Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that 1981's Stripes is comic mayhem with a young Bill Murray reprising the cheeky hapless character he created for television's Saturday Night Live and in Meatballs and Caddyshack on the big screen. This time, Murray takes his deft comic arrogance into the U.S. military, dragging BFF and frequent playmate Harold Ramis into the fray along with him. It's typical fish-out-of-water fare, with some rapid-fire cartoon action; sexy, big-breasted women (some of those big breasts are bare); and enough bawdy language ("f--k," "s--t," "p---y," "ass") to earn MPAA's R rating. Slapstick and exaggerated violence include a mini-war with armed Russian troops (explosions, gunfire, flamethrowers, armored tanks) and the usual falls, bonks, and mishaps. The "ditzy," voluptuous mud-wrestling "girls" are almost balanced by some coolheaded, female army MPS, but woman-as-sex-object scenes tip the scales in 1981's direction. The film's often-funny, juvenile humor would appeal to even young teens, but the language and nudity make it problematic for those audiences.
Sexual
Content
Typical 1981 sexual antics: leering men, scantily clothed women, comic seductions, a Peeping Tom, "ditzy" females, embracing, kissing. Partial nudity in several scenes with bare female breasts, much leg, naked girls in shower. Mud-wrestling focuses on curvy females in a variety of suggestive poses. Two couples have sex off camera; some mild foreplay, and some post-sexual behavior.
Violence
Cartoon action: falls, punch-outs, injury-free brawls, wild car rides, falls. A final sequence is a comic shoot-out between Russian troops and a bumbling platoon of U.S. army: explosions, gunfire, flamethrowers, tanks, mortar fire. Weapons are fired; bodies fly.
Language
Frequent swearing, obscenities, insults: "f--k," "s--t," "balls," "hell," "ass," "son-of-a-bitch," "crap," "p---y," "suckhole," "gutless punk," "idiot," "homo," "bum."
Social
Behavior
Even nitwits can find redemption.
Consumerism
Yellow Cab, Stewart Dry Goods, Raisin Bran, Schlitz beer, Yuban coffee, GMC.
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
Occasional drinking in bar, beer at home. Some smoking. Giggling young man solicits drugs.
