Stripes
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Ivan Reitman
Produced by	Daniel Goldberg Ivan Reitman
Written by	Len Blum Harold Ramis Daniel Goldberg
Starring	Bill Murray Harold Ramis Warren Oates
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	Bill Butler
Editing by	Harry Keller Michael Luciano Eva Ruggiero
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 26, 1981
Running time	106 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$85,297,000 (USA)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Stripes is a 1981 American comedy film starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, and Warren Oates. The director was Ivan Reitman. Image File history File links Stripes poster File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Ivan Reitman (born October 27, 1946 in Komárno in Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) is a Slovakian-born, Canadian-raised Jewish film actor, producer, and director. ... Harold Ramis (born November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, and writer. ... William James Bill Murray (b. ... Warren Oates (July 5, 1928 - April 3, 1982) was an American character actor. ... Elmer Bernstein (pronounced Bern-steen[1]) (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was an Academy and two-time Golden Globe award winning film score composer. ... The Columbia Pictures logo from 1993 to the present Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. ... is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... // January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. ... Comedy film is a film genre designed to be humorous. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... William James Bill Murray (b. ... Harold Ramis (born November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, and writer. ... Warren Oates (July 5, 1928 - April 3, 1982) was an American character actor. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Ivan Reitman (born October 27, 1946 in Komárno in Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) is a Slovakian-born, Canadian-raised Jewish film actor, producer, and director. ...

Stripes also featured several noted actors in their first significant movie roles, including John Larroquette, Sean Young, and Judge Reinhold. It was one of Canadian comedian John Candy's earliest film appearances. Bill Paxton and Timothy Busfield are also in one scene apiece. It was also among Oates's last films, as he died of a sudden heart attack the year after it was released. John Bernard Larroquette (born November 25, 1947 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a film and television actor. ... Mary Sean Young (born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 20, 1959) is an American actress. ... Judge Reinhold is the stage name of Edward Ernest Reinhold, Jr. ... John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. ... William Paxton (born May 17, 1955) is a Golden Globe-nominated American actor and film director. ... Timothy Busfield as Danny Concannon in an episode of The West Wing Timothy Busfield (born June 12, 1957, in East Lansing, Michigan), is an American actor and director best known for his Emmy-winning role as Eliot Weston on the television series thirtysomething and his recurring role as Danny Concannon... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), more commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ...

This film is number 18 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". This article is about the U.S. cable network. ...

Plot summary

John Winger (Bill Murray) is a 30ish cab driver who experiences the worst day of his life. In the span of just a few hours, he loses his job, his car is repossessed, he drops his pizza, and his girlfriend dumps him. Realizing that his life is a failure, he decides he needs a new direction. At that moment, a recruiting ad for the United States Army plays on the television, and he decides that is just what he needs to get in shape (and meet girls). Talking his best friend, Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis), whose own life is not doing too well either, into joining, they quickly drive to the nearest recruiting office and are soon off to basic training. The United States Army is the largest branch of the armed forces of the United States. ... U.S. Army recruits learn about bayonet fighting skills in an infantry Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. ...

Upon arrival at Basic Training at "Fort Arnold" (actually filmed at Fort Knox), they meet their fellow recruits, and only moments after arriving Winger has already offended their Drill Sergeant, Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates), and stands out as a misfit throughout basic training. Their commanding officer is Captain Stillman (John Larroquette), a blowhard incompetent and suck-up. As Basic Training progresses, Ziskey and Winger become closer to a pair of attractive female M.P.'s named Stella and Louise (P.J. Soles and Sean Young) on the base, and quickly become friends with the rest of their platoon. However, not long before graduation, Sergeant Hulka is injured in a freak mortar accident caused by Captain Stillman's incompetence. The U.S. Bullion Depository at Ft. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Warren Oates (July 5, 1928 - April 3, 1982) was an American character actor. ... John Bernard Larroquette (born November 25, 1947 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a film and television actor. ... U.S. Army recruits learn about bayonet fighting skills in an infantry Basic Combat Training at Fort Benning, Georgia. ... It has been suggested that Gendarmerie be merged into this article or section. ... P.J. Soles (b. ... Mary Sean Young (born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 20, 1959) is an American actress. ... US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ...

On their first leave, the men go out to a mud wrestling bar. When the club is raided by M.P.'s, Stella and Louise cover for Winger and Ziskey, while the rest of the platoon is hauled back to base to face Captain Stillman. Stillman threatens to force them to repeat the entire course of Basic Training, as they are unlikely to pass muster at the graduation ceremony scheduled for the next day. By Mud wrestling can be understood any physical confrontantion (Fighting, Wrestling, etc. ... Platoon of the German Bundeswehr. ...

The situation looks bleak until Winger and Ziskey return (after having made out with their girlfriends in a General's home while he was away). Winger manages to motivate his platoon with a rousing speech, and begins to get them in shape for graduation. However, after a long night of drilling, they oversleep and almost miss their own graduation. Without time to even get dressed properly, they run to the parade grounds thoroughly out of uniform and give a highly unconventional, but nevertheless impressive, drill display led by Winger. When the General finds out that they had to complete Basic Training without a Drill Sergeant, 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 man the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle (disguised to look like a large motorhome). What would seem to be an easy assignment gets a little harsher when Sgt. Hulka arrives, but it's still pretty cushy. Bored with sitting around an empty hangar, John and Russel steal the top-secret EM-50 (by telling the guard they're taking it "to get it washed") to visit their MP girlfriends Stella and Louise, now stationed in West Germany. When Stillman finds the EM-50 missing (he was taking his date to show it off to her), he launches a questionable mission to get the vehicle back without his superiors knowing it was gone. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Stripes (film). ... Recreational Vehicle (RV) is a broad term used to describe a large enclosed piece of equipment with wheels designed to be moved from place to place for people to temporarily live in and be protected from the elements while away from their permanent domicile. ...

