Stripes (1981)

Starring: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, Warren Oates, John Larroquette, Sean Young, Judge Reinhold, Joe Flaherty, Dave Thomas, and a cameo by Bill Paxton
Grade: Classic

Before the group breaks through the border to escape the wrath of Russian Joe Flaherty, one fun note is that Sgt. Hulka comments the line “I’m getting too old for this shit!” while hanging on top of the EM-50 van six years before Danny Glover made it famous in Lethal Weapon.

Summary

In Louisville, Kentucky, taxi driver John Winger (Murray) gets his boots shined while watching an advertisement for the army. After he pays the shoeshine, John goes to his taxi to drum up business. Some guys get in the backseat, and he drives them to their destination. They run out of the car without paying, and John can’t catch them in time. He is then stopped by a wealthy older woman who wants a ride. John makes a joke about the fur pelt around her neck looking like a dog, but she doesn’t find it funny. She’s in a hurry to get to the airport and demands John be careful with her luggage. He tries, but there’s a lot of suitcases and they are extremely heavy. Because of this, he just shoves them into the trunk as best he can, hitting himself in the balls accidentally. Elsewhere, John’s best friend Russell Ziskey (Ramis) is in a classroom teaching ESL to foreign adults. He goes through his basic introductions with the class and asks if anyone there knows a little bit of English. One person says he does, but all he knows are cuss words like “son of bitch” and “shit”. After he says it, everyone in the class repeats it. At the same time, John is driving the older woman around and is taking a route she isn’t familiar with. This is enough for the bothered woman to ask about John’s personal life after getting his name from the taxi. John talks about how he was adopted and has been in and out of institutions his whole life, which doesn’t surprise the woman who refers to John as a “lowlife”. John says he’s actually a photographer before adding sarcastically that he took this job as a taxi driver because he loves people. He goes on about how there’s nothing better than meeting someone and taking action photos of the person while he drives. With this, he takes out his camera and starts taking pictures of the woman while he drives. She frantically tells him to stop while he swerves. She asks if he’s going too fast, but John doesn’t think so and then acts like he’s regretting drinking a bunch of cough syrup that morning.

She starts yelling about how they’re going to be killed, prompting John to mess with her by acting emotional and putting his arm over his eyes hoping he doesn’t get killed. By the time John gets to the bridge, she takes down his name and says she will take him to the authorities to get his license removed.

She goes on about how he’s a bum and will never be anything more. Hearing this, John stops the car in the middle of the road and blocks traffic. He then walks across the bridge and tosses the keys into the water. Meanwhile, Russell leads his classroom in song before dismissing them for the day. John walks home with his girlfriend’s dry cleaning in one hand and a pizza in the other and sees some guy stealing his car. He drives off and John tries to grab at the window, but he falls over during it. Also, the driver turns out to be a repo man that came to collect since John is late on his payments. Getting inside his apartment, John’s girlfriend Anita (Roberta Leighton) is just getting out of the shower and John confirms that he got her dress for her. Unfortunately, the dry cleaning got ruined when he tried to flag down the car in the alley. Once Anita sees it, she’s understandably disappointed. John admits he had a bad day, but she is tired of this. John promises to straighten out, but Anita reminds him that he said that last week. John brings up how a person can’t straighten out that much in a week. Anita says it’s been 6 months, and nothing has changed. He sleeps until noon, watches Rocky and Bullwinkle, he drives his taxi for a couple of hours, he orders out food, and then he plays Tito Puente albums until 2AM. This is enough for John to sit up from the bed for a moment to point out how Tito Puente is going to be dead, but she will be able to say that she’s been listening to him for years and that she thinks he’s fabulous. Still, Anita brings up how John watches movies until dawn and then he goes to bed with her. John jokes how much energy this takes, how she’s a sexual dynamo, how most guys couldn’t handle her, and he’s been reading books on the outside just so he can keep up with her. Anita says it’s not funny and he’s going nowhere. It’s not cute anymore.

She starts packing up her stuff to leave him, but he tries to dissuade her. He argues that it’s a little cute and how he’s part of a lost and restless generation. He sarcastically asks if she wants him to run for the Senate. Anita doesn’t know what she wants, but she doesn’t want John.

