TODAY’S ARMY NEEDS MEN OF COURAGE… HONESTY… INTEGRITY… AMBITION. INSTEAD, THEY GOT JOHN WINGER.
Two friends (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis) join the Army, because why not, becoming part of a platoon of misfits. Ivan Reitman, Murray and Ramis joined forces again after Meatballs (1979) for another popular comedy, this one a predecessor to Police Academy (1984). Irreverent and well cast, but too childish most of the time. The film doesnāt kick into a higher gear until the last third when Murray and the gang go to Italy on a PR mission and end up in a Cold War showdown with the Soviet army in Czechoslovakia!
1981-U.S. 105 min. Color. Directed byĀ Ivan Reitman. Screenplay: Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, Harold Ramis. Music: Elmer Bernstein. Cast: Bill Murray (John Winger), Harold Ramis (Russell Ziskey), Warren Oates (Hulka), P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Candyā¦ John Larroquette, Judge Reinhold, Bill Paxton.
Trivia: Co-produced by Reitman. Alternative version runs 122 min.