On a dark and stormy night, Stillman accidentally leads his platoon across the border into Communist Czechoslovakia. Sgt. Hulka, who accompanied Stillman and the platoon and repeatedly warned Stillman not to proceed, jumps out of their truck before it is captured, having realized where they are and what has happened. When Hulka makes a Mayday radio broadcast explaining the situation, Winger and Ziskey in the EM-50 realize that their platoon came looking for them and that the U.S. Defense Department will deny everything - their buddies are in big trouble behind the Iron Curtain. With no hope for rescue other than them, Winger, Ziskey, and their two M.P. girlfriends take the Urban Assault Vehicle and, with occasional help from the stealthy Sgt. Hulka, manage to break everyone out and trash the Soviet base. In the end, Winger, Ziskey, Stella, Louise, and Hulka are each awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Sgt. Hulka retires with honor and begins the HulkaBurger franchise, Stella appears on the cover of Penthouse and Captain Stillman is reassigned to a weather station near Nome, Alaska. This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Look up mayday in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The United States Department of Defense, abbreviated as DoD or DOD and sometimes called the Defense Department, is a civilian Cabinet organization of the United States government. ... Warsaw Pact countries to the east of the Iron Curtain are shaded red; NATO members to the west of it — blue. ... The Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) is the second highest military decoration of the United States Army, awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. ... Penthouse, a mens magazine founded by Bob Guccione, combines urban lifestyle articles and soft-core pornographic pictorials that, in the 1990s, evolved into hardcore. ... Aerial view of the harbor in Nome Nome is a city located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast of Norton Sound in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. ...

Selected cast

• Bill Murray — John Winger
• Harold Ramis — Russell Ziskey
• Warren Oates — Sgt Hulka
• P.J. Soles — Stella Hansen
• Sean Young — Louise Cooper
• John Candy — Dewey 'Ox' Auchsburgher
• John Larroquette — Capt. Stillman
• John Diehl — Cruiser
• Conrad Dunn — Francis "Psycho" Sawyer
• Judge Reinhold — Elmo

William James Bill Murray (b. ... Harold Ramis (born November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, and writer. ... Warren Oates (July 5, 1928 - April 3, 1982) was an American character actor. ... P.J. Soles (b. ... Mary Sean Young (born in Louisville, Kentucky on November 20, 1959) is an American actress. ... John Franklin Candy (October 31, 1950 – March 4, 1994) was a Canadian comedian and actor. ... John Bernard Larroquette (born November 25, 1947 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is a film and television actor. ... John Diehl is an American actor, particularly known for his roles as Charles Kawalsky in the 1994 film Stargate, Det. ... Conrad Dunn (born Los Angeles) is an American actor. ... Judge Reinhold is the stage name of Edward Ernest Reinhold, Jr. ...

Reaction

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." Roger Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American film critic. ... The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago. ... Janet Maslin is a book critic for the daily New York Times. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Box Office

Stripes holds a 88 percent "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.7 rating at the Internet Movie Database. As of December 5, 2006, the movie has grossed $85,297,000 domestically. On its opening weekend, it made $6,130,197 playing in 1,074 theaters. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Trivia

• The movie was filmed in Fort Knox (military base scenes), Louisville, Kentucky (city scenes), and the Jim Beam distillery (Czechoslovakia scenes).
• The film's military-march instrumental theme was used in a TV commercial for Nissan trucks in December 2005 - January 2006.
• Continuity Mistakes: The scene where Bill Murray is attempting to go AWOL and Ramis tackles him in the parking lot. The conversation between Murray/Ramis and Soles/Cooper is highlighted by Murrays "magic" duffel bag. When the scene starts, it's been tossed to the side of Murray's head. When the camera shifts to the MPs talking, the bag jumps under Murray's head. As the conversation continues, the bag jumps back and forth from pillow to prop.
• As a result of this movie, the song Do Wah Diddy Diddy (originally sung by Manfred Mann) became a popular Jody call (cadence) in the US armed forces.
• In the TV Series Freaks and Geeks there is discussion of the film among a group of the main characters. In the discussion they detail the plot ending with the point "then they get stopped by a group a guards who were played by..." after getting interrupted. One of the actors they were going to mention was Joe Flaherty, who plays Harold Weir on the show.

The U.S. Bullion Depository at Ft. ... “Louisville” redirects here. ... The standard white Jim Beam label Jim Beam is a brand of bourbon whiskey, distilled in Clermont, Kentucky. ... Do Wah Diddy Diddy is a song performed by 1960s British R&B and pop band Manfred Mann. ... Cock-A-Hoop Manfred Mann was a British R&B and pop band of the 1960s, named after its keyboard player, who later led the successful 1970s follow-on group Manfred Manns Earth Band. ... A drill sergeant drills recruits in the U.S. Army. ... Freaks and Geeks was an American television series, created by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, that aired on NBC during the 1999–2000 TV season. ... Joe Flaherty Joe Flaherty (June 21, 1941) is an American Canadian comedian. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Stripes

• Stripes at the Internet Movie Database