He tries to mess with her and play around to convince her otherwise, but Anita stops him. She likes him, but she needs something more. She wants someone who will develop and grow with her. John tries to plead how he has massive potential for growth and how he is the “little acorn that becomes the oak”. He tries to stop her physically from leaving while saying “You can’t go! All the plants are gonna die!”, but she ignores him and shuts the door. Soon after, a depressed John plays basketball in his apartment, as he has a hoop set up inside for him to dunk on. Russell comes by for a visit and asks what the matter is. John replies nothing but throws the basketball at the window and breaks it. As Russell grabs John’s last beer against John’s wishes but Russell says they will share it, John calls out the window for someone to throw the basketball back up to him. While Russell settles in, John fills him in on the last two hours of his day. He lost his job, his apartment, his car, and his girlfriend. Russell says he still has his health. Bypassing this, John grabs a wrench and clears the shattered parts of the window out of the way and calls for a bystander to throw the ball up to him. Unfortunately, they throw it through the good window next to it, breaking that one too. Later, the two are on the couch watching TV and see an advertisement to join the army. John doesn’t think it looks too bad and how he always thought about joining the army. Russell doesn’t think he’s the type, but John argues that he’s seen the type who have joined when he was working in unemployment. He says those people were just like them but not as sophisticated. Russell jokes that those guys aren’t as old as them either. He challenges John to do 5 pushups, and John is up for the challenge. He puts $3 on the line. John manages to do it but struggles mightily (“I think you’re ready for the Special Olympics”). He knows he has to get in shape and deduces that he will end up dying before the age of 30 if he doesn’t. The army is his only chance.

Russell suggests joining a monastery instead, prompting John to ask if he’s ever seen a monk “get wildly fucked by some teenage girls?”. After Russell admits he hasn’t, John takes the monastery idea off the table.

Following this, Russell drives John over to the army office and parks in a loading zone. John asks Russell if he’s coming in, so Russell relents. A guy outside tells the two they can’t park in a loading zone, but John tells him they are abandoning the car. Before entering the office, Russell isn’t sure about this and says his blood is in John’s hands if he dies. John tells him to not get any on his shoes. The recruiter talks about how they will get as much as they put into the military and how sometimes the army is their best shot. Moving on, he asks the two if they have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. After confirming that he indeed said “convicted”, John and Russell assure him they have not. They share a glance at each other and continue to mess around. When asked if they are gay, John asks if he means “flaming” or whatever else, and the recruiter just replies that it’s a standard question. Russell says they aren’t but are willing to learn, which John confirms and asks if they will be sent someplace special. The officer moves on to get their signatures. John signs quickly and goads Russell into doing so. They are now officially in the army! Soon after, they are walking through where all the new recruits are collecting their things and saying goodbye to their families and such. Russell is taken aside by Elmo (Reinhold) and he asks Russell if he’s holding any marijuana on him. When Russell says he’s not, Elmo asks Russell to hold for him. John runs into MP Officer Stella Hansen (P.J. Soles) and tries to flirt with her, joking about how she saved him back in Normandy. Stella brings up how she’s military police and is there to make sure all the men get on their buses to camp, so she leads John over to get registered with MP Officer Louise Cooper (Young). At the same time, Russell tells Elmo there is a strip search before they get on the bus and to be careful. He’s just messing with him, but Elmo gets worried. John continues to flirt with Stella, but she walks away.

Russell comes by and jokingly asks Louise what will happen if he refuses to get on the bus. She says he seems like a sensitive and intelligent guy, so she warns him not to force her to shoot him. John watches the interaction from outside the door, and Russell shoves it open. Louise walks over to Stella to see what she thinks, with Stella commenting how she hopes they don’t go to war. Just then, new recruit Dewey “Ox” Oxberger (Candy) interrupts to jokingly ask if there is a movie on this “flight”. He laughs to himself while Stella points him in the direction of the bus. The bus heads over to Fort Arnold where basic training is being held. Sgt. Hulka (Oates) rushes everyone off the bus to go inside until he’s interrupted by Captain Stillman (Larroquette). He introduces himself to Hulka as the new company commander and looks at the new group who just got in, complimenting the way they look. Just then, Ox comments to Hulka how he hopes this place is the mess hall before taking a look at Stillman and saying, “How’s it going, Eisenhower?”. Stillman tells Hulka he will be in his office if Hulka needs him for anything. Once he heads out to leave, Stillman hits his foot on a pole and tells his corporal to have it removed. Soon after, Hulka does a speech for the men. He introduces himself as their drill sergeant and lays down the law about what they are to expect. Naturally, John can’t help but make a few quiet jokes to Russell and the others around them (“Think this guy’s overdoing it a bit?”). After his last joke gets an audible laugh from the others, it gets Hulka’s attention and he asks what’s going on. John admits he said a joke, so Hulka invites him to say it while having John stand up. John replies that he doesn’t think Hulka would find it funny, but this just gets another laugh from everyone. Hulka argues that John wouldn’t know and that he has a hell of a sense of humor. He brings over Corporal Briggs and has him take John outside to do 50 pushups. Sometime after, the men go through the basics like getting measured for their uniforms and getting haircuts.

