History Film / Stripes

* SoundOff: A hilarious version, where the platoon uses the song "Doo Wah Diddy" as a jody call. ironically, it works rather well; Not only the right rhythm to it, it even has a call-and-response section... (Reportedly, some armed forces units are ''[[{{Defictionalization}} actually using this song as a jody now]]'', because of the use in this film and how surprisingly well it worked.)

* AskAStupidQuestion: After Hulka gets injured from the stray mortar, Ox asks him "Sergeant, does this mean we're through for the day?". Hulka immediately starts strangling Ox. Made even funnier by the honking sound Hulka makes as an answer before strangling him.

* HateSink: Captain Stillman.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Captain Stillman manages to go above and beyond by invoking this trope with a mortar, nearly wiping out Sergeant Hulka's platoon with a blindly fired mortar.

* {{Jerkass}}: Winger. Most of the platoon (initially) hated him for his failed attempts at playing smart with Hulka.

* MildlyMilitary: The whole platoon, with the sole exception of Sergeant Hulka.

* OldSoldier: Sergeant Hulka.
* OneManArmy: The DrillSergeantNasty Sergeant Hulka turns out to be this.
* OnlySaneMan: Hulka. The fact he's the only character played seriously makes his character stand out.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Sgt. Hulka. He ''genuinely'' cares of his subordinates.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: [[spoiler:Captain Stillman gets sent to Nome, Alaska at the end.]]

The movie was well-liked by critics, with an 88% fresh rating on Website/RottenTomatoes. It was also fairly successful financially, grossing $85 million domestically on a $10 million budget.

The movie was well-liked by critics, with an 88% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also fairly successful financially, grossing $85 million domestically on a $10 million budget.

A 1981 military comedy directed by Creator/IvanReitman, starring Creator/BillMurray and Creator/HaroldRamis. Also in the cast are Creator/WarrenOates, P.J. Soles, Creator/SeanYoung, and Creator/JohnCandy.

John Winger (Murray) is a slacker who convinces his friend Russell Ziskey (Ramis) to join the U.S. Army with him. The two of them have a miserable time in basic training, but eventually their drill instructor, Sgt. Lee Hulka (Oates), gets injured in a training exercise and they have to finish the training on their own. The night before graduation day they stay up all night, show up late for the parade, and put on one hell of a show for the generals. In the end, they are assigned to guard the new EM-50 urban assault vehicle in Italy.

John Winger (Murray) is a slacker who convinces his friend Russell Ziskey (Ramis) to join the U.S. Army with him. The two of them have a miserable time in basic training, but eventually their drill sergeant Lee Hulka (Oates) gets injured in a training exercise and they have to finish the training on their own. The night before graduation day they stay up all night, show up late for the parade, and put on one hell of a show for the generals. In the end, they are assigned to guard the new EM-50 urban assault vehicle in Italy.

John Winger (Murray) is a slacker who convinces his friend Russell Ziskey (Ramis) to join the U.S. Army. The two of them have a miserable time in basic training, but eventually their drill sergeant Lee Hulka (Oates) gets injured in a training exercise and they have to finish the training on their own. The night before graduation day they stay up all night, show up late for the parade, and put on one hell of a show for the generals. In the end, they are assigned to guard the new EM-50 urban assault vehicle in Italy.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/StripesMoviePoster_8363.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:That's the fact, Jack!]]

A 1981 military comedy directed by Creator/IvanReitman, starring Creator/BillMurray and Creator/HaroldRamis. Also in the cast are Warren Oates, P.J. Soles, Creator/SeanYoung, and Creator/JohnCandy.

* [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassigned to Nome, Alaska]]: [[spoiler:Captain Stillman at the end.]]

-->'''Russell:''' Oh, great, [[SoWasX Custer had a plan, too].

* RefugeInAudacity: Our heroes show up late to their graduation, but put on a performance which impresses everybody, even General Barnicke, who refers to them as "go-getters" and assigns them to the top secret EM-50 project.

* ShaggySearchTechnique: Russell discovers the EM-50's armaments this way.

