Stripes: Still Funny After All These Years

There are certain movies that stand out in my mind as some of the funniest ever made. It doesn't matter whether they are old or new. These are movies that you just have to chuckle when you watch them. One of my all time favorites is the movie Stripes.
Stripes stars Bill Murray and an ensemble cast, including John Candy and Eliot Gould. The film is filled with memorable scenes. When Candy explains to another soldier why that other soldier has to always make his bed ("Because that's what they do in Italy. The guy on the bottom makes the guy on the top bunk's bed. Now if we were in Africa, I would be making your bed.") Who can forget the "graduation" scene when Murray leads his rag tag band on a hip hop version of the military parade "Have you men completed your training?" "That's the Fact, Jack!"
Yet Stripes is more than just a group of zany guys trying to get through a stint in the Army. The movies reveals that guys like these, the unsung heroes of the world, are the true patriots. They are the ones willing to sacrifice life and limb for country (and maybe a pizza). So yes, the high tech truck that Murray takes for a joy ride is a bit much, but maybe the head writer was sick that day.
Anyway, it may no longer be the Cold War, but if it's cold outside, go rent Stripes and it will warm your heart. Not quite a romantic comedy, but not really a war movie either. It's just something in between.
And anyone want to tell me what the hand mixer was used for should send me an e-mail.

The Last Action Hero: A Class By Itself

Most of my fellow critics panned the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, the Last Action Hero. However, with all due respect, I think they are completely wrong. Not only was this a cleverly written and expertly directed film, but it is actually one of my favorite films. So how come so many people don't like it? Maybe they just don't understand it.

The movie is a spoof of action movies. To truly appreciate it, you have to be a fan of action movies. More so, you have to be a fan yet sensible enough to realize how absurd most action movies are. Some people just don't like all the violence. Others, buy into the plots as if they could be real. But the true connoisseur of action movies says "O.K., I know how far fetched the plot is, but I am willing to go along just to see some cool stunts and let myself forget reality for a few hours. When I pick up on the absurdities, I will just chuckle, it's part of the fun."

For example, in one scene of the movie, Arnold opens his closet to get a jacket. Inside the closet, neatly hanging up in rows, are several leather jackets, black t-shirts, and jeans. On the floor, again neatly lined up, are several pairs of combat boots. The knowledgeable viewer sees and chuckles because we realize how silly it is that in all the regular action movies, the hero wears the same outfit! That's what is great about the film. It has plenty of action, but doesn't take itself too seriously.

My favorite scene is still the opening commercial for Arnold in a production of Hamlet. Hamlet is all about how a young man who is not prone to action is forced into battle. Yet in the short spoof, the movie has Hamlet geared up as an action hero. The tag line "Nobody says Good-Night to this Sweet Prince" is pure genius. Yet to really "get" it, one must know both Hamlet and action movies intimately.

Just What Happens in Total Recall

One of the classic science fiction movie thrillers of all times is the Arnold Schwarzanegger classic Total Recall. What makes the movie so intellectually stimulating is that we are never really sure what has happened. Here's what i mean:

The movie begins many years in the future. A tired and demoralized construction worker sees an ad for "vacation memories." For a small fee, a company will implant memories of an exciting vacation. He agrees and picks an adventure vacation from the list offerred.

Plot Option #1: As soon as they implant the memory, he is involved in an action packed plot where he ends up saving the planet. Yet, the whole movie is just his fake memory. After the movie ends, he is still the tired construction worker.

Plot Option #2: As soon as they implant the memory, something goes wrong and he realizes that he is not a tired construction worker, but a courageous leader of freedom fighrers that had had his memory wiped out. He proceeds to go through an action packed plot where he ends up saving the planet.

They key thing is either plot could be true. We don't know and will never know. That's why this is a film that should be watched a few times. There are a few clues scattered throughout the movie that hint which plot is the true plot. Yet not enough that there is an accepted throey of just what takes place. As Bill Murray said in the movie "Tootsie": "I don't want people to come and see my play and tell me how great it was. I want people to come see my play and say, 'Hey, what was that about?'"