Stripes

John Winger, a cab driver who loses his job, his car and his girlfriend in one day, signs up for the army and takes his teacher friend Russell with him. After basic training their platoon is put on guard duty over a secret vehicle in Italy. They steal it to visit girlfriends in West Germany and accidentally cross into Czechoslovakia. Ivan Reitman directed. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis star, with early roles for John Candy, Judge Reinhold and Bill Paxton. The project was originally conceived for Cheech and Chong and rewritten for Murray and Ramis. Shooting ran 42 days between November 1980 and January 1981, mostly at Fort Knox in Kentucky. On a budget of 9 to 10 million dollars it grossed 85.3 million domestically. The reviews got stuck on the second half. Roger Ebert praised it as an anarchic slob movie; Gary Arnold wrote that it squanders at least an hour belabouring situations. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 67 percent and Metacritic at 68. It was reissued for its fortieth anniversary in 2021 with special introductions by Murray and Reitman. Who it is for: viewers who like loose eighties American comedy and early Murray. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the second half to hold the pace. Once it reaches Europe it becomes a different and weaker film.