Russell messes with a distraught Ox over his buzzcut, and he grabs Russell and shoves him against a wall.

After getting measured, John apologizes to Hulka about the joke incident, but he just stone-faces him as a response. John asks Russell if Hulka bought it, but he doesn’t think so. They then go to get their choice of underwear, and John jokes with the guy about wanting a bikini. John has a positive attitude about everything so far and comments to Russell about the free clothes, though Russell is quick to remind him of the brown stuff they had for lunch. Once all the men get their things and are in their uniforms, Hulka has them all line up outside. He stops John, noticing how he’s always last. John argues that he’s pacing himself, prompting Hulka to yell at him. Hulka leads them in a march, and Russell starts singing “Doo Wah Diddy” by The Exciters to the beat of the march and John joins in. This gets the whole platoon to join in. Later, the group is in their cabin with Hulka, and everyone is introducing themselves. Howard J. Turksta (John Diehl) is from Kansas City and mentions how he likes fast cars and fast women. This is why the guys in his car club call him “Cruiser”. Ox comments aloud how they should have called him “The Dork”, which gets a big laugh. Hulka quiets them down and has Cruiser continue. Cruiser says he joined because his father and brother were in the Army. He figured he would join before he got drafted, which forces Hulka to reveal to him that there isn’t a draft anymore. Francis Sawyer (Conrad Dunn) says everyone calls him “Psycho” and promises to kill any one of them if they call him “Francis”. One guy makes fun of him, and Psycho tells him that he made the list. He also doesn’t want anyone touching his stuff and promises to kill anyone who he catches doing so. He also doesn’t want anyone touching him and promises to kill whoever does. All the guys laugh him off and even Hulka tells Psycho to lighten up. Hulka makes a speech about how they’re all in this together, and one of them might save one of the other’s lives someday. John jokes that maybe one of them won’t, and they all laugh.

Ox goes next and mentions his weight problem, prompting everyone to sarcastically respond as if they haven’t noticed. Ox mentions that his doctor told him how he swallows a lot of aggression. He suggested Ox take an aggression training course like EST, but it cost $400. It led to him coming to the decision to join the Army instead. Since it’s free, he figured he’d lose some weight in their 6-8 weeks training and come out a lean, mean, fighting machine. Russell sarcastically agrees with everything he says and encourages him. Next, Russell goes, and he talks about being sort of a pacifist. His father always said to never hit anyone in anger unless you’re absolutely sure you can get away with it. Russell isn’t sure what kind of soldier he will make but if they get into heavy combat, he promises to be behind them every step of the way. Hulka directs his attention to John and wants him to go next. Immediately, John talks about how girls like him because he rarely wears underwear. When he does, it’s usually something unusual. Now, he sees why he has lost women to soldiers. He doesn’t think it’s the uniform but rather the stories they tell, the fun and imagination. He points out Lee Harvey’s story about stealing a cow and his friend trying to fuck the cow, adding that he wants to party with him. Next, John volunteers his leadership to the platoon, saying that an Army without leaders is like a foot without a big toe. He points out how Hulka won’t always be there for them but gets the group to give Hulka a round of applause for being their “big toe”. Hulka vaguely comments about how they will see what type of soldier John is before telling everyone the schedule. The next morning at 5AM, they’re going to have a locker box inspection and then a 10-mile run, no matter the weather. The next morning, Hulka walks into their barracks and starts slamming a trash can lid on the trash can to wake them up while the trumpet outside is being played. He announces they are to have a 5-mile run. Still not out of bed yet, John asks to postpone until the platoon is better rested.

