Stripes remains one of the strongest entries in the lovable-losers-against-the-establishment comedies, and one of Bill Murray's funniest overall performances.
To hear director Ivan Reitman and co-producer Dan Goldberg tell it, attempting to direct Bill Murray is like trying to train a housecat to do anything other than use a litter box. And the cast interviews for this "Extended Cut" pretty much confirm that Murray is one cool (and wildly eccentric) cat when it comes to improvising on a set. That famous scene where Murray takes out a spatula and starts to slide it under his girlfriend's buttocks? All ad libbed. The scene where Murray introduces himself in the barracks by talking about Lee Harvey and his friends making it with a cow? Ad libbed. No one ever knew what Murray was going to do next.
If you're a Murray or "Stripes" fan, you'll want to upgrade to the "Extended Cut" just for the two-part "Stars and Stripes" making-of feature. Even the enigmatic Murray appears on camera, with his patented is-he-kidding-or-is-he-serious look, granting an interview only in black light while he sips Suntory in Tokyo, where he was filming "Lost in Translation."
I just wish I hadn't drunk all that cough syrup.
Murray was made for the role of John Winger, an anti-establishment, rudderless abuser of his own body who decides to join the Army after losing his job, his girl, his car, and his apartment, all in the same day. Somehow, he talks his best friend Russell Zitsky (Harold Ramis) into joining him. Originally, we learn, the film was conceived as "Cheech and Chong join the Army," but the Latino comics wanted to "own" Reitman, and the director-producer decided to rewrite the parts with Ramis and Murray in mind, thinking Murray would do it if they could get Ramis onboard. Though Ramis wrote the script for "Meatballs" and directed Murray in "Caddyshack," this was his first time in front of the camera playing off of the unpredictable Murray. It was also the first film for John Diehl (who plays the dim-witted Cruiser), the first for Sean Young (who plays Zitsky's love interest), the first for Judge Reinhold (as pothead Elmo), and the first American film for Canadian John Candy.
The Reitman/Goldberg Bar Mitzvah (just kidding—I mean, "commentary," but this whole Murray improv thing is so contagious) takes the rivets off this soon-to-be-star vehicle and lets you see which scenes are almost totally improvised and which ones were altered significantly by the kings of improv, SNL's Murray and Toronto's Second City giant Candy. The big man pretty much adopted Diehl as his comic foil—the one he decided to verbally duel—while Murray took on the rest of the cast. Even the director got into the ad-lib act, jumping into the mud pit at the end of the infamous Candy vs. the Eye Candy bikini mud-wrestling scene. But Reitman went a little overboard when he told his cast to pull a surprise on the one venerable, veteran actor in the film and drag him into the mud during a boot camp training scene. Drill Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates, "The Wild Bunch") ended up breaking a tooth during the stunt, and Oates' tirade against the director was so memorable that the cast members can recite it word for word nearly 25 years later. Want proof? Watch the making-of feature, where each one contributes a different line from the tongue-lashing he gave Reitman, in tandem.
That's the kind of stuff you get on the "Extended Cut," and it's reason enough for fans to buy this DVD. The other major reasons for upgrading—the High Definition remastered print and the 18 minutes of deleted scenes added to the original cut—are a mixed bag (more on that later), but a classic film here.
. . . a lean, Mean, FIGHTING MACHING!
Make that, "One of those beer commercial guy films," according to P. J. Soles, who plays Murray's girlfriend, Stella. And you know, she hit it right on the head. There are "chick flicks" and there are guy films, and this one is definitely a guy film. "Stripes" came out a year after "Private Benjamin," and the guy version of that boot camp booty call seemed to be, "Ask not what the Army can do to you, ask what you can do to the Army." Whether it's Capt. Stillman (John Larroquette) playing with toy tanks in his office and spying with binoculars on women in the showers ("I wish I was a loofah" was one of Larroquette's ad libs, after which Reitman yelled "CUT" and "What the hell's a loofah?"), that topless mud-wrestling scene, the taking of Czechoslovakia with a fortified Winnebago, or the language ("Chicks dig me because I don't wear underwear"), this is real guy stuff.
But there are plenty of comedic moments that will set both genders rocking with laughter. "Stripes" is full of classic scenes and quotable lines. The split title sequence with Ramis teaching English as a second language is hilarious ("Do any of you know any English?" "Son of beach. Sheet"), but even funnier is Murray's cab routine, which screenwriter Ramis said was based on an incident that actually happened to him while he was driving a taxi. The premise—underdog losers versus the establishment (and somehow coming out on top)—may be formulaic, but Murray, Ramis, Candy and the rest are so fun to watch that they really elevate the film.
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