Stripes (film)
Encyclopedia
Stripes is a 1981 American comedy film
directed by Ivan Reitman
, starring Bill Murray
, Harold Ramis
, Warren Oates
, P. J. Soles
, and John Candy
. It also featured several actors in their first significant film roles, including John Larroquette
, Sean Young
, John Diehl, and Judge Reinhold
. It was one of John Candy's breakthrough film appearances. Dave Thomas
, Bill Paxton
, Joe Flaherty
, and Timothy Busfield
also appear.
. Talking his best friend, Russell Ziskey (Ramis) into joining him, they drive to a recruiting office and are soon off to basic training
.
Upon arrival at Fort Arnold, they meet their fellow recruits, as well as their drill instructor
, Sergeant First Class Hulka (Oates). Moments after arriving, Winger offends Sgt. Hulka and is ordered out to do push-ups. He stands out as a misfit throughout the rest of basic training. Their commanding officer is the incompetent Captain Stillman (Larroquette). As basic training progresses, Ziskey and Winger become close to two female MPs
named Louise (Young) and Stella (Soles), and spend a night with them in General Barnicke's vacant house. Not long before graduation, Sergeant Hulka is injured when Captain Stillman, trying to impress Colonel Glass, orders a mortar
crew to fire without setting target coordinates.
On leave, the men go to a mud wrestling
bar, where Winger convinces Dewey "Ox" Oxberger (Candy) to wrestle a group of women. When the club is raided by MPs and police, Stella and Louise cover for Winger and Ziskey. The rest of the platoon
is taken back to base to face Captain Stillman, who says he fully expects them to embarrass themselves in the march before General Barnicke at the next morning's gaduation ceremony, which will force them to repeat basic training.
The situation looks bleak until Winger and Ziskey return. Winger manages to motivate the platoon with a rousing speech and begins to get them in shape for graduation. After a long night of drilling, they oversleep and almost miss the ceremony. They rush to the parade grounds out of uniform and give an unconventional drill display led by Winger. The military brass are shocked, but General Barnicke changes his opinion of the platoon when he finds out that they had to complete training without a drill sergeant. Over Stillman's objections, he decides they are just the kind of "go-getters" he wants working on a secret project in Italy.
Once in Italy, their mission is to guard the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle. Bored with sitting around guarding the vehicle in an otherwise empty hangar, Winger and Ziskey steal the EM-50 to visit their girlfriends, now stationed in West Germany
. When Stillman finds the EM-50 missing, he launches an unauthorized mission to get the vehicle back before his superiors find out it is gone. Hulka, recovered and returned to the platoon, urges Stillman not to go, but is overruled.
Stillman inadvertently leads the platoon across the border of the Iron Curtain
, into Czechoslovakia
. Hulka, realizing where they are, jumps out of the truck just before it is captured and makes a Mayday
radio call. Winger and Ziskey hear the distress message revealing that the platoon came looking for them, and realize that their friends are in big trouble. Winger, Ziskey, Louise and Stella take the EM-50 and infiltrate a Russian base in Czechoslovakia where the platoon is being held. With some assistance from Hulka, they free everyone and heavily damage the base.
Upon returning to the United States, Winger, Ziskey, Louise, Stella and Hulka are treated as heroes, each being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
. Hulka retires with honor and opens the HulkaBurger franchise. Stella appears on the cover of Penthouse
, "Ox" becomes an unlikely teen heartthrob and makes the cover of Tiger Beat
, and Winger is featured on the cover of Newsworld. Captain Stillman receives a disciplinary reassignment to a weather station near Nome, Alaska
.
