| | | | Stripes
(1981) |
fter the success of the 1979 Canadian film "Meatballs", Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman reunited for "Stripes", a film that focuses on lazy Army recruits. The main characters are John Winger (Murray) and his buddy Russell Ziske (Harold Ramis).
John has just lost everything, including his job, his girlfriend and his apartment. Russell has just become a school teacher teaching a group of students who speak very little english. When John sees a campaign for the US Army on the TV, he decides he wants to join and convinces Russell to join too, hoping to get some chicks.
But after signing up, John and Russell get more than they bargained for when they meet Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates). They also meet recruits such as Ox (John Candy), who has joined just to lose weight, and Psycho, who is so selfish that he’ll kill anyone, even his fellow recruits, who bothers him. All of Hulka’s men, including John, are among the wildest, stupidest recruits that have ever enlisted in the Army.
At one point during training, Sgt. Hulka is injured in a freak accident, and John decides to give the recruits the rest of the night off and they all wind up at a strip club where they get arrested. When they return to the barracks, they are informed that they graduate the following morning and they may have to do basic training all over again.
Now, John is the kind of guy who either gets the other recruits in trouble or saves the day, as he takes over as drill sergeant and tries to get the other recruits in shape overnight.
Of course, they oversleep and wind up missing some of the ceremony, but the overnight training pays off when they try to prove that they have what it takes to be real soldiers. The routine lands the troops in Italy, but just when they thought it was safe to throw a party…
…Sergeant Hulka recovers from his injuries and crashes it before they even get prepared for it. Hulka immediately assigns them to guard a top secret weapon vehicle, which has some useful techniques, but before midnight, the vehicle…and John and Russell…have all but disappeared. John and Russell have taken it for a “test drive” by going to Germany to see the female MP’s and take them out on a double date.
Meanwhile, the other troops are searching for the secret weapon, but they wind up getting abducted and held hostage in Czechoslovakia. Now, John and Russell’s patriotism is put to the test as they embark on the wildest adventure of their lives to rescue their fellow soldiers.
 Don't forget that Stripes is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
|
| | | | 
"Stripes" is definitely no "Private Benjamin," but the Army is funny as ever when Bill Murray plays the game. John Candy is also good in one of his earlier roles.
|
| | | |  | 
Originally created and written as "Cheech and Chong Join the Army." 
| |
The character Francis Soyer, better known as Psycho, is a reference to the movie "Psycho," in which Norman Bates's middle name is Francis.
Harold Ramis, who starred with Bill Murray in this movie, directed the classic comedy "Caddyshack," a movie in which Murray starred. Ramis also co-wrote the story and screenplay for Murray's film "Meatballs."
Warren Oates, who played Sergeant Hulka in the movie, tragically died of a heart attack a little less than a year after this film's release.
The goofy soldier Elmo was played by Judge Reinhold, who later found fame playing Eddie Murphy's sidekick in "Beverly Hills Cop."
The guy who plays Crusier is John Diehl who also plays Assistant Chief Ben Gilroy on the fx gritty cop drama show 'The Shield'. -Thanks to Scott Manginelli
The leggy blond that Bill Murray falls in love with is P.J. Soles also played in horror films such as "Carrie" and "Halloween".
P.J. Soles, was in two military movies of the eightes, mirroring each other. In "Stripes" , the male centered film, she was the good girl that Bill Murray falls for, in "Private Benjamin" the female centered film, she was the bad character, Pvt. Wanda Winter. -Thanks to Christopher
Sean Young played an MP (Louise Cooper) next to PJ Soles, she went on to play in "Blade Runner" (1982) and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994). -Thanks to Greg
« Click
here to add some Stripes trivia
Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the Stripes DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
Stripes or 80's Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... Fast Times At Ridgemont High ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... License To Drive ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
| | | |
The military training scenes were all shot at Ft. Knox, KY. My father used to work there and was on the set most days when they were shooting. The taxi cab scene on the bridge is actually on the 2nd Street bridge in Louisville, KY crossing the Ohio river. In the background you a the Belknap building, which was imploded in a big local tv event back around 1992, on the left. Finally the "prison" was actually an old Jim Beam bourbon warehouse that crew used and blew apart. -Thanks to Patrick Watterson
An Ivan Reitman prank to have some of the characters drag Warren Oates' character into the mud during the obstacle course scene, led to Oates chipping a tooth and Reitman getting a tongue lashing from Oates.
In the graduation scene, from the moment Bill Murray's troop nears the graduation area up until the very end of graduation (it's party time...Italian style), everytime they cut to the next shot you get a sunny day on one shot, then a completely overcast cloudy day on the next, then totally sunny, then cloudy, then sunny.....this continues for 10 minutes or so throughout the entire graduation scene. -Thanks to Steven Wojcik
In the scene where Bill Murray does push ups in the apartment and wins Harold Ramis' money, Murray is seen laying flat on his back with only a few dollars on his chest. The camera cuts away and when it comes back he has a much larger amount of bills on his chest. -Thanks to Redtigershark
Watch the scene shot from two angles when Ramis prevents Murray from going AWOL in the motor pool parking lot, while wrestling on the ground, Murray's hat is on and then off. His bag also appears next to him then under his head. -Thanks to Matt
«
Click
here to add a new Behind-the-Scenes item for Stripes
|  |  |  | | Stripes
Locations |
|
| | |
 Featured Movie Location: The Compound
Wanna see the real life filming location used for The Compound in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at Fort Knox, located in Fort Knox, Kentucky. [New! Show Google Map]
The military training scenes were all shot at Ft. Knox, KY. (about 45min south of Louisville KY).
The taxi cab scene on the bridge is actually on the Kennedy bridge in Louisville, KY crossing the ohio river.
The "prison" was actually a old Jim Beam bourbon warehouse that crew used and blew apart. [Thanks to Patrick Watterson]
The early city scenes on the bridge was the 2nd Street bridge in Louisville.[Thanks to B Niedert]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Kentucky (or any other) filming locations used for Stripes? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Featurette |
| Our
Comments: Extended Edition |
| | | | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Special Edition |
|
| | | |
The soundtrack score was done by Elmer Bernstein.
As a result of this movie, the song "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" has become a popular cadence in the US military. -Thanks to Samuel
«
Click here to add new music trivia for Stripes
Soundtrack Available:
Unknown
| | | |
 NEW!
Use our radical Retro Assistant to show you the most accurate information for hard-to-find Stripes products anywhere on the web...
At a glance, you can now see all the Movie
releases, Soundtracks
or Movie
Posters, Scripts and Books ever available with online price comparisons, even if they're
rare, out of print or only available in another country!
Over 3 years in development and covering more than 10,000 of the
best products hand picked by our editors, we think it's the most fun and retro way to celebrate the era --and find what you
want.
It covers Stripes DVD,
VHS,
Blu-ray,
HD-DVD,
Downloads,
Soundtrack
CDs, Movie
Posters, Scripts, Books and more... Why not give
it a try...
The
80's Movies Rewind is proudly a spam-free
non-commercial site, written by movie fans... for movie fans.
If
you enjoy this site, please help to support us and keep us
POP UP & SPAM FREE by ordering your stuff through our services.
As you probably already know, we
are not a corporation, but just 80's fans like you...
| | |
 | | Recent
Additions |
March 3, 2008: Commando USA / UK Blu-ray Coming Soon.
February 28, 2008: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Soundtrack Update.
Previous
additions
We're always updating and improving, so please and check back with us regularly...
|
| | |
