That's the fact, Jack!
"We're all very, very different, but there is one thing that we all have in common: we were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army!"
— John Winger
A 1981 military comedy directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Bill Murray. Also in the cast are Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P. J. Soles, Sean Young, John Candy, and John Larroquette.
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. 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.
While John and Russell are guarding it, they decide to "borrow" it and go for a joyride to see their girlfriends in Germany. The rest of their squad comes after them, thinking that they're communist spies, but they take a wrong turn and get captured by the Soviets in Czechoslovakia. Winger and Russell come back to save their squad. When they come back to the states, somehow they all end up getting medals.
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. Elmer Bernstein composed the score.
This movie provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Sgt. Hulka can't help but let out a few guffaws at Winger's smart-assed "Big Toe" speech before promising to come back at 0500 to put that Big Toe where the sun don't shine.
- All or Nothing: After spending the entire basic training screwing up, John leads the platoon in a rifle demonstration in front of the commanding general. Either they are going to jail, or impress the general so much he selects them for his "special project" in Italy. Guess which happens?
- Analogy Backfire: Winger talking Ziskey into helping him rescue the rest of the squad:Winger: C'mon, it's Czechoslovakia. We zip in, we pick 'em up, we zip right out again. We're not going to Moscow. It's Czechoslovakia. It's like going into Wisconsin.
Ziskey: Well I got the shit kicked out of me in Wisconsin once! Forget it! - As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The Czech soldiers "speak" in vaguely Russian-sounding grunts.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: After Hulka gets injured from the stray mortar round, 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.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The EM-50 "Urban Assault Vehicle". (It's basically an armed GMC Motor Home, GM's classic — but failed — attempt to compete with Winnebago.)Stillman: My truck! Where's my fucking truck?!
- Ax-Crazy: Francis 'Psycho' Soyer, who threatens to kill his squadmates if they touch him or his stuff, or call him anything other than Psycho. When the drill practice session the night before graduation devolves into a fight, he holds his obviously-fake practice rifle like he intends to shoot somebody.
- Bad Boss: Captain Stillman shows what happens when the Pointy-Haired Boss is given responsibility for a company of soldiers.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: In the extended cut, John and Russell talk their way into going AWOL with a platoon flying into South America by claiming that they're "double-double top secret" officers.
- Butt-Monkey: The movie's loaded with them, but special mention has to go to the two Russian guards at the Czech checkpoint. They couldn't buy a break with all the vodka in Russia. Finally, completely fed up, they have this exchange:Guard One: I hate tourist season!Guard Two: Such a truck would be good for picking up girls in Minsk...
- Casual Car Giveaway: When John and Russell arrive at the Army recruiting center, they park in front of a Morguelan Walsh storefront:Shopkeeper: Hey, this is a loading zone! You can't park here!Russell: We're not parking it, we're abandoning it.
- Cool Old Guy: Hulka, who despite his demeanor is A Father to His Men, going as a One-Man Army to rescue his men (though he has help.)
- Deadpan Snarker: The usual suspects in an Ivan Reitman movie, but Warren Oates' Hulka can stand toe to toe with even Bill Murray's Winger.
- Deranged Taxi Driver: Winger pretends to be one when a Grande Dame customer annoys him. This begins the series of hilarious disasters that ends in...
- Differing Priorities Breakup: ... Anita wants to be an adult. Winger doesn't.
- Disproportionate Retribution: OK, John, you hate your job and you're mad at your customer, but did you have to turn your taxi into a roadblock on a four-lane highway bridge?!?
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Sergeant Hulka: "You don't say "sir" to me, I'm a sergeant, I work for a living."
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sergeant Hulka, though, befitting an Ivan Reitman comedy, he's more the dry and sarcastic type than a furiously aggressive type such as R. Lee Ermey. In fact, he's one of the few characters in the entire film who has much in the way of common sense.
- Eagleland: Most of the main characters are distinctly Type 2 (as Winger puts it, America got started because they got kicked out of every decent country), but still trying to be Type 1. Played for Laughs.
- Embarrassing First Name: "Anyone calls me Francis, and I kill you."Sergeant Hulka Lighten up, Francis.
- Expy: Francis 'Psycho' Soyer is fairly obviously based on Travis Bickle.
- Fair Cop: Stella and Louise as a pair of female Military Policemen.
- Fanservice Extra: The women that Capt. Stillman spies on; all the girls at the topless mud wrestling bar.
- A Father to His Men: Sergeant Hulka.
- Foil: In terms of comedy duos, Russell is this for Winger, in a Red Oni, Blue Oni 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.
- For the film as a whole, Warren Oates served the same purpose, being the seasoned and experienced actor tying together the cast of zany comedians.
- Foreshadowing: "WHERE'S MY TRUCK?" The third act involves John and Russell stealing an armored, militarized GMC Motor Home.