, Ivan Reitman thought up the idea for a film: "Cheech and Chong
join the army". He pitched it to Paramount Pictures
and they greenlit the film that day. Len Blum and Dan Goldberg wrote the 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 comedy duo wanted complete creative control. Reitman then suggested to Goldberg that they change the two main characters to ones suited for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, figuring if they could get Ramis interested and let him tailor the script 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 a film actor. His best-known acting work prior to Stripes was as a cast member for the late-night TV sketch comedy Second City Television
, which he had quit a few years earlier. When he screen-tested for Columbia Pictures, they hated 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". Judge Reinhold 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 well with Ramis. Soles tested with Ramis and they got along very well together. John Diehl had never auditioned before and this was his first paying job as an actor. Reitman was a fan of the westerns that Warren Oates had been in and wanted someone who was strong and that everyone respected to control the film's misfit platoon. Goldberg knew John 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 was due 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
and they would be enthralled. Reitman wanted, "a little bit of weight in the center", and had a serious argument between Hulka and Winger. It was not played for laughs and allowed Murray to do something he had not done before. During filming one of the obstacle courses scenes, Reitman told the actors to grab Oates and drag him into the mud without telling the veteran actor about it to see what would happen and get a genuine reaction. Oates' front tooth got chipped in 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, but Reitman talked him through it. Filming began in Kentucky
in November 1980, then moved to California in December. Principal photography ended on Stage 20 at Burbank Studios on January 29, 1981. The production was allowed to shoot the army base scenes at Fort Knox
, the city scenes in Louisville
, and the Czechoslovakia scenes at the closed Chapeze Distillery (owned by Jim Beam
) in Clermont
, with a budget of $9–10 million and a 42-day shooting schedule. Reitman was amazed that they got the Department of Defense's
cooperation. The spatula scene in the kitchen of the general's house was filmed at three in the morning, after the cast and crew had been up the entire day. Murray improvised the "Aunt Jemima
Treatment" sequence and Soles reacted naturally to whatever he said and did.
6.1 million in 1,074 theaters on its opening weekend, ranking #4. It eventually grossed $85 million in North America.
. Roger Ebert
in his Chicago Sun-Times
review praised it as "an anarchic slob movie, a celebration of all that is irreverent, reckless, foolhardy, undisciplined, and occasionally scatological. It's a lot of fun". Janet Maslin
of the New York Times called it "a lazy but amiable comedy" and praised Murray for achieving "a sardonically exaggerated calm that can be very entertaining". Gary Arnold, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "Stripes squanders at least an hour belaboring situations contradicted 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
magazine wrote, "Stripes will keep potential felons off the streets for two hours. Few people seem to be asking, these days, that movies do more". In his review for the Chicago Reader, Dave Kehr praised the performances of Harold Ramis and Bill Murray: "the affable Harold Ramis, becomes its genuine dramatic center: his struggles to keep his buddy Bill in line have a strange urgency and poignance".
Years after making the film, Murray reflected, "I'm still a little queasy that I actually made a movie where I carry a machine gun. But I felt if you were rescuing your friends it was okay. It wasn't Reds or anything, but it captured what it was like on an Army base: It was cold, you had to wear the same green clothes, you had to do a lot of physical stuff, you got treated pretty badly, and had bad coffee".
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman
Ivan Reitman, OC is a Canadian film producer and director. He is known for the comedies he has directed and produced, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.-Early life:...
, starring Bill Murray
Bill Murray
William James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
, Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis
Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...
, Warren Oates
Warren Oates
Warren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
, P. J. Soles
P. J. Soles
P. J. Soles is an American film and television actress, known for her roles as Lynda van der Klok in Halloween, Norma Watson in Carrie and Bill Murray's military girlfriend Stella in Stripes....
, and John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
. It also featured several actors in their first significant film roles, including John Larroquette
John Larroquette
John Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.-Personal...
, Sean Young
Sean Young
Sean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
, John Diehl, and Judge Reinhold
Judge Reinhold
Judge Reinhold is an American actor, perhaps best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop, Ruthless People, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Santa Clause trilogy.-Early life:...
. It was one of John Candy's breakthrough film appearances. Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (actor)
David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
, Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
, Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty
Joe Flaherty is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks...
, and Timothy Busfield
Timothy Busfield
Timothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
also appear.
