At the end of a very bad day when he realizes his life has gone and is going nowhere, John Winger is able to convince his best friend, Russell Ziskey, whose life is not much better, to enlist in the army, despite they not being obvious soldier material. In basic training, they are only two of a bunch of misfits that comprise their platoon. However, it is still John that is constantly butting heads with their drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka. Two of their saving graces are Stella and Louise, two MPs who get them out of one scrape after another. Their entire platoon is in jeopardy of not graduating. But what happens during basic leads to their entire platoon being assigned to an overseas mission in Italy, to test a new urban assault vehicle, the EM-50 project. John and Russell decide to take the EM-50 for an unauthorized test drive to visit Stella and Louise who have been reassigned to West Germany. In the process, the rest of the platoon, Hulka, and Hulka’s immediate superior, self-absorbed Captain Stillman, get caught unofficially behind enemy Communist lines in Czechoslovakia. John and Russell, with Stella and Louise’s help, will have to show their true mettle as US army soldiers and in the process test the capabilities of the EM-50 to rescue their platoon without the rest of the US army knowing what’s going on, and thus without any assistance beyond themselves.
《天高地不厚》（Stripes，1981）是艾凡萊特曼（Ivan Reitman）正式成為票房和喜劇大導的作品，也奠定他和比爾莫瑞（Bill Murray）及哈洛德瑞米斯（Harold Ramis）的鐵三角組合，為他們大獲成功的下一部片《魔鬼剋星》（Ghostbusters，1984）扎實鋪路。
一對死黨好友約翰與羅素在深覺人生一事無成下衝動從軍，加入軍隊後卻馬上反悔並試圖逃兵。在忤逆士官長和不斷搞天兵後，他們反而逐漸適應並認同軍旅生活，當然和兩名女軍官交往也是令他們願意留下的一大主因，更在士官長在烏龍意外中身受重傷後，自動自發勤奮訓練並通過新訓，甚至陰錯陽差被選為遠赴東歐直搗鐵幕出任務的軍隊。
本片雖然是1980年代的片，離越戰結束已過好幾年，卻仍具深刻的反戰意識，並為揶揄冷戰風潮的代表喜劇之一，但比爾莫瑞剛好與越戰擦身而過，萊特曼和瑞米斯則都是加拿大人，所以他們對於越戰並沒有切身之痛，純粹以客觀角度針貶美國軍隊的自大和愚蠢。
莫瑞在當時是紅極一時的喜劇天王，雖然哈洛德瑞米斯也有演出並聯合編劇萊特曼的上一部片《瘋狂夏令營》（Meatballs，1979），仍是靠墨瑞堅持才得以加入本片和他搭檔演出，並順便即興編出墨瑞的對白。本片還有已故喜劇泰斗約翰坎迪（John Candy），以及成名前有趣地和瑞米斯演出一對的美豔女星西恩楊（Sean Young）。
Stripes.1981.EXTENDED.CUT.1080p.BluRay.x264.DTS-FGT.mkv
15.7G