Best friends John Winger (Bill Murray) and Russell Ziskey (Harold Ramis) decide to leave their mundane layabout lives – as a cab driver and a schoolteacher, respectively – and join the US Army in the mistaken belief that a modern serviceman’s life is the equivalent of a luxury holiday.
The pair quickly realise military duty is much more rigorous than either of them could ever have imagined.
The film eventually takes our anti-heroes to Italy, West Germany, and communist Czechoslovakia, where a jaunt in a commandeered high-tech and heavily armed recreational vehicle (the EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle) creates an international incident and almost starts World War III when they cross into enemy territory.
Murray and Ramis are at their comedic best as they go through basic training and butt heads with Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates).
John Candy features prominently as Oxberger – a fat guy who joins the army to lose weight – with a supporting cast including Judge Reinhold, John Larroquette, P.J. Soles and Sean Young.
John Winger
Bill Murray Russell Ziskey
Harold Ramis Sergeant Hulka
Warren Oates Stella
P J Soles Louise
Sean Young “Ox” Oxberger
John Candy Captain Stillman
John Larroquette Stillman’s aide
John Voldstad Cruiser
John Diehl Colonel Glass
Lance LeGault Anita
Roberta Leighton Psycho
Conrad Dunn Elmo
Judge Reinhold Hector
Antone Pagan
Director
Ivan Reitman
Video
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John Winger
Captain Stillman
