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Stripes

Stripes

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whose idea was this?
Review: Hey, we're having a surprise party! What a wonderful and wacky film. Bill Murray is the funniest man alive. That's a fact, Jack!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: 1 Word
Review: All i have to say is one word again.... MONO????

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great movie, very poor DVD quality.
Review: Please read other reviews for analysis of the movie, these comments pertain to the DVD version. This is an uncut, uncensored version and is not the same as the video rental. This is not pointed out anywhere on the box. With a great movie such as Stripes, more might be considered better. Voyeurs may appreciate the increased nudity on display. However, the inclusion of shots that did not go through the finishing process continually disrupts the suspension of disbelief. Grainy close-ups alternate with pin-sharp group shots. Look for the glaring continuity errors as Bill Murray goes AWOL. How does something this sloppy get released on DVD? I expect a 'Collectors Edition' will be released to an unsuspecting public that cleans up the mistakes evident in this version. Not the first time movie fans have been forced to buy multiple copies of the same thing!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of Murray's Best
Review: In one of his funniest comedies, Bill Murray takes on the U.S. Army, and without question, with guys like this on the front lines, we can all sleep a little easier at night. "Stripes," directed by Ivan Reitman, is the story of John Winger (Murray), who in one day loses his girl, his job, his car and his apartment. So what's a guy to do after that, but join the Army? But he doesn't go alone, oh no-- he also talks his best friend, Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) into joining with him. And just like that they find themselves at boot camp, face to face with one of the most formidable Drill Instructors every to grace the silver screen, Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates), and surrounded by as motley a group of raw recruits as anyone could imagine. Among them, there's Dewey Oxburger (John Candy), known as "Ox," who plans to emerge from boot camp a "lean, mean fighting machine"; and "Cruiser (John Diehl)," who joined up to beat the draft (Hulka: "Son, there isn't a draft, anymore." Cruiser: "There was one?"); and Francis Soyer (George Jenesky), known as "Psycho" ("Call me Francis, and I'll kill you. Touch my stuff, and I'll kill you. Touch me...and I'll kill you." Hulka: "Lighten up, Francis...").

The pressure is on for Hulka and his men, when Colonel Glass (Lance LeGault) informs Captain Stillman (John Larroquette) that the "General" is looking for a squad of crack new recruits to man a special project, and Hulka's boys have been chosen. The project involves a secret weapon, an "urban assault" vehicle, that is to be unveiled on their base in Germany shortly. But first, Hulka has to get his troops through basic, which will be a minor miracle in itself, even though Winger goes "Out on a limb," and offers to be their leader. And things proceed just as badly as you would expect, not only on the obstacle course, but off, when Winger and Ziskey get mixed up with a couple of female M.Ps., Stella (P.J. Soles) and Louise (Sean Young), and Ox gets coerced (by Winger, of course) into taking part in a female mud-wrestling event at a local night spot.

Along the way, Reitman sets up the situations for some serious laughs, and keeps it all on track with a good pace and excellent timing. Murray is terrific as Winger, with a performance that puts a generous helping of "dry" in the expression "dry humor." He plays it all so straight, so serious, from his quips and one liners (watching a TV promo for the Army, "This looks pretty good--"), to his full blown inspirational speech to the troops on the night before their final test at basic training ("We're all very different people. We're not Spartans, we're not Watusi, we're Americans, with a capital 'A.' That means our forefathers were thrown out of every decent country in the world--"), that it makes it all the more hilarious. He never tries to be "funny," or fish for laughs, which is really what makes this movie work so well. Murray is perhaps the best in the business at playing this kind of humor and putting it across (Ben Stiller would be a close second).

Harold Ramis and John Candy also make invaluable contributions that make this one fly. Watch Ramis, reacting to what Candy is saying as "Ox," as explains why he joined the Army; it makes what Ox is saying twice as funny. And Ox, talking about what a "shy guy" he is, and how "You may have noticed, I have this weight problem--" And Oates, as well, gives a singular performance that makes Hulka a real person, beyond the typical stereotype of the hard-nosed D.I. His portrayal, taken out of context, is one that would stand up even in more serious fare, like Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket."

The supporting cast includes Judge Reinhold (Elmo), John Voldstad (Stillman's Aide), Roberta Leighton (Anita), Antone Pagan (Hector), Fran Ryan (Dowager in Cab), Dave Thomas (M.C.) and William Lucking (Recruiter). From beginning to end, "Stripes" is a fun-filled laugh riot that's filled with memorable scenes and a plethora of lines you'll be quoting forever. This is one you can watch over and over again, with a bunch of characters you're never going to forget. Winger and Ziskey, Ox, Psycho, Cruiser. These are the guys who Demi Moore, as Galloway in "A Few Good Men," could have been talking about when, in response to the question of why she likes these guys so much, replies, "Because they stand on a wall, and they say nothing is going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch..." It kind of makes you think. Or, as Cruiser might say, "Yeah... About what?"

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is one of Murray's best!!!!!
Review: This is a great comedy! I love this movie. I first saw it on Comedy Central. It's about friends who enroll in the army. And are hilarious! Rent this, you'll love it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dont take this movie so seriously
Review: This not meant to be pro or anti war or military or anything else except funny. Some of the viewers get so wrapped up in their own lives that they cant see a movie without attaching some significance to it, even when it isnt there. I was in the military, too, but this is a comedy, pure and simple. It doesnt need a complex plot, especially with Bill Murray. He is at his comic best, goofy looks and all. And he is surrounded by a great supporting cast. This movie is hilarious and thats how I rate comedies. Just enjoy the laughs and detach yourself from this movie and you will do fine.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I memorized that song half way through the movie!
Review: This movie really overusues that beatles song. It has almost no plot, yet I watched about 10 times over the course of 4 years

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good, but
Review: Stripes has a lot of laughs, but the trouble is that most of them are in the first half. As with most service comedies that start out in basic training and then move into the field, the humor here is largely left in the barracks. Plus, I saw this when it first came out, just a few years after the end of the Vietnam war, and it was the first pro-military comedy I'd seen. For Murray, the ultimate anti-hero persona, to star in it was almost shocking.

Still, the laughs are there, if you can get around the child-mentality mud wrestling and shower-binocular scenes.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not a single laugh
Review: This movie has not stood the test of time. I had the misfortune of watching it recently and there's not a single laugh to be had. Also, if you believe the two ugly douchebags (especially Ramis) get the hot MP girls to love them...yeah right. Its interesting to see the mentality of this time: "were gonna be so clever and outsmart the military, and hilarious antics are going to ensue." Watching this movie is about as funny as a jimmy carter speech and is about as depressing when you deconstruct what its saying. There's something slightly grotesque about movies that mock the military. I couldn't help but imagine Bill Murray's character being shipped off to a real war, freezing in a foxhole and having one of his limbs blown off by a landmine. Ive never been in the military, and Im not a hawk, but there is something ugly about the subtext here.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: ARMY FLICK FOR ALL TIME
Review: Basic Training? With Bill Murray, you do it the fun way. Two gents, John Winger (Murray) and Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) enter the army to escape their dead-end lives and failed romances. But in beginning their new careers, they meet hardnose Drill SGT. Hulka (Warren Oates) who inflicts the army mantra: the army way. No problem. Winger (Murray) has got it covered--sort of. ALSO: P.J. Soles ( Stella ), Sean Young ( Louise ), John Candy (Ox--the lean, mean, fighting machine), and John Larroquette ( Captain Stillman--in charge via the "Peter Principle")


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