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Stripes (Director's Cut)
The second collaboration between zany Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman was the 1981 comedy Stripes which does provide some laughs, but hasn't aged very well.
Murray plays John Ringer, a restless schlub who has lost his job, his car, his apartment, and his girlfriend. Lured by a couple of commercials glamorizing the life, John decides the solution to changing his life is to join the army. He also manages to talk his best friend Russell Ziskie (the late Harold Ramis) into joining as well. Commencing basic training, Ringer immediately finds himself in a battle of wills with his drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka (the late Warren Oates).
This was not my first viewing of this film, but despite Bill Murray consistently bringing the funny as he always does, this film wasn't nearly as funny as I recalled. The film actually starts off extremely funny, but gets less and less funny as it moves along, not to mention a definite lack of realism. If you're looking for a realistic yet funny look at life in the military, you would be better to check out MASH or even Private Benjamin because this film really doesn't contain anything approaching the neighborhood of credibility.
The beginning scenes establishing the character of John Ringer are actually the funniest part of the movie. Once John and Russell actually get to the army, the laughs begin to decrease, though the scene where the recruits are sitting around introducing each other is pretty funny. On the other hand, this is where the strongest part of the film kicks in: the comic conflict between Ringer and Sergeant Hulka, a character brilliantly brought to life by Warren Oates. This is the strongest part of the movie and if the screenplay had concentrated more on this relationship, this film could have been right up there with another Murray/Reitman collaboration called Ghostbusters, but the story abandons Hulka at the halfway point and concentrates on turning this group of losers into credible soldiers, but we never really buy it.
This was my first viewing of what I believe was the director's cut, since there were three or four scenes that I had never seen before, including a somewhat funny parachuting out of a plane that found Murray and Ramis confronting some South American soldiers and another scene in a hotel in Germany that seemed to be inserted as a way to get leading lady PJ Soles out of her clothes.
Murray is comic gold, as always, and works well with Ramis, who is never blown off the screen by Murray even though Ramis seems to spend a lot of screen time trying to keep a straight face with Murray. The only other real laughs come from John Larroquette as Captain Stillman, who, a few years later would rack up five Emmys for playing Dan Fielding on the NBC sitcom Night Court. Murray is always worth watching, but this one isn't as funny as I remember.
The second collaboration between zany Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman was the 1981 comedy Stripes which does provide some laughs, but hasn't aged very well.
Murray plays John Ringer, a restless schlub who has lost his job, his car, his apartment, and his girlfriend. Lured by a couple of commercials glamorizing the life, John decides the solution to changing his life is to join the army. He also manages to talk his best friend Russell Ziskie (the late Harold Ramis) into joining as well. Commencing basic training, Ringer immediately finds himself in a battle of wills with his drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka (the late Warren Oates).
This was not my first viewing of this film, but despite Bill Murray consistently bringing the funny as he always does, this film wasn't nearly as funny as I recalled. The film actually starts off extremely funny, but gets less and less funny as it moves along, not to mention a definite lack of realism. If you're looking for a realistic yet funny look at life in the military, you would be better to check out MASH or even Private Benjamin because this film really doesn't contain anything approaching the neighborhood of credibility.
The beginning scenes establishing the character of John Ringer are actually the funniest part of the movie. Once John and Russell actually get to the army, the laughs begin to decrease, though the scene where the recruits are sitting around introducing each other is pretty funny. On the other hand, this is where the strongest part of the film kicks in: the comic conflict between Ringer and Sergeant Hulka, a character brilliantly brought to life by Warren Oates. This is the strongest part of the movie and if the screenplay had concentrated more on this relationship, this film could have been right up there with another Murray/Reitman collaboration called Ghostbusters, but the story abandons Hulka at the halfway point and concentrates on turning this group of losers into credible soldiers, but we never really buy it.
This was my first viewing of what I believe was the director's cut, since there were three or four scenes that I had never seen before, including a somewhat funny parachuting out of a plane that found Murray and Ramis confronting some South American soldiers and another scene in a hotel in Germany that seemed to be inserted as a way to get leading lady PJ Soles out of her clothes.
Murray is comic gold, as always, and works well with Ramis, who is never blown off the screen by Murray even though Ramis seems to spend a lot of screen time trying to keep a straight face with Murray. The only other real laughs come from John Larroquette as Captain Stillman, who, a few years later would rack up five Emmys for playing Dan Fielding on the NBC sitcom Night Court. Murray is always worth watching, but this one isn't as funny as I remember.