Military based comedies have been around near about as long as movies themselves. Charlie Chaplin put in The Tramp into uniform as a Doughboy in France during the final months of World War I. Many other comedy stars tackled the theme at one time or another, including The Three Stooges in Boobs in Arms.
And the appeal is natural. The military is structured, disciplined and authoritarian -- the very opposite of great comedy. Rebelling against authority is a common theme of lots of great comedy, so the military environment provides a lot of potential material.
Furthermore, the military is set up to fight wars, which are brutal, frightening, destructive and frightening. It needs a good laugh to make the concept bearable.
It can even be argued that comedic movies about the military help the public accept the existence of the military as an instutition. After all, most examples in Hollywood history do not attack the military as an institution. Yes, they make us feel for the bumbling misfits expected to become soldiers during basic training. Yes, they often portray drill sargents as domineering bullies. For all their power, members of the military are just people with limitations, and nobody is more aware of that than soldiers themselves.
It was ordinary, loyal soldiers who coined the word "snafu" (an abbreviation of "Situation Normal - All F*cked Up) and the expression "hurry up and wait."
Most military comedies support the overall goals of the military. Reader's Digest magazine and its many millions of readers saw no contradiction between its conservative outlook and running a regular section, "Humor in Uniform," consisting of real life anecdotes.
And one of the few movies I saw as a small child was Operation Petticoat, about a sailors painting their destroyer pink. My mother was of the World War 2 generation, but saw no inconsistency in laughing at such a film. She did not take us to more exciting war movies.
Stripes starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis is in that tradition, updated for the 1980s. This was a decade when Ronald Reagan as president was openly calling for the downfall of the "Evil Empire" -- the communist Soviet Union -- and nobody believed it possible without a nuclear war. People were talking about how a world-destroying nuclear winter would follow any atomic exchange. Reagan's plans to base Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe had millions of Europeans and Americans demonstrating.
Yet most Americans approved, and they went to movies exalting the military and military action. Stars included Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Sylvester Stallone as Rambo.
So in Stripes Bill Murray is a modern never do well who decides he needs to straighten up and change his life, and the Army can help. So he and his best friend join, and what follows is good comedy based on misfits trying to obey bullying officers despite their natural rebellious instincts.
Despite all the odds, they graduate from Basic Training, and wind up on special duty with an experimental "urban assault vehicle" disguised as an RV, decide to visit their girlfriends, take a wrong tour and wind up in Czechoslovakia.
They wind up returning to the Free World as heroes.
It's not the most credible movie ever made, but Bill Murray was at his peak, and that was always worth watching.
And the appeal is natural. The military is structured, disciplined and authoritarian -- the very opposite of great comedy. Rebelling against authority is a common theme of lots of great comedy, so the military environment provides a lot of potential material.
Furthermore, the military is set up to fight wars, which are brutal, frightening, destructive and frightening. It needs a good laugh to make the concept bearable.
It can even be argued that comedic movies about the military help the public accept the existence of the military as an instutition. After all, most examples in Hollywood history do not attack the military as an institution. Yes, they make us feel for the bumbling misfits expected to become soldiers during basic training. Yes, they often portray drill sargents as domineering bullies. For all their power, members of the military are just people with limitations, and nobody is more aware of that than soldiers themselves.
It was ordinary, loyal soldiers who coined the word "snafu" (an abbreviation of "Situation Normal - All F*cked Up) and the expression "hurry up and wait."
Most military comedies support the overall goals of the military. Reader's Digest magazine and its many millions of readers saw no contradiction between its conservative outlook and running a regular section, "Humor in Uniform," consisting of real life anecdotes.
And one of the few movies I saw as a small child was Operation Petticoat, about a sailors painting their destroyer pink. My mother was of the World War 2 generation, but saw no inconsistency in laughing at such a film. She did not take us to more exciting war movies.
Stripes starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis is in that tradition, updated for the 1980s. This was a decade when Ronald Reagan as president was openly calling for the downfall of the "Evil Empire" -- the communist Soviet Union -- and nobody believed it possible without a nuclear war. People were talking about how a world-destroying nuclear winter would follow any atomic exchange. Reagan's plans to base Pershing II and cruise missiles in Western Europe had millions of Europeans and Americans demonstrating.
Yet most Americans approved, and they went to movies exalting the military and military action. Stars included Tom Cruise in Top Gun and Sylvester Stallone as Rambo.
So in Stripes Bill Murray is a modern never do well who decides he needs to straighten up and change his life, and the Army can help. So he and his best friend join, and what follows is good comedy based on misfits trying to obey bullying officers despite their natural rebellious instincts.
Despite all the odds, they graduate from Basic Training, and wind up on special duty with an experimental "urban assault vehicle" disguised as an RV, decide to visit their girlfriends, take a wrong tour and wind up in Czechoslovakia.
They wind up returning to the Free World as heroes.
It's not the most credible movie ever made, but Bill Murray was at his peak, and that was always worth watching.