• Friday, June 26, 1981

• Country:

  USA

• Language:

  English

• Runtime:

  126 min

1981

When New York City cab driver John Winger is fired from his job, his car is repossessed, he loses his apartment, and his girlfriend leaves him -- all in the same day -- John and his best friend Russell Ziskey decide to join the army. After enlisting, John and Russell are sent to Fort Arnold to undergo basic training under tough drill sergeant Hulka.

Hulka is injured by a mortar bomb during basic training, and John has to lead the group in completing their training on their own. After graduation, General Barnicke Assigns Winger, Ziskey, and their platoon to Fort Milano, Italy, to man the EM-50 urban assault vehicle. By this time, sergeant Hulka has recovered from his injuries and has rejoined John, Russell, and the other men.

 When John and Russell decide to take the EM50 to Germany to pick up their girlfriends, MPs Stella Hansen and Louise Cooper, for a night on the town, the rest of the platoon searches for them because Captain Stillman wants the EM-50 to be put back where it was at. While searching for the EM-50, Stillman and the unit are captured by hostile Russian troops, who take them into Czechoslovakia. Now John, Russell, Stella, and Louise must venture into Czechoslovakia and rescue the guys.

Goofs

• Continuity: The white van behind John's taxi disappears when an aerial view of the taxi is shown.
• Continuity: John's taxi suddenly gains and loses a dent.
• Continuity: The money on John's chest after the pushups.
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Sgt. Hulka first meets Capt. Stillman, at first Hulka fails to salute the officer. Then after the glare given by Stillman, Hulka raises and lowers his salute without waiting for Stillman's salute. The correct custom and courtesy on saluting is that the enlisted or lower officer rank raises their salute and holds it until the higher rank completes the raise and lower of their salute. Then the junior rank may lower theirs.
• Continuity: Position of John's pack and cap when he's stopped from going AWOL by Russell.
• Continuity: In the strip club, one of the female mud wrestlers that Ox is fighting has her hair down and in the next scene her hair is up.
• Crew or equipment visible: The crew's moving feet are reflected in the side of the Urban Assault Vehicle while John and Russell discuss stealing it.
• Continuity: When the platoon is performing their impromptu drill in front of the General, some camera shots reveal an overcast day with no shadows while others show sunny, bright weather.
• Continuity: When Winger's girlfriend leaves him, she puts her left boot on twice.
• Revealing mistakes: During the escape, Ox knocks over a rusty barrel, and reveals a shiny, spotless interior.

Taglines

• The story of a man who wanted to keep the world safe for democracy...and meet girls

Trivias

• The character nicknamed "Psycho" is actually named "Francis". Francis is Norman Bates' middle name in Psycho (1960).
• Originally a vehicle for Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.
• John Winger's habit of hiding his money when removing it from his pocket is lifted from Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush in A Day at the Races (1937).
• Originally created and written as "Cheech and Chong Join the Army."
• According to the DVD special features, the film was originally conceived as a vehicle for Cheech & Chong; Ivan Reitman has also stated that the reason this fell through was because their manager insisted (without the pair's knowledge) on a 25% share of Reitman's next five films, which he wasn't willing to give up. The script was then rewritten for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and most of the "stoner" humor was shifted to the "Elmo" character played by Judge Reinhold.
• An Ivan Reitman prank to have some of the characters drag Warren Oates' character into the mud during the obstacle course scene, led to Oates chipping a tooth and Reitman getting a tongue lashing from Oates.
• John Winger's use of the phrase "We are the wretched refuse" to describe how the platoon was made up of men from around the world is a reference to a poem, "The New Colossus", by the nineteenth-century American poet Emma Lazarus. "The New Colossus", describing the Statue of Liberty, appears on a plaque at the base of the statue.
• Among the crowd at the Graduation Parade (albeit unseen) was P.J. Soles' then-husband Dennis Quaid.
• The EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle was built from a 1973-1978 GMC Motor Home.
• Final film of Robert J. Wilke.