Hulka changes it to the full 10 miles. An angry Ox pulls John out of bed for making this happen. Another calls him an “asshole”, prompting Russell to walk over and sarcastically add that he’s making friends fast.

In his office, Stillman is playing with army figurines like they are action figures. A corporal walks in to give him some interim reports to look at on behalf of Major Ellis. Stillman is annoyed because he wants to see some action rather than do paperwork all the time. As he talks about this, he pulls the pin off of a grenade and gives it to the corporal. Stillman looks out the window and asks if the men who walked by are his, but the corporal says they are Captain Benton’s. Stillman wants to know where his men are, so the corporal details how Hulka is on the confidence course and Sgt. Crocker is on the mortar range. Stillman tells him to bring up the jeep. The corporal runs out of the building yelling “Grenade” and is able to just get the grenade outside before it explodes. Sometime after, Stillman is with his corporal on the confidence course, and they see a group of men go through it with ease. Stillman assumes they are his men, but the corporal points out that the other group pf men is his. This is John, Russell, Ox and the lot, and they go through it terribly compared to the group before them. The training continues, as they are seen running through puddles, practicing with a bayonet, running through more obstacle courses, and firing machine guns. In-between, John still has to do extra pushups in the rain for messing around. One moment has the guys set out for a march, and John tells Hulka they shouldn’t because of the rain and that it’s cold and flu season. This results in more pushups. Later, when they are army crawling in the mud next to each other, Russell asks John when the good part is. John says this is it. Just then, Hulka kicks John’s butt down because it could get shot off if he does it wrong. Following this, Stillman uses a small telescope from his office to spy on the female soldiers showering. His corporal tries to get his attention because Colonel Glass (Lance LeGault) is there to see him, but he doesn’t turn around until Glass shouts.

Stillman accidentally throws the telescope through the window while he jumps. Glass gets right to it. He has a problem and needs Stillman’s help. He brings up the EM-50 project, an urban assault vehicle, which Stillman is somewhat familiar with. The Pentagon wants to unveil it for the news media next month in Italy. What General Barnicke (Robert J. Wilke) wants from Stillman is a crack platoon of new recruits to man the EM-50, “real go-getters”. They will have them photographed putting the 50 through its paces. If Stillman screws this up, Glass will have him assigned to a weather station above the Arctic Circle.

If Stillman has to depend on his lackluster crew however, he’s going to be in a world of trouble.

My Thoughts:

Everyone who lives and breathes the 1980s has fond memories of Stripes, but don’t mistake its popularity for nostalgia and nothing more. It’s a certified comedy classic. With Bill Murray at his peak, real-life best Harold Ramis helping write the film and getting his feature film debut to star alongside him, and an excellent screenplay that utilizes the cast to the best of their abilities, Ivan Reitman’s 1981 military comedy is one of the decade’s most endearing movies. For a long time, comic stars joining the military was always a surefire premise to make a movie or comedy short worth watching. Stripes is one of and some would argue the best example of this specific subgenre.

Taking us from Kentucky to Czechoslovakia, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis are the prototypical aimless, lazy, goof-off adults that find themselves at a standstill in life. Some critics have described these characters of John and Russell as “slackers” or losers with no prospects. In a way, they are, though they are funny as hell in portraying such people. Still, the reason the two best friends and the movie is looked at so fondly is because of how relatable John and Russell are. Unless someone is lucky enough to be afforded certain opportunities as a young adult, many people in their 20s are still trying to figure life out. Though they will pick up jobs simply to be able to live like driving a taxi or teaching ESL in the cases of these characters, it’s not like these are the jobs they desired nor was it what they wanted out of life in general. It’s just something you land on to pay the rent and until you find something better. Nevertheless, even the most positive person can survive for only so long before they admit they’re in a rut. For John Winger, it’s obvious with how he carries himself from scene to scene that he’s right in the middle of it. He’s just meandering through his everyday life. He goes home to his girlfriend Anita and then does his usual routine of listening to his Tito Puente albums, watching movies until late, sleeping into the afternoon the next day, watching cartoons, and then heading out for work to do it all over again. It’s funny when you’re with your friends and your younger, but this can’t go on forever. It’s no way to build a future. Just like how Anita points out to John, it’s been 6 months of this, and nothing is happening. At some point, it’s not cute anymore. John represents the slacker in all of us, and we love him for it because of how well he embodies the mindset while being extremely funny throughout. We do love the sardonic and slovenly personality of John, but the reality of his situation is that it had to happen. What he goes through in the first act is the wake-up call someone like John needs. Otherwise, nothing will change, as evidenced by his last 6 months, according to Anita.

