Was Almost Titled "Stoners"...

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2016)

This film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Cheech & Chong. Even a nine-minute sequence was filmed in which "John and Russell" characters take LSD and accidentally end up on a mission to fight rebels in the Colombian jungle. Columbia Pictures thought it was the best scene in the film but Ivan Reitman deleted it because he felt that it did not fit the film's tone. Plus Murray & Ramis are no Cheech & Chong and the drug humor would have been more appropriate with Cheech & Chong. And according to the DVD special features, Ivan Reitman has also stated that the reason this fell through was because their manager insisted (without the pair's knowledge) on a 25% share of Reitman's next five films, which he wasn't willing to give up or do. The script was then rewritten for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and most of the "stoner" humor was shifted to the "Elmo" character played by Judge Reinhold.
Part of a mini-cycle of Hollywood movies made during the early 1980s centering around military cadet training. The pictures include: Private Benjamin (1980), Up the Academy (1980), Taps (1981), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Lords of Discipline (1983), Heartbreak Ridge (1986) and Full Metal Jacket (1987), Biloxi Blues (1988)and Cadence (1990).
I truly believe this film influenced An Officer and a Gentleman in many respects. The story of two "loser" friends in basic training, the two woman they fall in love with, the rebel cadet versus the tough sergeant. All there. While Stripes is stupid/silly comedy, Officer is way more serious. And while Murray and Ramis are friends before they join, Gere and Keith becomes buddies once they meet inside. Soles and Young in Stripes are M.P's, Winger and Blount are local girls trying to snag an officer. Plus I also see Hollywood knew a good thing when they saw it because Stripes made unexpected millions , so Hollywood had Taylor Hackford make a real serious "Stripes" per say and make money. The gamble paid off big time as Officer and a Gentleman was the blockbuster that summer of 1982.
It also must of had a major influence at least in one scene to Stanley Kubrick as he used the same situation scene in the latrine in his own military film , Full Metal Jacket (1987) According to Ivan Reitman in the DVD Commentary, Columbia Pictures wanted to cut out the scene where Sgt. Hulka and John Winger have a confrontation in the latrine. They felt the scene was 'too serious'. But Reitman insisted that it be left in to truly establish Sgt. Hulka's strength and authority. Kubrick used that same situation but to a more deadlier effect.
I also want to say that what while it was great to see Murray and Ramis with director Reitman, pre-Ghostbusters, it would have been awesome to have had Dan Aykroyd in there also. He could have easily done the John Larroquette role or the John Diehl one. and to some extent the John Candy role. maybe Aykroyd was busy filming with Spielberg his Indiana Jones cameo, or just didn't ,understandably, want to play third banana to Murray and Ramis. Either way Larroquette, Diehl and especially Candy did a great job in their respective roles. I like that Candy even invoked Curly of the Three Stooges in the mud wrestling scene, doing the same mannerisms of Curly Howard when Curly would get upset and mad.