The movie was well-liked by critics, with an 88% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also fairly successful financially, grossing $85 million in North America on a $10 million budget.

* {{Foil}}: In terms of comedy duos, Russel is this for Winger, in a RedOniBlueOni arrangement. For the platoon as a whole, we have Sergeant Hulka, the island of common sense in a sea of insanity keeping the platoon in line and on mission despite their incompetent commander.

* {{Foil}}: In terms of comedy duos, Russel is this for Winger, in a RedOniBlueOni arrangement. For the platoon as a whole, we have Sergeant Hulka, the [[OnlySaneMan island of common sense in a sea of insanity]] keeping the platoon in line and on mission despite their incompetent commander.
** For the film as a whole, Warren Oates served the same purpose, being the [[OldSoldier seasoned and experienced actor]] tying together the cast of zany comedians.

* TheGhost: Sergeant Crocker, training the other platoon in Captain Stillman's company during Basic, is never seen, referred to a number of times, and in the extended cut, is given the blame by Captain Stillman for the mortar mishap that put Hulka in the hospital (which, of course, was caused [[BadBoss by Captain Stillman himself.]])

* HelloAgainOfficer: John and Russell run into [[FairCop Stella and Louise]] everywhere they go, combining this with ShipTease.

* ImproperlyPlacedFirearms: "Soviet" troops carry a motley collection of dressed up MAC-10s, Uzis, and Finnish Valmet assault rifles in lieu of anything that they would normally use-- excusable in this case, given that the movie was filmed at the height of the Cold War.

* OhCrap: Sgt Hulka, when Captain Stillman forces a soldier to [[TooDumbToLive fire an errantly aimed mortar]]: "Oh, ''shit''... INCOMING!"
** Not to mention the Red in the tower, when he [[MuggingTheMonster sees the rocket launcher come out of the top of the EM-50, pointed at]] ''[[MuggingTheMonster him]]''.

* OutOfGenreExperience: Hulka's heart to heart with John (where he gives John an invitation to take a swing at him, then floors John with a single punch to the gut) is a bit out of place in a slapstick comedy. Ivan Reitman kept the scene in the movie because he felt it was important to establish Sgt Hulka's authority and physical strength over the men (as well as his [[DeliberateValuesDissonance considerably more old-school]] approach versus John's wild antics).

** Actually, Ox was charging at the whining Stillman, [[NeverMyFault who was blaming them for the predicament they were now in]], but who had the good sense to get out of the way of a charging 300-lb avalanche.

* AFatherToHisMen: Sergeant Hulka.

A 1981 military comedy directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Creator/BillMurray and Creator/HaroldRamis. Also in the cast are Warren Oates, P.J. Soles, Creator/SeanYoung, and Creator/JohnCandy.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Sergeant Hulka, though, befitting an Ivan Reitman comedy, he's more the dry and sarcastic type then a furiously aggressive type such as Creator/RLeeErmey. In fact, he's one of the few characters in the entire film who has much in the way of common sense.

* AskAStupidQuestion: After Hulka gets injured from the stray mortar, Ox asks him "Sergeant, does this mean we're through for the day?". Hulka immediately starts strangling Ox.

** Oh yeah, [[spoiler:and a small news blurb about Stillman getting assigned to a snowbound doom.]]

* TheGhost: Sergeant Crocker, training the other platoon in Captain Stillman's company during Basic, is never seen, referred to a number of times, and in the extended cut, is given the blame by Captain Stillman for the mortar mishap that put Hulka in the hospital (the mishap which, of course, was caused [[BadBoss by Captain Stillman himself.]]

* {{Foil}}: In terms of comedy dueos, Russel is this for Winger, in a RedOniBlueOni arrangement. For the platoon as a whole, we have Sergeant Hulka, the [[OnlySaneMan island of common sense in a sea of insanity]] keeping the platoon in line and on mission despite their incompetent commander.

* TanksButNoTanks: The movie presents us with a scene set behind the IronCurtain, in which a "Russian" tank menaces some of the heroes. It is clearly an M48/M60 series tank with a few visual mods tacked on.