Once John loses everything and hilariously loses his taxi job on his own accord, luck would have it that a commercial for the Army runs across his TV screen to inspire him. Maybe a structured regiment or some kind of order is what he needs. At the very least, it will help him get women too. Though Russell’s backstory isn’t as in-depth, his lackadaisical attitude from hopelessly teaching his ESL class to hanging over at John’s house and making jokes about his situation is just enough for the viewer to realize that he’s got nothing going on either. It’s why when he drives John to the army recruitment office, his interest is piqued enough to get out of the car to go with him because he knows he’s going nowhere fast. What’s he going to miss out on? What is John going to miss out on? They can continue to wallow around and figure out ways to survive and move from job to job, but what if they tried something different with proven benefits? It’s not a shocking buildup per say, as this is exactly how you would write a first act to set up these specific characters to decide to drop everything and join the army, but it doesn’t make it any less entertaining. I still laugh every time John fastballs that basketball through his own window or yells at Anita that she can’t leave because the plants are going to die. Still, as far as screenwriting goes, the first act is an absolute masterclass in establishing the main setup of John needing this change in life and how it leads to the rest of the movie as a whole. In just the first 15 minutes, the viewer watches as this slovenly man gets treated like shit, responds in kind, gives up on his job, Anita gives up on him, two of his windows break, he doesn’t even care because he’s so defeated, and he can barely do 5 pushups. All of it leads to him realizing he has nowhere to go in life, and this understanding matches up seamlessly with John and Russell seeing the Army commercial while he’s at his lowest. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to inspire someone to make a life choice.

It may look simple in its presentation, but this strategic and amusing 15 minutes is about as efficient a first act as you can ask for.

Just like how most moviegoers only remember the first half of Full Metal Jacket where the soldiers go through boot camp, most audiences think of the same when talking about Stripes. To be fair, you can’t fault them for it because it’s filled with hilarity as the group bonds, establishes themselves as individuals, and John and Russell struggle to keep up. At first, we think it’s going to be all funny moments like Ox playing poker with Cruise and Elmo and coaching Cruise on how to play while looking at his cards and encouraging him to bet all of his money just so he can beat him (“Isn’t this fun?”). However, the turning point happens right after, where Hulka gets everyone’s attention because he was notified that members of their platoon left their post without permission, prompting John and Russell to look at each other. In a laugh-out-loud moment, the two nod to each other as if they are going to admit it, but when they step forward, John fakes Russell out with his initial movement and Russell steps forward by his lonesome. Though Hulka gives Russell the job of scrubbing garbage cans for 24 hours, he knows John was with him. So, he says aloud how the entire unit will spend the next two weekends on KP since no one has the guts to admit it. With this, he gets right in John’s face to test him, asking how it sounds. Being the rebellious slacker that he is, John has the balls to tell Hulka that he thinks it sucks. Not even Pauly Shore in In the Army Now did this, which shows how Murray’s persona influences the direction of this character and differentiates it from other similarly themed military comedies. John treats it like a high school up until this point and acts like Hulka is the teacher that needs to be made fun of so he can get a laugh from his “classmates”. At the same time, John will call out an injustice when he sees it from Hulka, like with the rope climbing scene later on. Instead of simply accepting Hulka’s position as being the man in charge who has to whip them into shape, John sees him as an egotist that needs to be brought back down to earth.

