2.5/4  Stripes Quick Review
Though it came 1 year after Caddyshack, this feels like a step backwards for Murray, even though he's the star. Not as good as the rest of the Murray cannon, but if you have some time, check it out.

3/4  Stripes Quick Review
Bill Murray + John Candy = hilariousness

3/4  Stripes Quick Review
An early comedy from a lot of big names: Harold Ramis, John Candy, Sean Young, Judge Reinhold, John Diehl and the big gun Bill Murray. It isn't as polished as some later films, but the cast works wonderful together and is fun to watch.

5/5 My all time favorite comedy.
  by Frank Simpson
Stripes is probably one of the funniest comedies I've ever seen. From start to finish, it's got great characters and a great story. Also since it was made during the cold war, that element also adds a lot to it. The great thing about it is that it still holds up well too. I recommend it along with Caddyshack if you're a Bill Murray fan.

5/5 Aaaaaaarmy training, sir! That's a fact, Jack!
  by Jason (Backwater, Alabama)
THE WAR: The Cold War. America was stockpiling weapons in a race against the evil Russians. What we were also doing was training men and women to do battle, to wage war, and to utilize the newest, commie-crushing, soul-stealing technology to make the inevitable win that much easier.

STORY: Two screw-ups, John Winger (Murray) and Russell Ziskey (Ramis), decide to join the Army to get in shape. After run-ins with by-the-book Drill Sergeant Hulka, they begin to question their decision. When an unfortunate accident - a direct result of the bumbling new soldiers - befalls Hulka, it's up to Winger to rally up the men - one of whom is a massive new recruit named Dewey "Ox" Oxberger (Candy) - take initiative, train like no others have trained, and graduate. Inspired by a speech that includes, "We're soldiers; but we're American soldiers. We've been kickin' a#$ for 200 years. We're 10 and 1," the troops are compelled to follow Winger. When assigned to guard the EM-50 urban assault vehicle in Italy after graduation, they eventually link back up with Sgt. Hulka. When the guys decide a cruise to find their ladies (at the time, cute as a button PJ Soles and Sean Young) is in order. Chaos ensues.

PATRIOTISM: I'm all for joining the military. And despite the misguided initial intentions of this movie's protagonists, anyone enlists, becomes a soldier, and battles an enemy, should be looked upon with respect. Those in this movie embody the work-hard, play-hard mantra (in a bizarre way) echoed by the majority of America's Service-members.

FAVORITE BATTLE(S): Amidst sprays of enemy fire, the boys take the EM-50 into Prague, make mince-meat of the enemies, save their fellow soldiers, drive through a Czech outpost with the EM-50, walk away as heroes, and eventually get a welcome home parade.

FAVORITE LINE: The name's Francis Soyer, but everybody calls me Psycho. Any of you guys call me Francis, and I'll kill you. And I don't like nobody touching my stuff. So just keep your meat-hooks off. If I catch any of you guys in my stuff, I'll kill you. Also, I don't like nobody touching me. Now, any of you homos touch me, and I'll kill you.

THE MESSAGE: Soldiers know how to have fun. There's always a collection of great stories when a group of soldiers gather around. But they also know how to take care of business, and when faced with adversity, even the biggest screw-ups in the Armed Services can buckle down, waltz into a Cold War-era Czechoslovakia, and lay the beat down.

5/5 Love this movie
  by D. Vasquez (Bamberg, DE)
Bill Murry at his best. It is even funnier if you are in the military. Great movie.

5/5 good old movies
  by Christina Kowal (nyc, ny)
this is a great family movie. i love to get old tapes at a low price. it gives the younger generation in my family a chance to enjoy some of the older movies at home.

4/5 Like A Masculine Version of Private Benjamin
  by Taheen Lopez (United States- San Diego, CA)
STRIPES was a hilarious movie about a young man(Bill Murray) stuck with a dead-end job and a faltering relationship who decides to make a new start in his life by joining the Army with false expectations by going through hell and back learning the hard way about what military life is all about just like Goldie Hawn did in the movie PRIVATE BENJAMIN, which was made a year prior to STRIPES, since PRIVATE BENJAMIN was released in the movie theatres in 1980 and STRIPES was released in the movies back in 1981.

Therefore, you could say that STRIPES was almost like a carbon copy of the movie PRIVATE BENJAMIN, except STRIPES was a movie about men in the Army with false expectations and PRIVATE BENJAMIN is a movie about women in the Army with false expectations, but John(Bill Murray) ends up making something out of his life at the end of this movie when he graduates from the academy just like Judy Benjamin(Goldie Hawn) did at the end of the movie PRIVATE BENJAMIN when she graduated from the academy.

This STRIPES DVD also contains some interesting and comical outtakes of the movie too along with a theatrical movie trailer feature, which also takes me all the way back to memory lane to the days when I was still living in the Imperial Valley since I was living in my hometown(El Centro, CA) at the time and takes me back to memory lane to when we had all those fiscal budget cuts going on from the recession we had back in 1981-1982 during Ronald Reagans presidency too.

So if you liked PRIVATE BENJAMIN, you'll love STRIPES too since STRIPES was basically like a masculine version of PRIVATE BENJAMIN.