Plot
John Winger (Murray) is a cab driver, who, in the span of a few hours, loses his job, his car, and his girlfriend. Realizing that his life is a failure and that he is horrbly out of shape, he decides to join the U.S. ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. Talking his best friend, Russell Ziskey (Ramis) into joining him, they drive to a recruiting office and are soon off to basic training
United States Army Basic Training
United States Army Basic Training is the program of physical and mental training required in order for an individual to become a soldier in the United States Army, United States Army Reserve, or Army National Guard. It is carried out at several different Army posts around the United States...
.
Upon arrival at Fort Arnold, they meet their fellow recruits, as well as their drill instructor
Drill instructor
A drill instructor is a non-commissioned officer or Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in the armed forces or police forces with specific duties that vary by country. In the U.S. armed forces, they are assigned the duty of indoctrinating new recruits entering the military into the customs and...
, Sergeant First Class Hulka (Oates). Moments after arriving, Winger offends Sgt. Hulka and is ordered out to do push-ups. He stands out as a misfit throughout the rest of basic training. Their commanding officer is the incompetent Captain Stillman (Larroquette). As basic training progresses, Ziskey and Winger become close to two female MPs
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...
named Louise (Young) and Stella (Soles), and spend a night with them in General Barnicke's vacant house. Not long before graduation, Sergeant Hulka is injured when Captain Stillman, trying to impress Colonel Glass, orders a mortar
Mortar (weapon)
A mortar is an indirect fire weapon that fires explosive projectiles known as bombs at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It is typically muzzle-loading and has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber....
crew to fire without setting target coordinates.
On leave, the men go to a mud wrestling
Mud wrestling
Mud wrestling is defined as physical confrontation that occurs in mud or a mud pit. The popular modern interpretation specifies that participants wrestle while wearing minimal clothing and usually going barefoot, with the emphasis on presenting an entertaining spectacle as opposed to physically...
bar, where Winger convinces Dewey "Ox" Oxberger (Candy) to wrestle a group of women. When the club is raided by MPs and police, Stella and Louise cover for Winger and Ziskey. The rest of the platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
is taken back to base to face Captain Stillman, who says he fully expects them to embarrass themselves in the march before General Barnicke at the next morning's gaduation ceremony, which will force them to repeat basic training.
The situation looks bleak until Winger and Ziskey return. Winger manages to motivate the platoon with a rousing speech and begins to get them in shape for graduation. After a long night of drilling, they oversleep and almost miss the ceremony. They rush to the parade grounds out of uniform and give an unconventional drill display led by Winger. The military brass are shocked, but General Barnicke changes his opinion of the platoon when he finds out that they had to complete training without a drill sergeant. Over Stillman's objections, he decides they are just the kind of "go-getters" he wants working on a secret project in Italy.
Once in Italy, their mission is to guard the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle. Bored with sitting around guarding the vehicle in an otherwise empty hangar, Winger and Ziskey steal the EM-50 to visit their girlfriends, now stationed in West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
. When Stillman finds the EM-50 missing, he launches an unauthorized mission to get the vehicle back before his superiors find out it is gone. Hulka, recovered and returned to the platoon, urges Stillman not to go, but is overruled.
Stillman inadvertently leads the platoon across the border of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, into Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Hulka, realizing where they are, jumps out of the truck just before it is captured and makes a Mayday
Mayday (distress signal)
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come help me"....
radio call. Winger and Ziskey hear the distress message revealing that the platoon came looking for them, and realize that their friends are in big trouble. Winger, Ziskey, Louise and Stella take the EM-50 and infiltrate a Russian base in Czechoslovakia where the platoon is being held. With some assistance from Hulka, they free everyone and heavily damage the base.
Upon returning to the United States, Winger, Ziskey, Louise, Stella and Hulka are treated as heroes, each being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
. Hulka retires with honor and opens the HulkaBurger franchise. Stella appears on the cover of Penthouse
Penthouse (magazine)
Penthouse, a men's magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and softcore pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. Penthouse is owned by FriendFinder Network. formerly known as General Media, Inc. whose parent company was Penthouse International...