It endears John to the rest of the unit, but Hulka sees him as the troublemaker of the group, resulting in him taking John in private to have a one-on-one. It’s really cool to see this soldier’s fantasy, where the drill sergeant takes his future soldier aside to lay down the law, but the soldier doesn’t back down and lets him know exactly how he feels. Hulka sarcastically comments to him how he thinks John doesn’t like him to which John sarcastically replies, “Maybe I just don’t know you well enough, Sarge”. Finally, they both agree to cut the bullshit, and John is nonstop as he immediately replies “Let’s”. It’s funny as hell watching Hulka calling John a punk to his face, how he’s been in the Army for 28 years, he’s seen people like John come and go, and how he doesn’t know a damn thing about being a soldier while John just smugly smiles at him (“Oh, it’s real tough Sarge, especially that marching in a straight line business-“). Hulka brings up how it’s about discipline, duty, honor, and courage and how John has none of it, but John is fearless in asking him to kick him out if he doesn’t want him there or to get off his back. This leads to Hulka inviting John to take a swing at him with no strings attached, adding that John is a gutless punk to provoke him. Though I’m not sure why John had one hand in his pocket when he attempted the punch, it leads to Hulka quickly taking him out. It humbles John. For the first time in the movie, he doesn’t have a snarky response for Hulka when he says that maybe someday John will understand what he’s talking about. This is a pivotal scene that nearly breaks John. He realizes he messed up and attempts to go AWOL, hitting his rock bottom just like he did in the first act that led him to the Army in the first place. He even talks aloud to himself about going to get his old job back, as he’s willing to revert to his old ways just because the pressure is on. Maybe he was right. He really did need the army. This time however, Russell tackles John to bring him back in, along with the girls when they spot the two wrestling in the middle of the camp outside and they assure them that it’s not what it looks like (“… because you talked me into this! That’s why! It was your idea!” – “I didn’t talk you into this. You needed this!”).

This is the rock bottom moment that leads to John taking Hulka’s words seriously, shutting up momentarily, and working harder instead of actively being a disrupter. It’s why the third act is nowhere near the stretch that some audiences have argued that it is.

Fans of Stripes are divided into two camps. One group loves it for what it is, and the other thinks the third act is too far removed in believability from the rest of movie. We reside happily in the camp of the former. Though we’ll concede that John and Russell leading a rescue mission into Soviet satellite state Czechoslovakia might be mildly farfetched, the audience needs to fill in the blanks at some point. Obviously, the viewer only sees the unit’s real success coming in the most iconic scene in the film, the rifle drill display on graduation (“Razzle dazzle!”). No one is going to be convinced that this would prepare these characters for such a daring mission later on. However, they still went through basic training and succeeded, so they had to pick up something. John and Russell aren’t necessarily wildly different people from who they were originally, but they have changed for the better and have accomplished something. Based off of John’s speech that rallies the men to accomplish the rifle drill, this did mean something to him and he wanted to succeed, even if he tried to act like it didn’t matter (“We’re all very different people. We’re not Watusi, we’re not Spartans, we’re Americans with a capital ‘A’, huh? You know what the means? Our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re mutts!”). The old John wouldn’t have cared, but the new John puts his cap on backwards and leads them when it matters, as the stakes have forced his hand. This is why he relates being loyal mutts to having them all admit they cried when Old Yeller died to talking about how the one thing in common that they have is that they were stupid enough to enlist. As he appeals to them on their level, he uses this in his speech to light a fire under them about how they’re proud American soldiers and finishes the rallying cry be adding “Now do what I do and say what I say and make me proud!”. That’s the new John in full display, and the others fall in line and want to do it for him. That is how different this entire unit is now.

They have learned these basic army skills and John has proven to be a leader, albeit with a unique style that is entirely his own.

They also succeeded in the last part of their training without their drill sergeant and “That’s the fact, Jack!”, so though the group might look like a ragtag group of morons on the outside, they had to have learned something along the way because they did in fact graduate. John and Russell are the standouts of the group and Russell himself considers them the “brains” of the operation, and it shows when they take control of the practice the night before regardless of them showing up late the next morning, which only further validates the point that they are still the same people but have considerably improved both personally and professionally. To further Russell’s arc, he is the one who convinces everyone to go to the motor pool to work on the drill when John didn’t believe they could pull it off. Also, Russell is the one who asks John if he thinks he’s officer material, implying that he is taking this somewhat seriously once they get deeper into it. All of these smaller details are being thrown in for good reason, making sense of what the third act turns into. Now, they already set up earlier in the movie how they have to go to Italy to show off the EM-50, and it makes sense for the two leaders of the platoon to be tasked in watching it. Knowing John, his idea to drive it to West Germany to see Stella and Louise is crazy talk because of how much they would be risking, but it’s absolutely something John would suggest. Considering how Russell got talked into joining the Army rather easily because of John and not needing much pushing after some reluctance, their hilarious exchange of him refusing until John offers to drive is their friendship in a nutshell. Later, John and Russell get the news from Hulka while inside the EM-50 that their unit was captured, and John realizes their unit came looking for them. Louise notes how it’s a status 7, so the group went in undercover. This means the DOD won’t even acknowledge it, meaning no one more experienced than them is going to come to help. John, Russell, Stella, and Louise are literally the only people who can do something about this, and it’s all John and Russell’s fault as to why it happened.

