This review is a part of my Bill Paxton Project, an attempt to watch and review every piece of film the man did during his lifetime.
Let’s talk about Stripes. Stripes is a 1981 comedy film featuring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis, and directed by Ivan Reitman – these three would team up again a few years later to give the world Ghostbusters. Murray and Ramis play slackers who enlist in the Army, fuck around a lot, then save their platoon from the Soviet Army with nothing but their girlfriends and an armored recreational vehicle. The film features many young actors in small roles, including John Candy, John Larroquette, Judge Reinhold and, very very briefly, Bill Paxton.
Technically, this is Paxton’s third film credit, after small roles in Crazy Mama and Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker. But it’s not much of a role. He has no lines, and is only visible for a second or two in a single scene – in a bar, sitting next to John Candy, before the infamous mud-wrestling scene. It’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance. But, I promise you, here is there, so it counts for this project.
How did he get the role? Here is my best guess. Paxton made a video for the Barnes and Barnes novelty song “Fish Heads”. That video premiered on Saturday Night Live in December, 1980. While Stripes had begun filming in Kentucky in November, by December filming had relocated to California, where Paxton was living. Murray had left SNL by 1980, but his brother Brian Doyle-Murray was still writing for the show. Maybe Murray’s contacts from SNL led him to Paxton? Maybe, Paxton just answered a call for extras. At any rate, his appearance in the film is so brief that many people don’t even believe he was in it. But check out the still image below to see him for yourself.