, "Ox" becomes an unlikely teen heartthrob and makes the cover of Tiger Beat
Tiger Beat
Tiger Beat is an American fan magazine marketed primarily to adolescent girls. It is currently published by Laufer Media, Inc. of Los Angeles, California, which also produces its sister publication, Bop....
, and Winger is featured on the cover of Newsworld. Captain Stillman receives a disciplinary reassignment to a weather station near Nome, Alaska
Nome, Alaska
Nome is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska, located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. According to the 2010 Census, the city population was 3,598. Nome was incorporated on April 9, 1901, and was once the...
.
Cast
- Bill MurrayBill MurrayWilliam James "Bill" Murray is an American actor and comedian. He first gained national exposure on Saturday Night Live in which he earned an Emmy Award and later went on to star in a number of critically and commercially successful comedic films, including Caddyshack , Ghostbusters , and...
as Pvt. John Winger - Harold RamisHarold RamisHarold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...
as Pvt. Russell Ziskey - Warren OatesWarren OatesWarren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
as Sergeant Hulka - P. J. SolesP. J. SolesP. J. Soles is an American film and television actress, known for her roles as Lynda van der Klok in Halloween, Norma Watson in Carrie and Bill Murray's military girlfriend Stella in Stripes....
as Stella Hansen - Sean YoungSean YoungSean Young is an American actress, best known for her performance in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, and No Way Out.-Early life:...
as Louise Cooper - John CandyJohn CandyJohn Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
as Pvt. Dewey "Ox" Oxberger - John LarroquetteJohn LarroquetteJohn Edgar Bernard Larroquette, Jr. is an American film, television and Broadway actor. His roles include Dan Fielding on the series Night Court, Mike McBride in the Hallmark Channel series McBride, John Hemingway on The John Larroquette Show, and Carl Sack in Boston Legal.-Personal...
as Captain Stillman - John Diehl as Pvt. Cruiser
- Lance LeGaultLance LeGaultLance LeGault , sometimes credited as W. L. LeGault, is an American film and television actor, best known as Colonel Roderick Decker in the 1980s American television series The A-Team.-Personal life:...
as Colonel Glass - Conrad DunnConrad DunnConrad Dunn is an American actor. He began his screen career with the role of Francis "Psycho" Soyer in Stripes . Working for some ten years under the name George Jenesky, he achieved soap-opera stardom in Days of our Lives as Nick Corelli, a misogynistic pimp who evolved from bad guy to romantic...
as Pvt. Francis "Psycho" Soyer - Judge ReinholdJudge ReinholdJudge Reinhold is an American actor, perhaps best known for co-starring in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop, Ruthless People, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and The Santa Clause trilogy.-Early life:...
as Pvt. Elmo Blum - Dave ThomasDave Thomas (actor)David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
as Mud wrestling bar M.C. - Joe FlahertyJoe FlahertyJoe Flaherty is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks...
as Border Guard - Nick Toth as Border Guard
- Timothy BusfieldTimothy BusfieldTimothy "Timmy B" Busfield is an American actor and director best known for his role as Eliot Weston on the television series Thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon on the television series The West Wing...
as Soldier with mortar - Bill PaxtonBill PaxtonWilliam "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
as Soldier - Robert J. WilkeRobert J. WilkeRobert J. Wilke was a prolific American film actor noted primarily for his villainous roles, mainly in westerns.Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco...
as General Barnicke
Production
On his way to the premiere of MeatballsMeatballs (film)
Meatballs is a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman. It is noted for the first film appearance of Bill Murray in a starring role and for launching Reitman into a distinguished career of financially successful comedies including Stripes and Ghostbusters , both starring Murray...
, Ivan Reitman thought up the idea for a film: "Cheech and Chong
Cheech and Chong
Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Richard "Cheech" Marin and Tommy Chong, who found a wide audience in the 1970s and 1980s for their films and stand-up routines, which were based on the hippie and free love era, and especially drug culture movements, most notably their love for...
join the army". He pitched it to Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
and they greenlit the film that day. Len Blum and Dan Goldberg wrote the screenplay in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and read it to Reitman, who was in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, 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 comedy duo wanted complete creative control. Reitman then suggested to Goldberg that they change the two main characters to ones suited for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, figuring if they could get Ramis interested and let him tailor the script for the two of them, he could convince Murray to do it.
