) 123 min (extended)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The mud wrestling sequences along with an extensive pictorial of Susan Meschner, were featured in Gallery mens magazine in January 1983. Meschner was featured as one of the mud wrestlers.

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Goofs

Neither John nor Russell have their hair cut short enough for Army recruits.

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Quotes

Cruiser: I joined the army 'cause my father and my brother were in the army. I thought I'd better join before I got drafted.
Sergeant Hulka: Son, there ain't no draft no more.
Cruiser: There was one?

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Crazy Credits

Four actors with the first name "John", are listed back -to-back in the final credits: John Candy, John Larroquette, John Voldstad and John Diehl.

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Alternate Versions

The "Extended Cut" DVD includes 18 minutes worth of deleted scenes re-edited back into the film. They include:

• A longer discussion between John and Russell before they drive to the recruiting office
• A nine-minute scene in which John and Russell take LSD and accidentally end up on a mission in the Colombian jungle. They meet with rebels whom they smoke marijuana and take more LSD with. The rebels want to kill them but they escape by leading the rebels in a rendition of "Quando, Quando, Quando"
• After Hulka's injury, Stillman gives the men a false account of how it happened. But John knows that Stillman was at fault
• Love scenes between the two couples during their Germany vacation in which the women are nude
• A longer discussion between John and Russell before Russell agrees to save the men in Czechoslovakia

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Connections

Featured in Biography: To John with Love: A Tribute to John Candy (1995)

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Soundtracks

Rubberband Man
Written by Thom Bell and Linda Creed (uncredited)
Performed by The Spinners
Courtesy of Atlantic Records

User Reviews

That's the fact Jack!

Stripes is firmly planted in my vernacular as one of those films that helped shape me as a twelve year old boy. It is also one of those films that made me become the film lover that I am today. I know films like Star Wars and it's two sequels, First Blood and Rambo, Jaws and it's sequel, Halloween, Back To The Future, Ghostbusters, Raiders and it's sequels and Stripes ( there are many others but this review has to be under 1000 words )taught me the beauty of how a movie can make you feel. And Stripes was the first movie that me and my best friend at the time ( Gary ) ever memorized word for word. And I think that it is this movie that established Murray, Ramis and even guys like Candy and John Laroquette as comedians. It also has a small role for Bill Paxton in it somewhere. It was also a great stepping stone for the three amigos ( Murray, RAmis and Reitman ) to get funding for a bigger project like Ghostbusters. And if you were an executive at Columbia you would probably hand them a blank cheque for that project after seeing this film. Simply put this film is a classic in every sense of the word.

Stripes tells the story of how John Winger and Russell Ziskey ( Murray and Ramis respectively ) are two losers in life. Winger is an inept cab driver that hates his job so much that he throws his keys off the city bridge one day while driving an annoying lady to the airport. Ziskey is a terrible English as a second language teacher. And he is so inept that he tries to get is class to sing songs during class as their lesson. " I met her on a Monday and my heart stood still " Ziskey sings, and his class responds " da do da da da da da da da do da da da da, " and the he congratulates them and dismisses them until next week.

After Winger informs Ziskey that in the last three hours he has lost his job, his car, his apartment and his girlfriend, they decide to join the army. And then all hilarity breaks loose. It is here that we meet an assorted cast of hooligans and misfits that add to the enjoyment of the movie.

You have Ox ( Candy ) as an overweight guy who thinks the army is a perfect place to lose weight for free. There is Francis Sawyer, but everyone calls him Psycho, as a nut that thinks he is in Vietnam or someplace. You also have Cruiser, who joined the army because his father and brother were in the army and also because he thought he should join before he got drafted. Then there is Elmo, who is played by a pre-Fast Times Judge Reinhold. He is a wasted jolly stoner who is jjst looking to get stoned. Why he is joining the army is a little perplexing, but really, who cares? He is fun to watch so little details like this are overlooked. And of course we have Sgt. Hulka played with absolute earnestness by the late great Warren Oates. Needless to say, it is an interesting bunch of characters.

The film works for various reason, but mainly because Ramis and Dan Goldberg have written a hilarious script that puts the misfits through one twistedly funny situation after another. If only the army were this fun, everyone would want to enlist.

The first half of the film works because of the basic training scenes. The second half works because the misfit recruits are assigned to protect a secret R.V. that the army has concocted. Winger and Ziskey of course can't stay bored for long and they take the R.V. out for a run to Austria to go pick up their girlfriends.

Stripes is one of the funniest movies ever made and it should be checked out by younger people that were born after 1980. I was about 12 when I saw this and my dad laughed at this just as much as I did. And if all you have to go on for comedy is things like Waterboy and Big Daddy ( very funny movies in their own right ) you are missing some great older comedy. You should really check this out.