Welcome back to Behind The Scenes Saturday!! Today is all about the war comedy, Stripes! Stripes is one of my all-time favorite comedies filled with a hell of a cast and crazy, random antics. So, think twice about giving Uncle Sam your autograph, don’t steal any Winnebagos, and enjoy these fun pictures and bits of trivia!!

(Trivia provided by IMDb.com)

(Pictures provided by google.com and IMDb.com)

(SPOILER ALERT!!!)

• According to the film’s director, Ivan Reitman, Bill Murray (John) was the one who insisted that Harold Ramis (Russell) be cast in the film, and Murray did it for 2 reasons. The first reason is that he and Ramis were long-time friends in real life. The second reason is that Ramis could help Murray re-write any of his dialogue and also help him improvise.
• When the soldiers are all gathered around telling their backstories, practically all of the dialogue was improvised, including John’s random cow stealing story and when he called Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates) a big toe.
• According to Ivan Reitman, the moment when John was putting the Dowager’s (Fran Ryan) luggage in the trunk of his cab, he accidentally hit himself in the crotch. When he said, “Oh, my balls,” it was a completely genuine reaction to hitting himself.

• When the soldiers were getting their heads shaved before basic training, the cast was unaware that real Army barbers would actually be shaving their heads. Their reactions in the film were genuine, and John Candy (Ox) was very upset about having his head shaved.
• To Ivan Reitman’s surprise, the US Army was very helpful and cooperative during filming, considering the script depicted the military as being full of buffoons.
• Columbia Pictures wanted to remove the scene where John and Hulka have a confrontation in the latrine because they felt it was too serious. However, Ivan Reitman convinced them that the scene was important because it established Hulka’s strength and authority.

• There was a scene where John and Russell (high on LSD) snuck on a plane to escape basic training and they end up accidentally on a mission to fight rebels in the Columbian jungle. While the producers felt it was the best scene in the film, Ivan Reitman felt it didn’t exactly fit the tone of the film, so it was cut. It was later included in the film’s extended edition.
• While his character was spying on the girls’ shower, John Larroquette (Stillman) improvised his dialogue. When he said, “Oh, God, I wish I was a loofah!” He had to later explain to Ivan Reitman what a loofah was.
• The “Aunt Jemima Treatment” between John and Stella (P.J. Soles) was improvised by Bill Murray and Soles reacted naturally to it. The scene was also shot at 3 in the morning.

• Throughout filming, John Deihl never broke character as the dim-witted Cruiser. After filming was done, he apologized to Ivan Reitman for “being dumb all the time.”
• After hearing about John Lennon’s death, the cast got drunk for two weeks straight. John Larroquette admitted to being drunk while filming the post-mud-wrestling scolding scene.
• Ivan Reitman came up with the mud wrestling scene at the last minute. He had to talk John Candy through the scene because Candy was very uncomfortable filming it.

• Bill Murray and Sean Young (Louise) did not get along at all on set. Young didn’t like Murray’s method of ad-libbing during scenes. Murray vowed to never work with her again.
• During a scene where Stillman ran through a door, John Larroquette ended up breaking his nose. Heavy makeup had to be applied to his nose for the rest of filming.
• Harold Ramis originally was reluctant to appear in the film and Dennis Quaid auditioned for Russell. However, Bill Murray put his foot down and said he would not do the film if Ramis wasn’t a part of it. Quaid ended up appearing as an extra in the graduation scene.

• During the scene where the soldiers are gathered around and telling their backstories, if you look closely, you can see Sgt. Hulka laughing. Warren Oates had a lot of difficulty getting through the scene without laughing. After many re-shoot attempts, Ivan Reitman gave up and just left it in.
• P.J. Soles wore the exact same uniform she had in this film in Private Benjamin.
• At one point, Ivan Reitman had the soldiers drag Warren Oates through the mud without his knowledge during the obstacle course scene. Oates so upset about this, that he yelled at Reitman, saying, “If I’m going to get pushed in the mud, I’m going to get pushed in the mud! But don’t ever pull that kind of s**t again!” Since then, Reitman never did improvisation in a film again.

• Sean Young was cast based on her looks, because Ivan Reitman felt her sweet demeanor would go well with Harold Ramis.
• Ivan Reitman wanted Joe Flaherty to play one of the border guards. Because of a name mix-up, Joseph X. Flaherty was accidentally cast for the role. Reitman was able to get the Flaherty he wanted for the role and X. Flaherty was given the role of Sgt. Crocker instead.
• Despite playing adversaries, Warren Oates and Bill Murray got along very well on set. Ivan Reitman said that Murray was in awe of Oates.

• When Stella and John have sex in Gen. Barnicke’s (Robert J. Wilke) bedroom, you’ll notice that they’re wearing completely different clothes when they emerge out of the trunk. This is because the scene was actually from when they rendezvoused in Germany. Their get-together in the German Suite was cut from the film and the trunk emergence clip was moved to Barnicke’s house.
• For the latrine confrontation, Bill Murray told Warren Oates to punch him for real because he wanted the moment to be as authentic as possible. Oates obliged and really punched him.
• Kim Basinger was offered the role of Stella, but her agent asked for too much money so she was turned down.

• To prepare for their roles, Bill Murray and P.J. soles attended boot camp for three days. Their original plan was to wake up at 0500 and jog with real soldiers for two weeks.
• Initially, the mortar accident was supposed to kill Sgt. Hulka and his twin brother (also played by Warren Oates) was going to take his place. Luckily, this idea was scrapped before filming.
• Robert J. Wilke had difficulty remembering his lines, and his lines took longer to shoot than the soldiers’ graduation routine.

• After doing push-ups in his apartment, John states, “I gotta get in shape or I’ll be dead before I’m 30.” Funny enough, Bill Murray turned 30 2 months before filming of this movie began.
• Ernie Hudson auditioned for a role in the film, but was turned down. However, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman liked him and wanted to work with him, so they cast him in Ghostbusters.
• Steve Guttenberg was one of the finalists for the role of Ernie, but Judge Reinhold ended up winning it. Reitman was so impressed by Guttenberg, that he offered him the role of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters. However, Guttenberg was still hurt that they chose Reinhold over him so he turned it down in favor of Police Academy.

• Chevy Chase and John Belushi were considered for the role of John. Dan Aykroyd was considered for Russell. Clint Eastwood, Jack Palance, Robert Loggia, Robert Duvall and Harvey Keitel were considered for the role of Sgt. Hulka.
• In the film, Stella was stationed in Germany. In real life, P.J. Soles was born in Germany.
• Ivan Reitman admitted that he was embarrassed by the third act of the film. However, he realized that a film about the Army needed some sort of combat and ended up creating a conflict with Czechoslovakia, where he was born.