Stripes (film) 1

Stripes (film)

StripesTheatrical release poster

Directed by Ivan Reitman

Produced by Daniel GoldbergIvan Reitman

Written by Len BlumHarold RamisDaniel Goldberg

Starring Bill MurrayHarold RamisWarren OatesP. J. SolesJohn Candy

Music by Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography Bill Butler

Editing by Harry KellerMichael LucianoEva Ruggiero

Distributed by Columbia Pictures

Release dates June 26, 1981

Running time 106 minutes

Country United States

Language English

Budget $10 million

Box office $85,297,000

Stripes is a 1981 American war-comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, WarrenOates, P. J. Soles, and John Candy. It also featured several actors in their first significant film roles, including JohnLarroquette, Sean Young, John Diehl, and Judge Reinhold. It was one of John Candy's breakthrough filmappearances. Dave Thomas, Bill Paxton, Joe Flaherty, and Timothy Busfield also appear.

PlotJohn Winger is a cab driver, who, in the span of a few hours, loses his job, his apartment, his car, and his girlfriend.Realizing that his life is a failure, he decides to join the United States Army. Talking his best friend Russell Ziskeyinto joining with him, they drive to a recruiting office and are soon off to basic training.Upon arrival at Fort Arnold, they meet their fellow recruits, and their drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka. Moments afterarriving, John offends Sgt. Hulka and is ordered out to do push-ups. He stands out as a misfit throughout the rest ofbasic training. Their commanding officer is the incompetent Captain Stillman. As basic training progresses, Russelland John become close to female MPs Louise Cooper and Stella Hansen. Not long before graduation, Sgt. Hulka isinjured when Stillman orders a mortar crew to fire without setting target coordinates.The men go to a mud wrestling bar, where John convinces Dewey "Ox" Oxberger to wrestle a group of women.When the club is raided by MPs and police, Stella and Louise cover for John and Russell. The rest of the platoon is

Stripes (film) 2

taken back to base to face an irritated Captain Stillman, who threatens to force them to repeat basic training.After partying with Stella and Louise, the buddies return to the barracks, and John motivates the platoon with arousing speech and begins to get them in shape for graduation. After a long night of drilling, they oversleep andalmost miss the ceremony. They rush to the parade grounds out of uniform and give an unconventional yet highlycoordinated drill display led by John. General Barnicke is impressed when he finds out that they had to completetraining without a drill sergeant, and decides they are just the kind of "go-getters" he wants working on his EM-50project in Italy.Once in Italy, the platoon is reunited with a recovered Sgt. Hulka and assigned to guard the EM-50 Urban AssaultVehicle. Bored with their assignment, John and Russell steal the EM-50 to visit their girlfriends, stationed in WestGermany. When Stillman finds the EM-50 missing, he launches an unauthorized mission to get the vehicle backbefore his superiors find out it is gone. Hulka urges Stillman not to go, but is overruled.Stillman inadvertently leads the platoon across the border into Czechoslovakia. Hulka, realizing where they are,jumps out of the truck just before it is captured. He makes a Mayday radio call, and John and Russell realize that theplatoon came looking for them and that their friends are in trouble. John, Russell, Stella, and Louise take the EM-50and infiltrate a Russian base where the platoon is being held. With some assistance from Hulka, they free everyone.Upon returning to the United States, John, Russell, Louise, Stella, and Hulka are treated as heroes, each beingawarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Hulka retires and opens the HulkaBurger franchise. Stella appears on thecover of Penthouse, Ox makes the cover of Tiger Beat, Russell recreates his firefight with the Russians for "Soldierof Fortune" and rates them as "pussies", and John is featured on the cover of Newsworld. Captain Stillman isreassigned to a weather station near Nome, Alaska.

