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

John Larroquette broke his nose while shooting an additional take of a scene of him running through a door. The shot shown in the film is the first take. Heavy makeup was applied to Larroquette's nose for the rest of filming.

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Goofs

Col. Glass has two ribbons reversed. The Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation should be ahead of the Republic of Vietnam Nam Presidential Unit Citation.

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Quotes

Captain Stillman: [spying on female soldiers taking showers] Oh, oh God, look at that. Wash off the soap. That's right wash off - look at that. Bend over. Drop the soap. Oh, good! Oh, God, I wish I was a loofah.

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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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Connections

Referenced in Community: Pilot (2009)

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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

Extremely funny movie, another Bill Murray classic

Everyone is funny in this film. Every performance is first-rate and each character adds something to the humor of this movie.

Stripes begins with Bill Murray losing his job, his car and his girlfriend all in the same day. His buddy Harold Ramis is also leading a lackluster life teaching the English language to foreigners who know only curse words. These depressing circumstances set the stage for Murray to convince Ramis to come with him and join the Army.

Basic training, a hard-ass drill sergeant, female military police and naked mud wrestling consume the rest of this hilarious film. Anyone who appreciates smart-ass humor should see this. However Murray and Ramis are the focal point of most of the humor in Stripes and are very easy to relate to. Also stars John Candy, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Larroquette and Judge Reinhold.