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The Rewatchables ·

Stripes

year 1981decade 80sdirector Ivan Reitmangenre Comedygenre War
host Bill Simmonshost Brian Koppelman format 40th Anniversary
All 18 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 25:41

The recruit introductions

Bill Simmons: The first twelve minutes establish John as a likable loser through the shoeshine, parking ticket, cab fare, repossession, upside-down pizza, and breakup.

Bill Simmons: The apartment visit is praised for indoor basketball, the five bishops, and the ease of the central friendship.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:11:10

Wisconsin

Brian Koppelman: The rapid list includes the furs answer, Eisenhower greeting, unusual-underwear speech, acorn speech, officer-material line, and depression line.

The film

Stripes (1981)

Directed by Ivan Reitman · Comedy

106 minutes

IMDb Find on JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes
Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

24:45

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:45Read transcript
  • The stated score is three and a half stars. — Bill Simmons
  • The quoted review calls the film anarchic, irrelevant, reckless, undisciplined, occasionally scatological, and a lot of fun. — Bill Simmons
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37:01

Picking Nits

Haircuts, the Pom Pom raid, EM-50 promotion and design, an impossible basketball throw, and a missing double-date scene

Haircuts, the Pom Pom raid, EM-50 promotion and design, an impossible basketball throw, and a missing double-date scene

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:01Read transcript
  • Bill Murray and Harold Ramis keeping movie-star hair while other recruits receive crew cuts is questioned. — Bill Simmons
  • The reason military police raid the Pom Pom mud-wrestling club remains unclear. — Bill Simmons
  • The late-arriving recruits being promoted to the military-vehicle project is judged implausible. — Bill Simmons
  • The supposedly advanced vehicle looks too much like a minivan or Winnebago. — Brian Koppelman
  • The indoor-basketball throw through the window follows no plausible shot trajectory. — Brian Koppelman
  • One more double-date scene is requested to deepen the four central characters. — Bill Simmons
  • The bag underneath his head is there and then not there, but that continuity issue is explicitly dismissed. — Bill Simmons
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50:20

Casting What-Ifs

The project began as Cheech and Chong joining the Army; Columbia preferred Dennis Quaid to Harold Ramis, and Kim Basi...

The project began as Cheech and Chong joining the Army; Columbia preferred Dennis Quaid to Harold Ramis, and Kim Basinger was offered the role ultimately played by the actress the transcript calls P. J. Souls.

This discussion recalls a choice from an earlier episode.

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:20Read transcript
  • The initial concept was Cheech and Chong joining the Army, but their demand for creative control ended that version. — Bill Simmons
  • The characters were rewritten for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis. — Bill Simmons
  • Columbia preferred Dennis Quaid for Ramis’s role, and participation was made conditional on Ramis remaining in the cast. — Bill Simmons
  • Kim Basinger was offered the role ultimately played by the actress identified in the transcript as P. J. Souls; the offer fell through because Basinger’s agent requested what the panel calls a crazy amount of money. — Bill Simmons
  • The panel thinks Basinger’s star power and appearance would have overwhelmed the ensemble. — Brian Koppelman
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56:31

Recasting Couch

Young Tom Cruise preferred as Francis; Sean Penn another possibility

Young Tom Cruise preferred as Francis; Sean Penn another possibility

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:31Read transcript
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56:50

Half-Assed Internet Research

Army access, Warren Oates’s Wild Bunch stories, on-set injuries, improvised accidents, surprise haircuts, Murray–Youn...

Army access, Warren Oates’s Wild Bunch stories, on-set injuries, improvised accidents, surprise haircuts, Murray–Young friction, and a John Candy fight-night dinner

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:50Read transcript
  • The military reportedly supported the film with Fort Knox access and real troops as extras. — Bill Simmons
  • Warren Oates chipped a tooth when actors dragged him through mud without warning him. — Bill Simmons
  • Warren Oates reportedly entertained the cast with stories about The Wild Bunch and was liked even by Bill Murray. — Bill Simmons
  • The actor whose name is transcribed as Laracette broke his nose running into a door during an unused take and wore makeup afterward. — Bill Simmons
  • Murray’s suitcase blow was accidental and remained in the film. — Bill Simmons
  • Most basic-training haircuts were surprises, producing genuine reactions. — Bill Simmons
  • A disputed story says Murray and Sean Young clashed over improvisation; the panel explicitly marks it uncertain. — Bill Simmons
  • John Candy hosted the cast for homemade spaghetti and the Leonard–Duran no-más fight. — Bill Simmons
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1:06:19

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Should the movie end at graduation? What should replace the rescue? How did attraction to the two military-police cha...

Should the movie end at graduation? What should replace the rescue? How did attraction to the two military-police characters change with age?

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:19Read transcript
  • The main question asks whether the film improves if it ends with the graduation ceremony and drops the military-vehicle rescue. — Bill Simmons
  • The proposal draws a specific objection: the welcome-to-Italy arrival still works, even though the plot from there is judged a disaster. — Brian Koppelman
  • More backstory with the central friends, the two military-police characters, Candy, and another Pom Pom excursion is proposed. — Bill Simmons
  • The woman from the opening finding John attractive again is proposed as another middle sequence. — Brian Koppelman
  • The favorite recruit-introduction scene was reportedly rewritten by the cast in Murray’s trailer, prompting regret that the ending did not receive the same treatment. — Brian Koppelman
  • A bonus question compares adolescent and present-day attraction to Sean Young and the actress the machine transcript calls P. J. Souls. — Brian Koppelman
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