When John and Russell decide to take the EM50 to Germany to pick up their girlfriends, MPs Stella Hansen and Louise Cooper, for a night on the town, the rest of the platoon searches for them because Captain Stillman wants the EM-50 to be put back where it was at. By this time, sergeant Hulka has recovered from his injuries and has rejoined John, Russell, and the other men. After graduation, General Barnicke Assigns Winger, Ziskey, and their platoon to Fort Milano, Italy, to man the EM-50 urban assault vehicle. Hulka is injured by a mortar bomb during basic training, and John has to lead the group in completing their training on their own. After enlisting, John and Russell are sent to Fort Arnold to undergo basic training under tough drill sergeant Hulka. Friendship Synopsis When New York City cab driver John Winger is fired from his job, his car is repossessed, he loses his apartment, and his girlfriend leaves him - all in the same day - John and his best friend Russell Ziskey decide to join the army. It’s impossible to come away from “Stripes” disliking Murray, Ramis or Candy, but the film itself is hard to embrace.Columbia Pictures Genre Comedy | Army. But even the 1-hour, 46-minute theatrical cut must be a lot to sit through when you’re watching a standard boot-camp structure with something funny once every 15 minutes. I’ll add a bonus half-star to my rating to account for the fact that the filmmakers know this version is too long for a first-time viewer it’s for fans. Stoles as Stella here) are truly giggling at Murray’s antics and not merely playing a part. I watched the extended-length version of “Stripes,” which has 16 additional minutes – including Murray doing something he’s weirdly great at, making sex scenes hilarious. (By the way, while the “urban assault vehicle” might be a parody of military actions versus civilians if the film was more recent, it seems to be entirely coincidental in 1981.) The movie is handcuffed from being either funny or serious it’s just a slog. The near-futurist: All 28 Michael Crichton novels, ranked It never shows our heroes actually killing people, because that would change the movie’s tone too much, but at the same time, we’re always aware that it doesn’t show killings. The goofy troop – without a leader because Hulka is sidelined – leaves Italy for Germany in a prototype RV-looking urban assault vehicle and actually engages in machine-gun battles with Russian soldiers. Candy mud-wrestling scantily clad women is naturally amusing, but this sequence – while standing out as something you don’t see in every comedy - lacks focus. Introduce a ridiculous setting and then have talented people improvise their way through it. The mud-wrestling club scene is a good example of the Murray-Ramis-Reitman school of comedy. Stillman’s (John Larroquette) telescope go flying through windows. The film also makes good use of the fragility of glass in cinema, as basketballs and Capt. My favorite gags in “Stripes” are John’s and Russell’s sign-up scene, wherein they say they’ve never been convicted of a crime, and, while they are not homosexuals, they are willing to learn. Compare Oates to Ted Knight’s over-the-top performance as the rich guy in “Caddyshack” for the difference between dramatic acting and comedic acting in a comedy. John does, and Hulka socks him in the stomach, affirming who is boss. Hulka could be a boot-camp instructor in a non-comedy, and that’s a problem here because no scene with him is funny the arc reaches the typical crescendo wherein Hulka taunts John into taking a swing at him. Hulka (Warren Oates, a real-life military veteran) rides the “comedian” John. Once they do, Ramis and co-writers Len Blum and Daniel Goldberg use a standard boot camp structure wherein Sgt. Maybe it gets a pass because it’s so obvious that people like John and Russell and Ox would not join the Army in reality. Made at a time when the citizenry wasn’t particularly high on the Army, coming off Vietnam, “Stripes” views it all as a joke – although it’s still surprising that you rarely hear nationalists call the film blasphemous.
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