This is why John as the leader knows he’s responsible and tells Russell they have to go get them. Yes, it does sound crazy because of their lack of experience, but this moment is an acknowledgement of the change John has made and him reaching his potential, as his natural leadership qualities were there from the outset but unrefined. For better or worse, Hulka got it out of him.

It would never be said by either of them but knowing the respect they show each other in the final frames, the reading in-between the lines is clear. Along with Hulka secretly relating to John because of his own John-like qualities in that he too refuses to listen to his direct superior in Stillman when Stillman takes the lead on the mission to get John and Russell, Hulka could see special qualities in John but rode him harder than anyone because he saw him squandering his potential. John just didn’t see it for a while. It’s a classic case of a kid thinking his parents are stupid until he gets older and realizes they were right. This is why John taking the matter seriously and internalizing his responsibility as platoon leader of the 41st Armored Division Bravo Company, but also the guy who caused this disaster because of his old traits still hindering him, is the lightning bolt to his core that makes him comprehend the consequences of his actions. It’s the logical response for this character. Plus, they are literally the only people who have the ability to save their unit given the circumstances. In typical John fashion, he tries to sell Russell on it who has no interest, adding that it’s Czechoslovakia and not Russia, likening it to Wisconsin (“Well, I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once. Forget it”). Even so, Russell again reluctantly goes along because the girls agree with John. They then go about their plan on the fly, but there is nothing out of the realm of possibility that happens here either. They don’t attempt a plan that makes them look like out-of-nowhere super soldiers, they attempt a plan that was clearly conceived by John, with them stepping out of the van on the border acting like American tourists looking for Innsbruck, Austria. As soon as the girls distract the two Russian soldiers, John takes them at gunpoint by surprise (“Does the words ‘act of war’ mean anything to you?” – “I have a plan”). In 80s comedy fashion, part of John’s plan then has him take the Russian uniform, hand a bottle of vodka to a soldier on their base, and then waves to the group in the van to keep things light, as John would do this because his being cool under pressure is one of his biggest attributes and something Bill Murray’s onscreen persona thrives in (see Ghostbusters and Quick Change).

Finally, this is where Russell’s skills come to play, as they subtly had him reading the instruction manual of the EM-50 when they were stationed to watch it, just to set up this later moment where he starts pressing the buttons to shield the windows and to activate the guns. He is a teacher and isn’t stupid, so even if he crammed for this “test” of sorts, Russell again had to pick up something when he was skimming through the booklet. It’s a point he even makes before the rifle drill practice that happens in the middle of the night. It’s just like cramming for a test last second when your back is against the wall and doing it well enough to succeed. It’s John and Russell’s calling card, and it’s exemplified in this third act. At the same time, Russell shooting down the tower gun shooter was set up to look like a video game. It’s not like the viewer needs to see Russell playing in an arcade to see why he could pull this off successfully in the heat of the moment. Russell and John are two mid 20-year-olds who drink beer in the middle of a weekday. Those two would absolutely hang in and out of an arcade bar from time to time. Once more, it works, and it makes sense based off of what we know about these characters. Even when John and Stella exit the van to make the rescue and end up in a shootout, John comically telling Stella that Russell would love this and should be there, and they can’t move in until Russell shoots the flamethrower from the van to allow them to break into the facility, aligns with their character traits. Also, who says John can’t throw a grenade and hold onto Stella? Do you see what we’re saying? This third act isn’t as far off as people make it out to be! When they get inside, John only trips the one guy into the other and then decks the other guy with a punch. It’s not like he’s taking them out with martial arts. He’s just a normal man, who has established that he is willing to fight someone, and he’s been through basic Army training. All of this makes sense, as does Ox’s big ass breaking the door down after John and Stella try to blow it up. Yet for years, all we have seen are complaints about this third act going away from what works. I couldn’t disagree more.

