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.

Back in 1981, "Stripes" was a huge hit...one of the biggest grossing films of the year and it was wildly popular. Now, 40 years later, I decided to watch it again and was surprised as I watched. Seen all these decades later, the film really isn't very funny and it has not aged well. Most of the jokes fall flat and as an army film, it makes less sense than you'd expect...especially the painfully unfunny and illogical ending.

When the story begins, John (Bill Murray) is an obnoxious loser. After he loses yet another job, loses his girlfriend and loses his apartment, he has nothing else to lose and decides to join the army. He somehow convinces his friend, Russell (Harold Ramis) to join as well and the pair somehow are assigned to a unit of mostly screw ups and misfits. Yet, inexplicably, despite this, the unit manages to graduate basic training and then they are somehow sent to Europe where they are assigned to a special top secret project.

This film is a lot like combining "Meatballs" with "Porky's". In other words, it's a Bill Murray comedy with ample nudity. This sort of thing was popular back in the day, though now much of the film would be seen as sexist. As for me, it just didn't seem very funny and felt that Murray's character was too obnoxious to be realistic, as he would have likely been court martialed and sent to military prison or be given a dishonorable discharge. To look past this, you really need to turn off your brain and just watch. And, in that sense, it's actually an agreeable time-passer...but nothing more.