John Winger (Bill Murray) and his best friend Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) join the Army as a practical joke when they become dissatisfied with their jobs.
The EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle was built from a 1973-1978 GMC Motor Home.
Stripes was made with the full cooperation of the U.S. Army, despite its less-than-rosy view of the all-volunteer armed forces.
According to John Larroquette, he was drunk in many of his scenes.
Murray was reluctant to do Stripes until Director Ivan Reitman enlisted Harold Ramis as co-star. "The fact that he put Harold in it was kind of a cheap shot", Murray said. "If I said no, I said no to Harold, to his screen debut".
In the barracks, the first time Sgt. Hulka meets with his troops, the boom mike is visible.
During the rescue toward the end of the movie, when a rocket is fired from the Urban Assault Vehicle toward a guard tower, a crew member is visible crouching at the left of the scene attempting to conceal himself behind part of a building.
In the training shots, where all the soldiers are covered in mud and running through the field with the music playing, in the wide-screen version, the camera crew is visible on the right for a few seconds.
"Private Benjamin, make way for Private Winger, Columbia, get set for some tall summer grosses...Stripes' consistently rolls along with good humor, solid laughs and a tail-wagging air". Reviewed by: Robert Osborne of The Hollywood Reporter.
"The new Army as frat house & summer camp", adding, "Stripes" is a cheerful, mildly outrageous and mostly amiable comedy...there's little in the way of art or comic subtlety here, but the film really seems to work". Reviewed by: Variety.