Cast• Bill Murray as Pvt. John Winger• Harold Ramis as Pvt. Russell Ziskey• Warren Oates as Sergeant Hulka• P. J. Soles as Stella Hansen• Sean Young as Louise Cooper• John Candy as Pvt. Dewey "Ox" Oxberger• John Larroquette as Captain Stillman• Judge Reinhold as Pvt. Elmo Blum• John Diehl as Pvt. Cruiser• Lance LeGault as Colonel Glass• Robert J. Wilke as General Barnicke• Conrad Dunn as Pvt. Francis "Psycho" Soyer• Dave Thomas as Mud wrestling bar M.C.• Joe Flaherty as Border Guard• John Voldstad as Stillman's Aide• Timothy Busfield as Soldier with mortar• Bill Paxton as Soldier• Fran Ryan as Woman in cab

Stripes (film) 3

ProductionOn his way to the premiere of Meatballs, Ivan Reitman thought up the idea for a film: "Cheech and Chong join thearmy". He pitched it to Paramount Pictures and they greenlit the film that day. Len Blum and Dan Goldberg wrotethe screenplay in Toronto and read it to Reitman, who was in Los Angeles, over the phone. The director, in turn,would give the writers notes. Cheech and Chong's manager thought the script was very funny; however, the comedyduo wanted complete creative control. Reitman then suggested to Goldberg that they change the two main charactersto ones suited for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, figuring if they could get Ramis interested and let him tailor thescript for the two of them, he could convince Murray to do it.Ramis had already co-written National Lampoon's Animal House and Meatballs, but was relatively unknown as afilm actor. His best-known acting work prior to Stripes was as a cast member for the late-night TV sketch comedySecond City Television, which he had quit a few years earlier.[1] When he screen-tested for Columbia Pictures, theyhated his audition but Reitman told the studio that he was hiring the comedian anyway. According to actress P.J.Soles, Ramis was reluctant to appear in the film and that Dennis Quaid had read for his part but Murray told him,"Look, I don’t want to work with anybody else. You’re doing the part. Otherwise, I’m not doing the movie". JudgeReinhold played Elmo, who was a collection of all the best jokes from the Cheech and Chong version of the film.The casting agent picked Sean Young based on how she looked and Reitman felt that her "sweetness" would go wellwith Ramis. Soles tested with Murray and they got along very well together. John Diehl had never auditioned beforeand this was his first paying job as an actor. Reitman was a fan of the westerns that Warren Oates had been in andwanted someone who was strong and that everyone respected to control the film's misfit platoon. Goldberg knewJohn Candy from Toronto and told Reitman that he should be in the film. Candy did not have to audition.Before filming started, Reinhold thought that he had a handle on his character but once filming started, he was"petrified" because this was his first big studio film. Every scene had some element of improvisation and this wasdue in large part to Murray and Ramis, who suggested things for him to say and this spread to other cast members.Reinhold said that during filming, Oates would tell everyone stories about working on films like The Wild Bunch andthey would be enthralled. Reitman wanted "a little bit of weight in the center", and had a serious argument betweenHulka and Winger. It was not played for laughs and allowed Murray to do something he had not done before. Duringfilming one of the obstacle courses scenes, Reitman told the actors to grab Oates and drag him into the mud withouttelling the veteran actor about it to see what would happen and get a genuine reaction. Oates' front tooth got chippedin the process and he yelled at Reitman for what he did.Much of the mud wrestling scene was made up on the spot by Reitman. Candy felt uncomfortable during filming, butReitman talked him through it. Filming began in Kentucky in November 1980, then moved to California inDecember. Principal photography ended on Stage 20 at Burbank Studios on January 29, 1981. The production wasallowed to shoot the army base scenes at Fort Knox, the city scenes in Louisville, and the Czechoslovakia scenes atthe closed Chapeze Distillery (owned by Jim Beam) in Clermont, with a budget of $9–10 million and a 42-dayshooting schedule. Reitman was amazed that they got the Department of Defense's cooperation. The spatula scene inthe kitchen of the general's house was filmed at three in the morning, after the cast and crew had been up the entireday. Murray improvised the "Aunt Jemima Treatment" sequence and Soles reacted naturally to whatever he said anddid.

Stripes (film) 4

Reception

Box officeStripes was released on June 26, 1981 and made $6.1 million in 1,074 theaters on its opening weekend, ranking No.4. It eventually grossed $85 million in North America.

