Before the politically correct 90s, director Ivan Reitman made a box-office killing with ribald comedy Stripes (1981). That probably had little to do with the patchy script and everything to do with the casting of Bill Murray as a hapless cab driver who, along with his best pal (Harold Ramis), enrols in the military. Bizarrely, it turns out to be one long party filled with girls, ganja and, um, mud wrestling. No doubt director Todd Phillips filched a few of these ideas for Old School...

Stars And Stripes

The centrepiece of this Special Edition release is an extended cut of the film, boasting an extra 18 minutes of high jinks. This restored footage is a little hit-and-miss though. For instance, a seven-minute sequence where John (Murray) and Russell (Ramis) go AWOL in South America does have a peppering of funny moments (thanks to Murray), but altogether feels plodding and incongruous.

There are more laughs in a two-part documentary tracing the evolution and execution of Stripes. Ivan Reitman starts with the amusing revelation that he pitched the story as "Cheech And Chong join the army", but didn't foresee that Messrs Cheech and Chong (Up In Smoke, 1978) would turn it down! Of course this cloud of pot fumes had a silver lining as two weeks before filming, Murray hopped on board with real-life buddy Harold Ramis. Co-opting all of the Cheech and Chong stoner jokes was Judge Reinhold, who confesses, "It wasn't such a stretch because I was voted the most likely to overdose in high school." From the Japanese set of Lost In Translation, Murray also talks about working with the late John Candy who obligingly volunteered to beat up anyone who bothered the star on set. "He was my Luca Brasi," he says with a typically wry smile.

The second part of the documentary focuses on the shoot, which took place at Fort Knox in Kentucky with the full co-operation of the US Department Of Defence. It was a remarkable coup (almost literally) as the DOD are notoriously protective of the army image. Shortly before, they'd refused a filming permit to the makers of Goldie Hawn vehicle Private Benjamin (1980) - a tame comedy in comparison. Later, cast and crew talk you through some of the many improvised scenes, eg Murray seducing P J Soles (playing Stella) on the kitchen stove.

Wing Commander

Reitman elaborates on the matter of improvisation in a surprisingly free-flowing commentary (after all, it's been over 20 years!) in which he's joined by co-writer and producer Dan Goldberg. "I think the key to good comedy work," he says, "is when two characters really listen to each other." There's also plenty of juicy behind-the-scenes trivia like the fact that Kim Basinger was originally offered the role of Stella, but developed an inflated opinion of her worth after a few TV roles and priced herself out of the running. "I think her agent wanted $250,000," recalls Reitman. "And I don't think she had done anything at all," adds Goldman. Miaow!

That rounds off the extras menu, which unfortunately doesn't include any direct behind-the-scenes access. It would've been a joy to see the outtakes, especially with Murray's talent for improvisation, but Stripes: Special Edition is still worth signing up for.

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