DVD Review: Stripes (Extended Cut)

By Adnan Tezer Jun 14, 2005, 0:51 GMT

That being said, it´s about time Columbia Pictures released a special edition of the classic 80´s comedy Stripes.  Digitally remastered with a widescreen transfer, this is the definitive version  that Stripes fans have been waiting for. There is also a one hour documentary, commentary by director Ivan Reitman and co-writer Dan Goldberg, and 6 deleted scenes totaling 18 minutes of footage including the much rumored about South American AWOL scene. Much props to Columbia for including both the theatrical and extended version on the DVD. This allows you to watch either the version released in 1981 or the movie with the restored scenes included the way Reitman would have placed them in the film. More often than not, deleted scenes are included in a separate section rather than in an expanded edition of the film.  Each of the restored parts has an alert at the bottom of the screen to indicate the beginning and end.

Made for $10 million and shot over 41 days, Stripes went on to gross over $85 million in its initial 1981 release, and established Bill Murray as a comic genius  and Ivan Reitman as a top director. The two had previously collaborated on the first Meatballs (1979) and would team a few years later for a smaller, lesser known film called Ghostbusters. Stripes also featured a stellar supporting cast including Harold Ramis, who also co-wrote, the legendary Sam Peckinpah regular Warren Oates, John Candy, in his first American picture, and introduced newcomers Judge Reinhold (pre Fast Times and Billy Rosewood  days), John Diehl (pre Chief Ben Gilroy days to all of you Shield fans out there), John Larroquette (pre Night Court days), and Sean Young (pre psycho, I´m gonna go around on talk shows dressed as Catwoman and stalk James Woods after we make The Boost days.) Incidentally, her next film would be the one that I, along with many others, have been awating to arrive in a much rumored about and long-delayed 2 disc special edition DVD , much like a coke-head anxiously awaits that first line to reinvigorate his senses.  Blade Runner, anyone? But I digress.

For those of you who haven´t seen Stripes, shame on you and here´s the setup.  Sometime photographer and full-time Tito Puente fan John Winger(Murray) loses his job, car, apartment, and girlfriend within a few hours one morning. Upon watching an ad for the army, he realizes that his life needs discipline. So, he convinces his best friend Russell Ziskey(Harold Ramis) to enlist with him. Their new platoon includes such rejects as the plump Ox(John Candy), dim Cruiser(John Diehl), stoner Elmo(Judge Reinhold), psycho Francis(Conrad Dunn), drill Sgt. Hulka(Warren Oates), and the inept and impatient Capt. Stillman (Larroquette.) There are also two lovely MPs (PJ Soles and Sean Young) that provide Murray and Ramis with female companionship. After nearly making it through basic training, Sgt. Hulka is injured and it´s left up to the platoon to prepare themselves for graduation. In one of the film’s many classic moments, they impress the brass at graduation so much in fact, that they are handpicked to unveil the army´s new weapon; the EM-50 ¨Urban Assault Vehicle.¨ Naturally John and Russell figure it won´t hurt if they ¨borrow¨ the EM-50 to drive to Germany in order to pick up their girlfriends, and consequently put their platoon in jeopardy.<!--page-->

Originally conceived as and written for , in Reitman´s words,¨Cheech and Chong go to the army¨  , Stripes is one of those comedies where you can´t picture anyone else playing the protagonist. Like his fellow Saturday Night Live bretheren in their elite roles, Steve Martin (The Jerk), John Belushi (Animal House, Blues Brothers), Chevy Chase(National Lampoon´s Vacation,Fletch), Bill Murray makes John Winger all his own and puts him alongside his best characters ever including Carl Spackler(Caddyshack), Dr. Peter Venkman(Ghostbusters), Ernie McCracken(Kingpin), and Herman Blume (Rushmore.) His brazen, carefree everyman-ness quality is on full display. The classic scenes that most remember, the platoon introductions, the graduation ceremony dance etc, still retain their original humor and have aged well. The rest of the cast perfectly complements Murray and as Reitman and Goldberg profess in the documentary and commentary, it was the right people at the right time. The documentary, while featuring very little of a jet-lagged, sake sipping Bill Murray on the set of Lost in Translation, does go in-depth and covers how the project was conceived to its legacy among the cast,crew, and fans. Given Murray´s peculiar and mercurial off-screen behavior, it´s a wonder he agreed to be a part of it at all.. There are heartfelt memories from the cast and crew of the late John Candy and Warren Oates, as well as personal anecdotes from each cast member.  No surprises here when it´s revealed that there was constant improvising on the set among the cast. The comedy here was and still seems unscripted and wheels off. It’s the kind of magic that can’t be scripted.

The commentary between Reitman and Goldberg is occassionally enlightening and self-effacing as the two recall with astonishment how the Army and Department of Defense not only signed off on the script but cooperated with the filmmakers allowing them to shoot on location at Fort Knox in Kentucky, how casual female nudity in films(an 80´s staple, always enjoyable) is a thing of the past, and how Murray was not fond of showing up to rehearsals or on time to the set. One also can assume that this commentary and documentary had been in the works for some years as they make mention of ¨20 years ago¨ and you can tell Murray was filming Lost In Translation when his bits for the documentary were filmed. One wonders if Sofia Coppola shot his documentary parts during their off-time.

The deleted scenes are amusing to a point but one can see why, timing wise, they were left out. An excised sex scene with Soles and Murray and a longer version of Murray explaining to Ramis in the beginning about the benefits of joining the army are amusing. The standout, however, is the 7 minute scene that involves Murray and an acid-laden Ramis going AWOL by way of a paratrooper mission in South America. Before they end up back at bootcamp, they encounter guerilla fighters and smoke one of the biggest joints ever to grace my small silver screen. Honestly, this is some of the funniest material in the film but would have been completely out of place had it been originally included, as it seems to be some of the old Cheech and Chong material left over from an earlier draft. Reitman himself admits that the scene was the studio´s favorite scene but that it seemed to slow the film down and it would have stuck out uncomfortably. This is precisely why DVD´s are one of the greatest cinematic tools ever created. These types of excised scenes can be included for all to see, even if they did not belong in the finished product.

A special smirk-inducing bonus for die hard Stripes fans inside the DVD case is a build your own EM-50 insert. I defy anyone to actually put it together, but I don´t think that was the intent of including it.

All in all, this should be the first and only version of Stripes one would need to buy, unless of course Columbia decides to take more of our money and release a 25´th Anniversary edition in 2006 or Criterion does their own speical edition which is doubtful..  While definitely an improvement over the standard DVD edition previously available, there are still some grainy shots and awkward cuts. However, for 24 years of age, it still looks better than it ever has. It´s affordably priced, under 15 dollars at most stores and Amazon.com, and well-worth the money. As a special edition DVD that actually gives the viewer what he wants, in terms of extras and commentary, Stripes gets:

Four out of five stars.

The DVD is available via Amazon or on import via Amazon UK.

You can view a summary of special features in our database.