Ramis had already co-written National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House
National Lampoon's Animal House is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis. The film was a direct spin-off of National Lampoon magazine...
and Meatballs, but was relatively unknown as a film actor. His best-known acting work prior to Stripes was as a cast member for the late-night TV sketch comedy Second City Television
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
, which he had quit a few years earlier. When he screen-tested for Columbia Pictures, they hated 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
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
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". Judge Reinhold 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 well with Ramis. Soles tested with Ramis and they got along very well together. John Diehl had never auditioned before and this was his first paying job as an actor. Reitman was a fan of the westerns that Warren Oates had been in and wanted someone who was strong and that everyone respected to control the film's misfit platoon. Goldberg knew John 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 was due 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
The Wild Bunch
The Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
and they would be enthralled. Reitman wanted, "a little bit of weight in the center", and had a serious argument between Hulka and Winger. It was not played for laughs and allowed Murray to do something he had not done before. During filming one of the obstacle courses scenes, Reitman told the actors to grab Oates and drag him into the mud without telling the veteran actor about it to see what would happen and get a genuine reaction. Oates' front tooth got chipped in 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, but Reitman talked him through it. Filming began in Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
in November 1980, then moved to California in December. Principal photography ended on Stage 20 at Burbank Studios on January 29, 1981. The production was allowed to shoot the army base scenes at Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
, the city scenes in Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, and the Czechoslovakia scenes at the closed Chapeze Distillery (owned by Jim Beam
Jim Beam
Jim Beam is a brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky. It is currently one of the best selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 , seven generations of the Beam family have been involved in whiskey production for the company that produces the brand, which was given the name...
) in Clermont
Clermont, Kentucky
Clermont is a USGS-designated populated place in Bullitt County, Kentucky, United States, south of Louisville.-History:The area was officially recognized by the USGS on September 20, 1979, during the rapid expansion of Shepherdsville due to the development of Interstate 65. A large portion of...
, with a budget of $9–10 million and a 42-day shooting schedule. Reitman was amazed that they got the Department of Defense's
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
cooperation. The spatula scene in the kitchen of the general's house was filmed at three in the morning, after the cast and crew had been up the entire day. Murray improvised the "Aunt Jemima
Aunt Jemima
Aunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company of Chicago. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889. The Quaker Oats Company first registered the Aunt Jemima trademark in April 1937...
Treatment" sequence and Soles reacted naturally to whatever he said and did.
Box office
Stripes was released on June 26, 1981 and made US$United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
6.1 million in 1,074 theaters on its opening weekend, ranking #4. It eventually grossed $85 million in North America.
Critical response
Stripes currently holds a 88% "fresh" rating at Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
in his Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
review praised it as "an anarchic slob movie, a celebration of all that is irreverent, reckless, foolhardy, undisciplined, and occasionally scatological. It's a lot of fun". Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
of the New York Times called it "a lazy but amiable comedy" and praised Murray for achieving "a sardonically exaggerated calm that can be very entertaining". Gary Arnold, in his review for the Washington Post, wrote, "Stripes squanders at least an hour belaboring situations contradicted 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
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine wrote, "Stripes will keep potential felons off the streets for two hours. Few people seem to be asking, these days, that movies do more". In his review for the Chicago Reader, Dave Kehr praised the performances of Harold Ramis and Bill Murray: "the affable Harold Ramis, becomes its genuine dramatic center: his struggles to keep his buddy Bill in line have a strange urgency and poignance".
Years after making the film, Murray reflected, "I'm still a little queasy that I actually made a movie where I carry a machine gun. But I felt if you were rescuing your friends it was okay. It wasn't Reds or anything, but it captured what it was like on an Army base: It was cold, you had to wear the same green clothes, you had to do a lot of physical stuff, you got treated pretty badly, and had bad coffee".