DVD Pick of the Week, 11-19-05

Stripes is longer, but still the same

In 1970, American moviegoers were bombarded with the military anarchy trinity of Catch-22, M*A*S*H, and Kelly's Heroes. All three movies mixed humor with violence, laughs with drama, and bloodshed with boobs (both figuratively and literally.) During the Vietnam War, these types of movies were almost expected in a retaliation to the silly John Wayne movie The Green Berets. War might be heroic, but people die and it is being fought by people who have different agendas, such as gold and sex rather than glory. It is no surprise that both M*A*S*H and Kelly's Heroes starred Donald Sutherland, who worked with Jane Fonda with FTA (Fuck The Army,) a military protest performance.
Ten years later, Ronald Reagan was elected with the help of the moral majority and the Teamsters union, both of which hide their real agendas behind a patriotic love of America. For some, it seemed like the turbelent times were over. Not so. After the success of National Lampoon's Animal House, Meatballs, and Caddyshack, Ivan Reitman (director) and Harold Ramis (co-writer) decided to enlist with the help of Bill Murray and John Candy.
The result was Stripes, quite possible the most loved anti-military movie of all times. How loved is it? Military people love it.
Two years earlier, Steven Spielberg had a miss with his World War II comedy 1941, which also starred John Candy. Making fun of Pearl Harbor might not have been what people had wanted. Making fun of the stoic routine of the U.S. Army could make anyone laugh.
Bill Murray and Harold Ramis play John Winger and Russell Ziskey respectively, two late 20's/early 30's men who work jobs badly. They decide to join the U.S. Army, not as a last resort, but as something to do in the meantime until something better comes along. They end up being put in the platoon that includes a psycho who calls himself Psycho, a drughead (Judge Reinhold,) an idiot (John Diehl) and a lean, mean fighting machine named Ox (John Candy.) Their drill sergeant is named Hulka, (the late Warren Oates) a man who's seen better days and must answer to the pompous Captain Stillman (John Larroquette) a beaucrat who wants a better assignment that what he's got. An actor like Oates is needed in this type of role. He's not a comedian. He was also in 1941 and his performance was not funny. He's an actor. He's not supposed to make us laugh intentionally.
From the beginning John and Russell are breaking all the rules. One extended scene is a extraneous but funny scene in which they accidentally hitch a ride with paratroopers into Central America, where they are abducted by and later party with freedom fighters. This is the longest of the six deleted scenes in the DVD. It's obvious why director Reitman probably cut this scene. It's totally stalls the pace of the movie. But like Hawkeye and Trapper John's trip to Japan in M*A*S*H, it shows how anarchist they are.
John, Russell, Ox and company make it through basic training, just barely. Ox is nearly strangled on a ropes course at one point and again by Hulka after a mortar shell mishap. Psycho takes too much of an advantage of his M-16 rifle by shooting ducts and stabbing a dummy repeatedly with his bayonet. When faced with failing basic training, Murray gives a speech that says Americans have been kicked out of every other country. Murray delivers this speech with the same wit and laid-back attitude he is famous for. By doing a routine at graduation that no real military base commander would appreciate, they graduate. They then head on to West Germany on a secret assignment to guard a RV that is actually the newest thing in armored tank warfare. In no time, John and Russell have stolen the RV, picked up their military police girlfriends (P.J. Soles and Sean Young) and travel around Europe.
Stripes was a box-office hit and made, Candy, Ramis, Reinhold and Larroquette familiar names in the 1980's. Also, the scene where Ox mud wrestles with four women in a bar is totally classic. SCTV fans will recognize Dave Thomas as the emcee. Another SCTV alum, Joe Flaherty pops up as an Czechoslovakian border guard.
Another extended scene shoes what Murray and Soles did after they played around with their kitchen utensils in the military base commander's house, nonetheless. Halloween fans who thinks Soles breasts weren't shown enough in that movie will enjoy this DVD. That's right, a whole new scene is devoted (pardon the pun) solely to Sole's breasts.
Regardless of the deleted scenes, it's still the same movie even with 18 more minutes. The scenes are really extraneous. There's an extended scene early in the movie of Winger and Zisky in the apartment talking about joining the military. This scene makes Winger out to be a man who wants to get his life on track.
Winger isn't that type of person. He doesn't use the military as a means to grow up. When he pops up in his military uniform with sunglasses on and a drink in hand, you know that a dishonorable discharge would have been in the near future in real life.
This was Murray's fourth movie and fourth role as a man who doesn't follow the rules. If anything else, it is a testament of where the military was headed in the 1980's, after enlistment dropped after Vietnam. Like in Buffalo Soldiers, the soldiers in Stripes hope and pray they don't have to go to war. When faced in gunbattle with Czechoslovakin soldiers, Candy and Co. have a tense two second Mexican standoff and then casually surrended their weapons.
Stripes was different from other military movies. It started out as a comedy and remained a comedy until the end. When they go into battle, no one dies. Guns are shot, but no one gets shot.
Fans of Stripes will probably be the ones who will want to check out this DVD, even though captions announcing the new scenes pop up. This was probably added for newcomers. But fans for the past twenty-five years will be more than interested in watching this movie.
You will want to check it out.