Les bleus

Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis. Those guys were a sure guarantee for some good laughs during the eighties and nineties. And this is one of the funniest films they made.

The good: Bill Murray and John Candy.

The bad: the story is ridiculous and the first hour of this movie is good (basic military training), but the second hour of this movie starts to get a bit longwinding. 2 hours for comedy is a bit too much. Still an enjoyable watch, BUT only for the first hour or so...

Highly recommended for any youngsters who dont yet know Bill Murray and John Candy. Have a laugh!

After a terrible day when the taxi driver John Winger (Bill Murray) loses his job, his car and finally is dumped by his girlfriend Anita (Roberta Leighton), he convinces his best friend Russell (Harold Ramis) to join the army to travel and have fun. They team-up with a platoon of outcast and misfits, and John has problems with their tough Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates). John and Russell get into successive troubles, but they are always rescued by the Military Police Officers Stella (P.J. Soles) and Louise (Sean Young).

Near the graduation, the clumsy and imbecile Captain Stillman (John Larroquette) provokes an accident and Sergeant Hulka is wounded; however, John uses his leadership and the general is impressed with the platoon and assigns the group to go to Italy with the prototype of an armored car. John and Russell are responsible to take care of the prototype, but they date Stella and Louise. Meanwhile Captain Stillman believes that they have stolen the vehicle and crosses the Iron Curtain with Hulka's platoon and they are captured by the communist. Sergeant Hulka escapes and releases a distress signal and John, Russell, Stella and Louise decide to help to rescue their friends from Czechoslovakia.

"Stripes" is a silly and funny comedy, but what else could I expect from a cast with the names of Bill Murray, John Candy, John Larroquette and the other comedians. The extended cut is long and most of the jokes are "politically incorrect" or sexists, but also hilarious. This is the first time that I see this 1981 comedy on DVD and I laughed a lot. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Recrutas da Pesada" ("Rough Recruiters")

John Winger (Bill Murray) quits his cab driving job and loses his girlfriend. In addition, he loses his car and his home. His best friend Russell (Harold Ramis) is tired of teaching ESL. John convinces Russell to join the army with him. There they meet fellow recruit Ox (John Candy). Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates) shapes them up and they're led by the sleazy incompetent Capt. Stillman (John Larroquette). The fact that John and Russell keep getting into trouble means that they continuously encounter MPs Stella (PJ Soles) and Louise (Sean Young).

Director Ivan Reitman brings the gang together for a bit of fun. Bill Murray is his sarcastic self. Harold Ramis is a competent sidekick. The best fun was had by John Candy who gets to mud wrestle a whole bevel of beauties. Although not the group's best collaboration, this is still very funny especially if you like Bill Murray's antics.

Having just reviewed the first three movies that was co-written by Harold Ramis, not to mention the first three of his that also starred at least one SNL cast member-former or present at the time-we're now at his fourth of both categories and also his first in which he also appears. As with the previous two-Meatballs and Caddyshack-Stripes also stars Bill Murray. Also, as with Meatballs, Ramis' co-writers here are Len Blum and Dan Goldberg with Ivan Reitman once again directing. They make a good team here, Murray and Ramis, as they end up joining the Army mainly because of the former's bad luck in his last two hours as a civilian. Among the people they encounter in basic training: Judge Reinhold and John Candy who was familiar with both Bill and Harold since they all worked for Second City during the '70s while Candy and Ramis were on SCTV together as well. Anyway, they have a tough sergeant in Warren Oates who provides at least one serious scene with Murray when he tells him what he really thinks of him. But there's also John Larroquette as a bumbling captain who's threatened with Artic duty if he doesn't shape up. Oh, and besides Ramis and Candy, other Second City/SCTV members in this movie include Dave Thomas as a mud wrestling host and Joe Flaherty as a Russian guard. And finally, Ramis and Murray fall for a couple of female MP's played by Sean Young and P. J. Soles, respectively. Okay, with all that out of the way, I'll just say that I found Stripes hilarious up to the graduation and not as much after that but still pretty entertaining. Now, despite that earlier confrontation scene between Murray and Oates, one doesn't really expect too much learning about Army life on the former's part but part of me did feel he genuinely respected the sergeant and vice versa at the end. One more thing, while you can no longer be asked if you're a homosexual when applying for the military because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", I still found it hilarious hearing Bill and Harold's replies. Okay, so on that note, I definitely recommend Stripes. And, remember, "There she was just a-walkin' down the street singing "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy Dumb Diddy Doo..." P.S. Larroquette is a native of New Orleans which is a two-hour drive from my current hometown of Baton Rouge, La. And his assistant is played by John Volstad who is best known as one of the Darryls on "Newhart" and unlike there, he has lines here which was interesting to hear. Update 7/2/10: I've just seen the extended version with 18 minutes of cut footage. There's a funny scene of Bill and Harold ending up in another country when they go AWOL. There's also a sexily funny one of them with P.J. and Sean in Germany. Those I wished had stayed. The others I'm glad they cut.

He quit his job and lost his girlfriend. before Lost in Translation and Broken Flowers, he was just a wacky pain-in-the-ass recruit that gave Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates) nightmares. When it comes to comedy Bill Murray is a winner hands down.

Add in John Candy; John Larroquette as the peeping Capt. Stillman; Judge Reinhold; Harold Ramis; the quick peep at Roberta Leighton; and the hot Lois Hamilton and you have a military comedy of errors that will keep you in stitches.

Of course there is a lot of beautiful scenery in this film in the showers and in the mud pit.