[.ca] Stripes [UMD Mini for PSP]

From Amazon.com:
Bill Murray was heading toward a career peak on the back of comedies such as this one from 1981, the second film in his ongoing collaboration with director Ivan Reitman (the two went on to make Ghostbusters). Murray plays a chronic loser who joins the army and fails to find a fan for his ironic sensibilities in his by-the-book sergeant (Warren Oates). When push comes to shove, however, the smirking hero takes charge of his ragtag unit and turns them into fighting machines, albeit to the rhythm of hit songs by Manfred Mann and Sly Stone. The film is occasionally funny, but it mostly plays like any one of a dozen underachieving comedies featuring players from Saturday Night Live and SCTV. --Tom Keogh

ignore the bad reviews:
Apparently some of the previous reviewers don't understand that Stripes is a C-O-M-E-D-Y...i.e. it doesn't have to represent the army, but rather need only be humorous. Mission accomplished--it's ridiculously hilarious. Directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, John Larroquette, and Judge Reinhold, Stripes may very well be the prototypic 80's comedy. If you haven't seen the film you're doing yourself a grave disservice. At the very least, rent the movie and judge for yourself. Brief synopsis: John (Murray) and Russell (Ramis) are two disillusioned friends who join the army on a whim to escape their dead-end jobs and to be all they can be. Grouped with a collection of psychopaths and fellow num-nuts they proceed to stumble through boot camp. When their drill-sergeant is injured during training exercises, John assumes leadership of this military version of the Bad News Bears. Thrown into the mix, you have two attractive MPs, mud wrestling, a classified covert combat-ready recreational vehicle, and Sean Young before she went loopy. please, see this movie and make the world a little happier

This is why I joined the Army...:
What? You mean the Army isn't really like this movie? Okay, so it's a comedy and it isn't meant to be like the Army, but it is meant to be funny, which it really is. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis play the part of unlikely Army recruits bumbling their way through their training to somehow manage to get their entire platoon transferred to Europe for a top secret assignment, which Murray manages to ruin and get his platoon captured behind the iron curtain. This comical movie is packed with one-liners and gags that typify comedies of the early 80's, and like many other movies of this era, the occasional gratuitious nude scene help keep the movie interesing if you like that kind of thing. John Laroquette and John Candy round out the cast. Laroquette plays the part of the company commander.

Lighten up, Francis...:
I'm a bit perplexed by the reviews criticizing this movie because of its unrealistic depiction of the Army. Do these same people complain that "Animal House" doesn't accurately display college life or that "Vacation" isn't what a family trip across the country is really like? (Hey, I live in St. Louis and could easily take exception to the outright offensive inaccuracies in "Vacation", but I still love the movie!) This is a comedy, folks. It's not "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers", and it never claims or tries to be. It uses exaggeration and absurdities to make us laugh. It isn't striving for realism, although to its credit, I have heard plenty of people say that this is the best movie they've ever seen at giving you the feel for what its like going into the service, and that their own drill instructor was identical to Sgt Hulka. The first half of this movie is just about the funniest comedy ever made. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis are the perfect slobs with shiftless lives who try to maintain what's left of their dignity by enlisting in the Army. Their chemistry is wonderful and they truly are believable as out-of-shape but likable losers. Virtually every line and every character is memorable (Psycho, Ox, Cruiser, that lady in the cab, John Laroquette, and of course Russell and Winger), and this has to be the most quotable movie in history. No, John Candy would not have spoken to a superior officer that way when he gets off the bus (or at least not have gotten away with it), but that's what's so funny about it! And speaking of Sgt. Hulka, Warren Oates should have been given an Oscar nomination for this role. He's the high point of the movie for me, and his intense, over the top performance reminds me of Robert Shaw in "Jaws"- some actors are so good that they can chew scenery and get away with it. So for the first half of the movie, there's not an unfunny moment. Maybe basic training isn't like this, but the scenes are so well-done that a generation of adolescent guys has grown up thinking that it is and have no doubt gone into the military with this movie in the back of their minds. The second half of the movie sort of devolves into a bearable but not great action movie, with its contrived plot about the stolen military RV and the rescue mission across the Czech border. Still, the same characters are present and continue to sustain the movie until the end. Great music, too- I don't think this has ever been issued as a soundtrack but it contains one of the most memorable themes ever written for a movie. The DVD itself is passable- no extras, somewhat grainy video, unspectacular sound. But we surived watching it over and over again on basic cable with plenty of edits and subpar picture quality, so I can't complain too much. I suppose someday it will be given a "Special Edition" with a commentary and a retrospective from the stars, but the movie stands on its own without anything fancy.

Bill's in the army now!:
John Winger(Bill Murray) quits driving taxicabs and enlists in the army with his teacher roommate(Harold Ramis). They experience the typical army life,filled with commanders,guns and best of all,pretty girls. The late John Candy gives great moral support as one of the soldiers. The then-little-known Sean Young is one of the girls whom the guys meet while in the army. One of Murray's most memorable post-Saturday Night Live films. Murray and Ramis later filmed the two GHOSTBUSTERS movies and Ramis directed 1993's GROUNDHOG DAY,starring Murray and Andie MacDowell.

A Really Funny Movie!:
Stripes came out in the movie theaters when I was 16 years old and it is very funny and one of my favorite Bill Murray movies and he and Harold Ramis were both great and this movie is very amusing! I don't have Stripes in my collection yet but I'm going to buy the widescreen DVD and I very highly recommend this hilarious movie!