Though it’s true the best moments in terms of humor happened within basic training, and the aforementioned rifle drill was the best scene, the third act had to lead to something bigger where their skills are put to the test. This isn’t Cadet Kelly. The climax being a fucking drill would be idiotic. Having the ragtag group actually prove their worth with an actual challenge in a real-life situation and not ending things on a glorified dance routine was the way to go.

Plus, it was exciting, the actions fit their characterizations and didn’t stray away from who we knew them to be and who they grew into, and it was still funny. John and Russell hanging out the back of the van shooting machine guns at Czechoslovakian soldiers is no different than scientists Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler becoming warriors and shooting their proton packs at terrifying ghouls in any Ghostbusters film. At some point, all the buildup has to lead to something big. It has to be worth the trials and tribulations it took to get there. In both movies, the heroes are able to show why they made these personal changes and evolved as their responsibilities grew. It leads to them finding themselves in insanely dangerous situations they may or may not have caused in the first place and taking the challenge head-on to present to the audience that they were meant to take this journey for their own personal growth. As John puts it, they are the acorns that will turn into the oak. The only gripe that aides the other side of the argument is something that Ghostbusters did better than Stripes. Stripes seem to forget to acknowledge the severity of the situation. Even if Bill Murray’s sardonic style and deadpan responses to his cohorts are part of the shtick that got him to the dance, his slightly different expressions and reactions in the climax of a movie like Ghostbusters are just enough to let the audience know he’s freaking out too, but he’s not going to show it because then his teammates will lose confidence. It’s a subtle thing that Murray really hones in on later in his career. With Stripes, he says they have to go get their unit and leads the charge, but the subtlety isn’t there. What would have completed it would be John detailing how they need to do save them before gulping privately to himself, or him looking slightly worried when the group is being cornered on both sides by enemy troops while on foot. Had he given a flash of a serious expression to say to the audience that they might not make it, it would have been just right amount of earnestness the action needed. Missing out on this small but crucial detail did undermine the gravity of the moment, which is why some viewers haven’t been able to make it click in their heads.

So, as much as we will defend it and will argue to the ends of the earth that it works, a portion of the criticism is arguable.

America’s newest teen heartthrob in Ox getting convinced to mud wrestle at the bar with the girls was an entertaining way to show the unit letting loose, how they are bonding, and how naturally John is becoming their leader (“Fair? Who cares about fair? The world isn’t fair! Truth isn’t fair! Is it fair that you were born like this? They’re not expecting somebody like you out there, Ox. They’re expecting one of these slugs. You’re different, you’re weird, you’re a mutant, you’re a killer! You’re a trained killer! You’re a lean, mean FIGHTING MACHINE!”). You can’t help but smile when Ox takes the girls bras and John is getting the crowd riled up and throws stuff at them like the wildman he is before the cops show up. It also goes without saying how great the scene at General Barnicke’s house is. To paraphrase Louise, it really is a throwback to the teenage years when the parents are gone, and you have someone over. The “force field” game was a cute way to hammer this point home. Seeing John and Russell’s two wildly different flirting techniques was also a joy to watch unfold, especially the “Aunt Jemima” treatment. That is only something Bill Murray could get away with. The ending of the sequence where John and Stella crawl out of the ottoman was hysterical (“Well, that was interesting”).

Furthermore, Russell trying to lead the rifle drill and trying to get everyone in rhythm, so he requests for the black guys to help the white guys was an underrated line, as was John’s comical deadpanning of “It is alive” when Hulka comes back after graduation. Stripes is just filled with gems like this and it’s constant.

The newspaper gags at the end were also gold (“Ziskey Rates Russians; “They’re Pussies!”)

A legendary, laugh-out-loud 1980s war comedy filled with comedic heavyweights such as Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, some SCTV alums, and Night Court‘s John Larroquette, Czechoslovakian-born Ivan Reitman’s Stripes will make viewers laugh today just as much as it did when it was released.

If only Army training was this much fun because we’d all sign up!

Fun Fact: Dennis Quaid read for the role of Russell, but Bill Murray wanted Harold Ramis for it and refused to do the film without him. Kim Basinger agreed to play Stella but was denied after her agent asked for too much money.