This past Friday, Guy Lauzon was roasted at the annual Children’s Treatment Centre Roast. It was another great evening filled with hilarity that continues to help a very worthwhile cause. This will be the first of a series of articles highlighting the roast and its roasters.
First off, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, The Honourable Peter MacKay, spoke to me about his love of film. He had two favourite movies and the first will be featured here today. It is the classic 1981 war comedy Stripes. MacKay was utterly impressed by the amazing improv that went into the film (especially from Bill Murray and John Candy) and spoke of the immense laughs it brought out of him every time he watched it. He also mentioned that the movie means more to him now that he works with the armed forces.
The man clearly knows his comedy, judging from this joke he told at the roast: Mr. Lauzon’s wife Frances is walking down the street with a case of beer. Mayor Kilger is driving by and pulls over, noticing her with the booze. He asks her why she has it. Frances exclaims “I got a case of beer for Guy”. Mayor Kilger looks at Francis and says “Good trade!”.
Directed by Ivan Reitman, the flick follows struggling friends John and Russell (Murray and Harold Ramis) as they turn to the army as a way out of their dissatisfying lives. They are placed in boot camp under vicious Sgt. Hulka (Warren Oates), who must in turn deal with his incompetent and perverted superior, Capt. Stillman (John Larroquette), as well as the other misfit trainees: including the overweight Ox (John Candy), druggy Elmo (Judge Reinhold), aptly named Psycho (Conrad Dunn) and a plethora of other colourful characters.
Though the platoon struggles to find their footing, they finally impress by putting on a stellar performance at graduation – and they are somehow placed in charge of a new Urban Assault Vehicle (basically a souped-up RV) being tested in Italy.
Through the stupidity of Capt. Stillman, most of the unit get stuck in Czechoslovakia and must be rescued by John and Russell, who are on a double date in Germany with girlfriends Stella (P.J. Soles) and Louise (Sean Young). The four head into enemy occupied territory (outsmarting the two border guards – one of which is Joe Flaherty of SCTV fame) to rescue their friends and prove themselves, once again, in the process.
This movie has some great performances, especially considering this was the first movie for most of these legendary actors. Murray, as always, is solid and supremely funny. Ramis (who also co-wrote the film) is perfect as the straight man to Murray’s more rebellious character. Canadian funnyman John Candy is priceless as Ox. Larroquette is excellent as the dim-witted Capt. and Oates is in prime form as the strict and extremely frustrated Sgt.
The picture has many memorable moments, with one of the best being Ox duping one of his fellow trainees while they are playing poker. The mortar scene (which also features a young Timothy Busfield) is also classic, with poor Sgt. Hulka being on the wrong end of Capt. Stillman’s stupidity. Finally, Candy’s mud-wrestling match against three lovely women must also be mentioned. It is, simply put, a humourous scene.
Stripes is a perfect example of supreme casting. With this being a relatively no-name cast at the time, it now looks like an all-star cast of superstars and excellent character actors. And much like many of the other 1980s comedies, it still, for the most part, stands up to this day. It’s stars and stripes forever for this oldie but goodie.