Critical responseStripes holds an 88% "Fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews.In his Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert praised it as "an anarchic slob movie, a celebration of all that isirreverent, reckless, foolhardy, undisciplined, and occasionally scatological. It's a lot of fun". Janet Maslin of theNew York Times called it "a lazy but amiable comedy" and praised Murray for achieving "a sardonically exaggeratedcalm that can be very entertaining". In his review for the Chicago Reader, Dave Kehr praised the performances ofHarold Ramis and Bill Murray: "the affable Harold Ramis, becomes its genuine dramatic center: his struggles tokeep his buddy Bill in line have a strange urgency and poignance".Gary Arnold, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "Stripes squanders at least an hour belaboring situationscontradicted from the outset by Murray's personality. The premise and star remain out of whack until the rambling,diffuse screenplay finally struggles beyond basic training". Time wrote, "Stripes will keep potential felons off thestreets for two hours. Few people seem to be asking, these days, that movies do more".Years after making the film, Murray reflected, "I'm still a little queasy that I actually made a movie where I carry amachine gun. But I felt if you were rescuing your friends it was okay. It wasn't Reds or anything, but it captured whatit was like on an Army base: It was cold, you had to wear the same green clothes, you had to do a lot of physicalstuff, you got treated pretty badly, and had bad coffee".

References[1] Caldwell, Sara C., and Marie-Eve S. Kielson, So You Want to be A Screenwriter: How to Face the Fears and Take the Risks (Allworth Press,

2000), p. 77. ISBN 1-58115-062-8, ISBN 978-1-58115-062-9

External links• Stripes (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0083131/ ) at the Internet Movie Database• Stripes (http:/ / www. allmovie. com/ movie/ v47404) at AllMovie• Stripes (http:/ / www. boxofficemojo. com/ movies/ ?id=stripes. htm) at Box Office Mojo• Stripes (http:/ / www. rottentomatoes. com/ m/ stripes/ ) at Rotten Tomatoes

Article Sources and Contributors 5

Article Sources and ContributorsStripes (film)  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=604357518  Contributors: AaronCBurke, AbsoluteGleek92, Actrjay, Alakazam, Altenmann, AndrewHowse, Andrzejbanas,Anonymous6494, Another Believer, ArcAngel, Aspects, BadLeprechaun, Beaker342, BenStein69, Bluemoose, Bodkin1, Captain Infinity, Categorycinque, CelticJobber, Chaheel Riens,Charger77, ComebackWarrior, Conti, Count Ringworm, Cowdery, Cr7i, Craigboy, Cube lurker, Cw6165, DAK23, DavidWBrooks, DeWaine, Dysprod1975, Easchiff, Ebehn, Ed Poor, Elendil'sHeir, Ellsworth, EncMstr, Ermanon, Fernandobouregard, Firsfron, FlieGerFaUstMe262, Flyguy649, Foofbun, FreeRangeFrog, Gearwon, Glacier109, Grafen, Grandpafootsoldier, Gtrmp,HDCase, Heron, Howenstein115, Iridescent, ItsTheClimb17, J.D., JYi, Jakz34, Jaxl, Jeffman52001, John of Reading, Jp media, Jpjensvold, Jwolfe, K4kafka, King Cobb, Kintetsubuffalo,Kollision, Kusma, LGagnon, Lady Aleena, LanternLight, Ldavid1985, LedgendGamer, Leithp, Lizlawton, Looper5920, LtMuldoon, LtNOWIS, Maddawg1967, Markoff Chaney, Mboverload,Mexicorn, Millahnna, MistaTee, Misterkillboy, Naruto9tailedfox4eva, Neutrality, Nibbles the Hamster, Nintendofan88, Niteowlneils, NotACow, Oanabay04, Orca1 9904, Oydman,Plateofshrimp, ProtoBuster, Pyramide, Qui1che, RMc, Radagast83, Radiohawk, Randolph02, RedWolf, Rklawton, Scoo, Shirt58, Shrpa01, Skier23, Sledgeh101, Sngnisfuk, Sophus Bie,Special-T, Squash, Steve03Mills, Stevietheman, Supernumerary, T-BoneWalker, TMC1982, The Beirut Hammer, TheOldJacobite, Tradrrboy, Treybien, Trivialist, UDScott, Unregistered.coward,Vgranucci, W guice, WARRIORPRODUCER, WFinch, Wahkeenah, Wiki4thalost, Wingsandsword, Wisekwai, Wuhwuzdat, Xdamr, Xufanc, Ynhockey, Zoltarpanaflex, 236 anonymous edits

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