The Laughter Makes Up For The Silly Plot

Rating: 7/10 (26 July 2015)

To me I feel that "Stripes" reminds me a lot like the classic Army comedy "Private Benjamin" with Bill Murray taking the place of Goldie Hawn with only a few distinctive differences. Hawn didn't really know very much about the Army or the many regiments and training you have to go through to make it in the Army. While Bill Murray's Pvt. John Winger seems to know a lot about the Army protocols and the many ways he could outsmart and outwit his superiors. To me, his sardonic humour is played quite effectively and might be one of the reasons why this movie is really good.
Back in 1981, Illinois native Bill Murray was pretty much in his third year gracing the silver screen with witty charm, cynical humour and manipulative tactics to outsmart practically anyone crossing his path. After donning his craft on sketch comedies like "Saturday Night Live" and the Canadian equivalent "SCTV", Murray has churned up a string full of off-the-wall comedies like "Meatballs", 'Caddieshack" and "Stripes' being his third one shows that his flair for slapstick comedy is just a natural thing for him. Why spoil a good thing? Right?
The opening scenes features Winger who after a few hours loses his job as a cab driver, his girlfriend dumps him and a basketball ricochets through his window. Feeling like there's nowhere to turn to, he enlists in the Army. He also tries to persuade his brilliant friend Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) who's an English teacher to foreign students. The duo collaborates and writes their own set of Army protocols much to the chagrin of the hard-nosed Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates who hasn't acted in while due to poor health).
Murray seems to be permanently liberal in points of view towards the people surrounding him, both superior and inferior to him. He's not afraid to speak his mind out about you, even if it's not very flattering. When Hulka get shot, Winger arbitrarily steps up to the plate and commands the other recruits and these are where the funny bits of the movie comes to effect.
Unfortunately, like "Private Benjamin", "Stripes" gets lost out of focus near the middle of the film. In "Private Benjamin", the film lost its charm once the feminist message comes across while they were in Europe. In "Stripes" the film gets bogged down one he goes on a mission in Europe. If they would've stuck to the slapstick elements it was intended for, the movie would've been much better.
Winger's initiative was to operate on the very first mechanized armoured vehicle, before it gets underway, Winger and Ziskey hijack the RV and goes behind the Iron Curtain and they become lustful towards two female MP's (Sean Young and P.J. Soles). If the focus was on these four characters, it would have worked out in the long run. Instead it concentrates on the ridiculous mud wrestling scenes and the RV hijacking. The final product becomes deplorably infantile and takes away the intrigue that both Murray and Ramis carry throughout the film as likable obnoxious characters. I liked it when Pvt. Winger verbally lashes down at the recruits and belittles their background upbringings.
The late John Candy a long-time alum from "SCTV" fame comes here on his own as Pvt. Dewey Oxberger and he's more than just a friendly heavy- set guy, he's an ally of Winger's and his comedic wit is equally effective and rivals nice with Murray's.