In Stripes, a military comedy film released in 1981, the main character, John Winger (Bill Murray), loses his job, his car, his apartment, and his girlfriend, all within a few hours. Believing his life is a failure, he decides to join the United States Army. Not wanting to go alone, he ropes his friend Russell Ziskey into embarking on this adventure with him.
The two set off for basic training at Fort Arnold. Throughout training, John's good humor, and occasional questioning of authority, lead him to stand out from the other recruits (not in a good way). He and the other recruits manage to scrape by through most of their training leading up to graduation. Although, only a little before graduation, the group's drill sergeant becomes injured, leaving them in the hands of the inept commanding officer, Captain Stillman. With no one to lead them, it becomes unclear whether the group will actually be able to graduate into the military.
The night before the graduation ceremony, John gives the group a motivational speech and convinces his fellow trainees to spend the night drilling in preparation for graduation. The next morning, they sleep in and almost miss the graduation ceremony. But, they manage to deliver a coordinated, if untraditional, drill display that (surprisingly) wows the General. The General allows them to graduate and decides to deploy them to Italy.
In Italy, their assignment is to guard an assault vehicle, but John and Russell get bored with their duty and decide to take the vehicle to go visit their girlfriends (from basic training) who are stationed in West Germany. When Stillman realizes that the vehicle is missing, he leads the remaining platoon members on a search. The platoon accidentally ends up in Czechoslovakia where they are captured. John and Russel hear of the capture and realize they must go find their friends. John, Russell, and their girlfriends must save the platoon by infiltrating a Russian base.
This extremely hilarious movie makes light of what was a tension-filled time in American history. During the time the movie was released, the Cold War was souring US-Soviet relationships and many people still remembered World War II. While the movie wasn't strictly anti-war, it in many ways, reflected the anti-establishment feelings of the time. John Winger's character continues to question military authority throughout the film, showing the skeptical attitude of the 1980s youth. While it makes for some funny conversations, the sentiment beneath the humor resonates with this generation.
Now, for some of my favorite quotes:
Army Recruiter: Have you ever been convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor? That's robbery, rape, car theft, that sort of thing.
John: Convicted? No.
Russell: Never convicted.
Russell: I've always been kind of a pacifist. When I was a kid, my father told me, "Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it." I don't know what kind of soldier I'm gonna make, but I want you guys to know that if we ever get into really heavy combat... I'll be right behind you guys. Every step of the way.
John: We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts! ...We're all very, very different, but there is one thing that we all have in common: we were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army. We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us - we're soldiers. But we're American soldiers! We've been kicking [butt] for 200 years! We're ten and one! Now we don't have to worry about whether or not we practiced. We don't have to worry about whether Captain Stillman wants to have us hung. All we have to do is to be the great American fighting soldier that is inside each one of us. Now do what I do, and say what I say. And make me proud.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
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