- General Failure: Captain Stillman
- "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: Even though John and Russell borrowed the EM-50 on their own accord, they get heralded as heroes coming home since they demonstrated its effectiveness against the Soviets.
- Averted with Stillman, whose rank incompetence allowed them to do it in the first place.
- The Ghost: 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 by Captain Stillman himself.)
- Grand Theft Prototype: Played for Laughs. The film's third act revolves around John and Russell stealing the U.S. Military's latest experimental undercover APC, the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle, for a joyride to Germany so they can see their Love Interests, then raising hell in Czechoslovakia to save their captured friends.
- Grenade Hot Potato: Stillman accidentally arms one, then hands it off to his long-suffering corporal to dispose of. We hear it explode, but the corporal is shown alive and in good health later.
- Glory Hound: Stillman.
- Groin Attack: Stella pulls off a lot of those during the rescue mission.
- Hate Sink: Captain Stillman; in addition to all his astonishing achievements listed throughout this page, he's insufferably arrogant, not nearly as bright as he thinks he is, a perv who spies on female enlisted personnel, and revealed as a panicked, gutless wonder at the end.
- Hello Again, Officer: John and Russell run into Stella and Louise everywhere they go, combining this with Ship Tease.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: John and Russell, which makes Russell's quip that they're not gay but willing to try if the Army wants them to even funnier.
- Ignored Expert: Hulka during Stillman's mission to retrieve the EM-50. Hulka gets so irritated he bails out before they're captured by the Czechs.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: Captain Stillman manages to go above and beyond by invoking this trope with a mortar, nearly wiping out a platoon when he forces enlisted men who are just learning the weapon to fire blindly — and into the obstacle course where Sergeant Hulka's men are training.
- Improperly Placed Firearms: "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. This is because it was filmed the height of the Cold War and Soviet equipment wasn't readily available.
- Incoming!: Sgt. Hulka when Capt. Stillman's carelessness on the range results in the platoon coming under fire.
- Indy Ploy: John's plan to rescue the platoon.Russell: Do the words "act of war" mean anything to you?John: I have a plan...Russell: Oh, great, Custer had a plan, too.
- Insistent Terminology: Col. Glass ask LT Stillman if he (Stillman) knows what the EM-50 project is. Stillman mutters, "It's a tank, or something." Glass responds, "It's an Urban Assault Vehicle." Later, the boys find out it's a modified RV.
- Jerkass: Winger. Most of the platoon (initially) hates him for his failed attempts at playing smart with Hulka.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sgt. Hulka. Sure, he's your average loud and rough army sergeant, but he's willing to go to great lengths to protect his men.
- Let's See YOU Do Better!: After Sgt. Hulka berates the platoon for their failure to complete the rope climb, Winger asks Hulka to do it himself. Hulka smugly takes the rope and climbs up to the platform with ease. Unfortunately, the platform is then hit by a stray mortar, causing Hulka to fall to the ground and injure himself.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Stella and Louise, the two female MPs, remove their helmets and let their hair down shortly before they end up spending the night with John and Russell in the General's house. Note that they hadn't decided on this course of action yet when they let their hair down.
- Luck-Based Search Technique: Russell discovers the EM-50's armaments this way.
- Mildly Military: The whole platoon, with the sole exception of Sergeant Hulka — though Francis actually wants to be a lot more — not better, but more (see below).
- Misfit Mobilization Moment: When Winger gives his rousing speech to his platoon.
- Naughty Birdwatching: Cpt. Stillman does this.
- The Neidermeyer: Captain Stillman.
- Never My Fault: After the Soviets capture them, Stillman blames the platoon for the entire predicament they're in.
- In the extended cut, after Hulka gets injured by Stillman blindly shooting a mortar, Stillman blames it on another drill sergeant to the main platoon, with Winger not-so-subtly calling him out on it.
- New Meat: Most of the platoon.
- Not So Above It All: At the end of the film, when Winger and Sgt. Hulka arrive home as heroes, Sgt. Hulka offers his hand to Winger to shake, only to do the old "pull the hand away and salute" trick, to which Winger chuckles. (After all, Sgt. Hulka did tell Winger he had a great sense of humor)
- Oh, Crap!:
- Sgt Hulka, when Captain Stillman forces a soldier to fire an errantly aimed mortar: "Oh, shit... INCOMING!"
- Not to mention the Red in the tower, when he sees the rocket launcher come out of the top of the EM-50, pointed at him.
- Old Soldier: Sergeant Hulka; the Where Are They Now closer shows he's retired to open a Hulkaburger restaurant.
- One-Man Army: Sergeant Hulka proves himself this, or close to it, during the rescue mission.
- Only Sane Man: Again, Hulka. The fact he's the only character played seriously makes his character stand out in this regard even more.
