Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

crander-83235 The first act is great, Bill Murray's character is witty but kind of a jerk. The setup for an 80s comedy classic is done well.During the second act I was excited: usually the authority figure in these movies is the bad guy and you're just hoping they get taken down a peg. In this movie the authority figure (the drill sergeant) is 100% in the right and Bill Murray's character is insubordinate, lazy, and irritating. I loved the twist on the formula and I was looking forward to him going through his arc and to learn what it meant to be a good soldier.It never happens.Murray's character becomes more of a jerk, commits multiple crimes, drags the love interest (a career soldier/MP) and his best friend down with him, endangers dozens of people, and is rewarded for helping clean up the mess he made. The end.Maybe time has ruined this movie. Maybe the line between lovable scamp and actual garbage person has moved in the last 37 years. Bill Murray is perfect for these types of characters, but I actively disliked his character by the end of the film.I enjoyed the first 2 acts, so I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 1.

ComedyFan2010 Considering that this movie has great names, is a classic from the happy times, has a fun topic and came out when people made jokes to be funny, not politically correct I thought this movie would be great.And it actually started this way. The beginning, them enlisting and getting to know each other was very funny. But the movie kind of died after the main characters hooked up with the girls. Starting there I was not really interested in the story and barely laughed.Most actors didn't live up to the quality I know them. Not that they were horrible but not outstanding. I just really liked John Candy. He seemed to be so different from the way I always know him but as hilarious as always.

idontneedyourjunk The truly bittiest of bit parts, he appears for about a second as a soldier in a TV ad during the movie.It was originally intended as a Cheech & Chong movie, which wouldve been a lot funnier.As it is, some big comedy names appear here, some for the first time. Harold Ramis (writer of Groundhog Day, Ghostbusters and Stripes. Plays Egon in Ghostbusters) Bill Murray (you all know Bill Murray, right?) Warren Oates (plays the sergeant, most famous for beating Officer Murtaugh's "I'm too old for this sh*t" catchphrase by 6 years) Sean Young (Rachael in Bladerunner) John Candy (Blues Brothers, SNL, Spaceballs, Home Alone, Cool Runnings) John Larroquette (The librarians, night court, boston legal, the 10th kingdom, the John Larroquette show (funnily enough)) Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop) Antone Pagán (another bit part actor, but he gets bit parts in some big movies: enter the dragon, taxi driver, Saturday night fever, the warriors, dirty dancing, fatal attraction, gladiator) A very silly movie and quite possibly the 2nd unfunniest movie I've ever seen bill murray in (the first is the dreadful 'lost in translation')

eric262003 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.