Review of Stripes (1981) by Mario D. G — 06 May 2010

"Meatballs" director Ivan Reitman scored his first major hit with this formulaic adventure comedy about a pair of civilian misfits who momentarily take leave of their senses and join the U.S. Army. Cab driver John Winger (Bill Murray) experiences one hideously terrible day when he loses his job, watches helpless as his car is repossessed, and his girlfriend walks out on him. In a fit of lunacy, Winger persuades his best friend Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis), who teaches English as a second language, that they can "be all that they can be" if they enlist in the U.S. Army. Essentially, this uneven but hilarious spoof about military service succeeds because of Murray's outlandish sense of humor and "Magnificent Seven" composer Elmer Bernstein's exhilarating score. No sooner have Winger and Russell gotten to boot camp than they confront their worst nightmare, crusty old drill sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates of "The Wild Bunch") who doesnâ??t appreciate Winger's smart aleck sense of humor. Hulka has Winger doing push-ups to straighten him out. When our misguided heroes try to go A.W.O.L., they encounter two sexy Army MPs, Stella (P.J. Soles of "Jawbreaker") and Louise (Sean Young of "Blade Runner") who bring them back alive.

Meanwhile, our heroes have an incompetent officer, Captain Stillman (John Larroquette of "Blind Date"), doing his best to berate them. The platoon that Winger and Russell wind up in consists of misfits, such as the overweight Ox (John Candy of "Spaceballs"), witless Cruiser (future "Miami Vice" regular John Diehl), wacky Elmo (Judge Reinhold of "Beverly Hills Cop"), and sneering anti-social Psycho (Conrad Dunn of "Jumpin' Jack Flash"). Our recruits are storming through the obstacle course while Sgt. Hulka observing their progress from a tower. Not far away, Stillman supervises an artillery training session and his gunners lobs in a shell that destroys the tower and puts Sgt. Hulka out of action. Initially, Reitman and his writers had planned to let the Hulka character die, but they changed their minds and brought him back into the action later in the film.

Most of what follows is predictable. Bill Murray's improvisation skills serve him splendidly, especially his "big toe" speech in the barracks. Of course, Sgt. Hulka and Winger don't get along, and Hulka uses Winger's insolence to punish the entire platoon. This is about the time that Winger and Russell go out on their first date with Stella and Louise. At one point, Captain Stillman wants to make our heroes repeat boot camp, when they embarrass him during a fight at a local nightclub and sponsors mud wrestling with bodacious babes in skimpy attire. The night before graduation, Winger and Russell train their Army buddies how to perform a complicated rifle drill so they can impress General Barnicke (Robert J. Wilke of "The Hallelujah Trail") and they succeed in amazing the general with their adept rifle whirling skills.

Indeed, General Barnicke is so impressed that he orders Stillman and his men to fly to West Germany and participate in his top-secret project involving a multi-faceted EM-59 Urban Assault Vehicle. Hulka gives everybody else weekend passes, but he orders Winger and Russell to remain behind on base and guard the EM-59, a 1970s GMC recreational motor vehicle equipped with technology galore, including a missile firing system. Stillman takes his blond babe of a girlfriend to show her the vehicle late one evening and discovers to his horror that the vehicle is missing. Winger and Russell have appropriated the recreational vehicle so that they can take Stella and Louise on a date. According to the sentry, Winger and company took the vehicle out to get it washed. Meanwhile, Stillman rounds up the platoon, and they pursue Winger and company, except that they take a wrong turn and wind up in the Soviet Bloc where they are captured and subjected to torture. Although he advised Stillman against launching a rescue operation, Hulka joins Stillman, but later leaps off the truck transporting Stillman and company after Winger and Russell. Our heroes pick up Hulka's distress signal and plunge into the Soviet Bloc in their souped up, military SUV, blow up a guard tower, and rescue their buddies. This action-packed finale marks "Stripes" as an anti-communist movie as our heroes along with Stella and Louise get the drop on the poor border guards at the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and Winger ties them up and puts on a Czech uniform. A pitched battle rages as Winger and Stella, armed with machine guns, breaks Stillman and the platoon out, and hightail it back across the border. Along the way, Sgt. Hulka leaps onto the roof of the motor home and rides out with them. Ultimately, Stillman is transferred to a weather station near Nome, Alaska, while Winger, Russell, Hulka, Stella, and Louise come home to a hero's welcome. Notably, in "A-Team" fashion, nobody is shown either getting shot-up or killed during Winger's raid. Produced during the early 1980s, â??Stripesâ?? contains casual frontal female nudity. Director Ivan Reitman was surprised when the Pentagon decided to help him make the film, and most of â??Stripesâ?? was lensed on location at Fort Knox.

"Stripes" qualifies as a winner about a bunch of losers.