Stripes/Trivia

• Backed by the Pentagon: As wacky as the subject matter is, still backed by the US Army, basically because it puts the Army in a good light.
• Enforced Method Acting: While shooting the boot camp scenes, director Ivan Reitman secretly told the actors as recruits to drag actor Warren Oates (Hulka) into the mud with them. Oates ended up chipping a tooth, and upon learning Reitman manipulated the whole thing, furiously chewed him out. Since then, Reitman has never used enforced method acting in his films.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Joe Flaherty is one of the Czech border guards.
• Star-Making Role: Warren Oates, despite a long career in film prior. He died a year after the film's release, making two films that were released posthumously.
  • This was also the film debut of Harold Ramis, who would later play Egon in Ghostbusters.
• Throw It In: Quite a bit of the comic dialogue was improvised by the actors. In particular, the scene where everyone explains why they joined was entirely improvised by the actors.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Besides the Cold War setting, John and Russell are asked by an army recruiter whether either of them are homosexual, which points itself to pre-1994, before "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" first allowed LGBT people to serve in the military.
  • Even more Hilarious in Hindsight, since they are "willing to learn."