- Out-of-Genre Experience: 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 considerably more old-school approach versus John's wild antics).
- "Open!" Says Me: Double Subverted. John and Russell try to rescue their captured unit from a cell by blowing up the locked door with a bomb, which fails. Then John Candy's character Ox (who's inside the cell among the prisoners) decides to run screaming at the door, and smashes it open.
- Actually, Ox was charging at the whining Stillman, 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.
- The Peeping Tom: Captain Stillman engages in Naughty Birdwatching from his office, peeping into the female showers. When a high-ranking officer surprises him, Stillman is so startled that he accidentally drops the telescope through the closed window.
- Physical Fitness Punishment: Sgt. Hulka orders the men to go on a five mile run. Winger mouths off to him in protest, so he responds by having the men go on a ten mile run instead.
- A Training Montage during basic keeps cutting to Winger doing push-ups in the rain. We're to assume his rampant smart-assery is what has him out doing them repeatedly.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Our plucky heroes.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Sgt. Hulka. He genuinely cares for his subordinates.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Hulka gives one to Winger during basic training.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Captain Stillman gets sent to Nome, Alaska at the end... just in time for a "record cold spell."
- Re-Cut: The "Extended Cut" DVD offers two ways to watch the film — as it was shown in theaters, and with 18 minutes of deleted scenes added back in.
- Refuge in Audacity:
- 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.
- Winger, Russell, Stella, and Louise are able to capture the Czechoslovakian guards at the border by pretending to be a group of obnoxious American tourists who've gotten lost on their way to Austria.
- Rousing Speech: Winger gathers up the platoon as they pull an all-nighter to prepare for the graduation marching presentation, and gives them an inverted "The Reason You Suck" Speech.The speech!
- Running Gag: Hulka making Winger do push-ups.
- The Slacker: John Winger, full stop (it is an early Bill Murray role, after all). Ziskey also, to a much lesser extent.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Nearly every interaction between Winger and Sgt. Hulka consists of the former being a smartass and the latter giving it right back to him.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Francis really wants to be one.
- Sound Off: A hilarious version, where the platoon uses the song "Doo Wah Diddy" as a jody callnote . 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
actually using this song as a jody now, because of the use in this film and how surprisingly well it worked.) - Stating the Simple Solution: When John and Russell "borrow" the EM-50 to meet up with their girlfriends in Germany, Captain Stillman erroneously assumes they're attempting to steal it for the Soviets. Sergeant Hulka suggests that if that's the case, instead of sending a single squad of green troops after them, they should deploy some of the crack soldiers and air recon forces that have been stationed near the border since the start of The Cold War to find it and bring it back. Stillman vehemently declines since he doesn't want his superiors to know the EM-50 went missing on his watch.
- Tanks, but No Tanks: The movie presents us with a scene set behind the Iron Curtain, 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.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Psycho during bayonet training. He knocks the dummy off the frame supporting it and stabs it over and over again while cursing furiously.
- Those Two Guys: Stella and Louise have repeated run-ins with Winger and Zisky, often commenting on their antics before eventually joining in later in the film.
- Trojan Prisoner: John gets the gang into the Soviet base by acting as a soldier that captured the EM-50.
- Two Girls to a Team: Again, Stella and Louise, although they're also technically Heroes Of Another Story as they're not actually part of the team, just in a romance subplot with two of the guys who are.
- Uncle Sam Wants You: See poster above.
- Unreveal Angle: We don't get to see exactly what John is doing to Stella with the ice cream scooper.
- Wacky Wayside Tribe: In the extended cut, John and Russell try to desert during Basic, and somehow end up parachuting into somewhere in South America, before running into a group of rebels, accidentally dumping a bunch of LSD into their stew, almost getting killed, and sneaking off before getting put back on the plane and sent back to Basic.
- Weaponized Car: EM-50 "Urban Assault Vehicle" — essentially a cruise-missile armed camper!Stillman: Where's my fucking truck?!
- Weapons Understudies: While in the Czech Red Army outpost, we see a "Russian" tank that is clearly a US built M48/M60 series tank with a few visual mods tacked on.
- Weight Woe: Ox reveals to the others that he joined the Army solely because he was hoping the training program would help him lose weight.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Standard for an Ivan Reitman film. Represented by humorous magazine covers: Hulka opens a burger chain, Stella is a Penthouse covergirl, Louise and Russell are interviewed by the fictional magazines Road Life and Guts, Ox becomes a teen heartthrob, and John graces the cover of a news magazine that asks "The New Army: Can America Survive?"
- Oh yeah, and a small news blurb about Stillman getting assigned to a snowbound doom.
- Written by the Winners: Inverted. The Czech newspaper portrays the two border guards who'd failed to stop an American infiltration in a story titled "Local Boys Repel Yankee Horde".
