The recent Amazon documentary John Candy: I Like Me painted a portrait of the Canadian comic’s enduring legacy in film and television. The wide array of larger-than-life characters he created on SCTV was the launchpad to iconic roles in classics such as Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Uncle Buck that would forever define his laidback yet empathetic image. Though the documentary highlighted Candy’s greatest hits, it did not shy away from one of the most uncomfortable chapters of his big screen career in Ivan Reitman’s Stripes.
In the early ‘80s, Candy was in search of his big Hollywood break after his initial small-screen impact on SCTV. Despite some small scene-stealing roles in The Silent Partner, Steven Spielberg’s 1941, and The Blues Brothers raising his profile in the industry, the comedian did not land a significant supporting role until Reitman cast him as out-of-shape army cadet Dewey “Ox” Oxberger in Stripes. Upon release in 1981, Stripes was one of the year’s biggest hits, earning $85 million worldwide and holding an 88% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. While Stripes’ success opened doors wider for Candy as the decade progressed, the film’s raunchy comedy crossed a red line for the star when his character had to take part in a sexist mud wrestling sequence.
What Is ‘Stripes’ About?
Initially planned as a comedy vehicle for Cheech and Chong, Stripes starred Bill Murray and Candy’s SCTV companion Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the script with Reitman and Len Blum, as a pair of friends who decide to enlist in the US Army. They are joined by Candy’s Ox along with fellow cadets like Cruiser (John Diehl) and Elmo (Judge Reinhold) as they all undergo intense basic training under their hardened drill sergeant (Warren Oates). Hijinks ensue when Murray and Ramis cause mischief by failed attempts to flee the base, romance a pair of female MPs (Sean Young and P.J. Soles), and go as far as taking the cadets to a strip club, all before they get shipped out to Italy for a covert operation.
Right from the moment he is introduced in Stripes, Candy’s Ox is defined by his obese figure when he declares the reason for his army enlistment: “I went to this doctor. Well, he told me I swallow a lot of aggression… along with a lot of pizzas! Ha Ha Ha! Pizzas!” Up to this point in his career, Candy’s weight was often overlooked due to his delightful charm. Candy did not need to stuff excess food into his mouth like John Belushi in Animal House or crash into tables like Chris Farley because the comedian’s style was more about his timed expressions and naive sweetness than slapstick pratfalls. His role as Ox features a relatable arc starting from being the subject of mockery by Oates and John Larroquette’s despicable commander to becoming a true equal to his fellow cadets, taking part in the big rescue scene in the finale. But Candy’s standout moment was simply a bridge too far.
John Candy Was Physically Harmed During the Mud Wrestling Scene in ‘Stripes’
While sharing the spotlight with stars Murray and Ramis in the high-profile comedy, there was a great sense of discomfort in Candy having to play humor as the subject of his body size. The tension reached a boiling point when Reitman had to shoot the sequence where Murray sneaks out of the cadets to a local strip bar right before graduation. The script called for Ox at a strip club to volunteer for a mud wrestling competition, being fully shirtless against bikini-clad women. What could have been comedy gold for stars like Belushi and Farley was everything Candy was strongly against, not only because of his size as a joke, but also the sexist nature behind the scenes. Despite Candy losing the argument and only compromising by doing the scene with a long-sleeved shirt on, Murray would recall in the I Like Me documentary that the actresses playing the wrestlers took physical advantage of the comedian to the extent of hurting him.
Reitman would later reveal in an excerpt featured in the book Wild and Crazy Guys by Nick De Semlyen that he was aware of the comedian’s discomfort at the moment. Yet, the director defended the sequence in the same anecdote, stating, “It seemed like the appropriate level of sexuality for a film about young guys in the army, and I felt we shouldn’t cop out on it, in the same way Animal House does not cop out of the college sexuality that it portrays.” Even though the mud wrestling scene added to the laugh-out-loud tone that made Stripes a box office hit, the I Like Me documentary would highlight the fact that Candy’s way of smiling through the discomforting performance was his way of brushing off greater anxiety about his weight and the fears of an early death, which was genetically inherent in his family.
Following the release of Stripes, Candy turned down the role of Louis Tully in Reitman’s next blockbuster smash, Ghostbusters. The SCTV veteran did not truly find his groove on the big screen until 1984’s Splash, where his role as Tom Hanks’s overactive brother showcased his ability to be annoyingly overbearing while adorable at the same time. Though later films like The Great Outdoors featured his characters getting involved in slapstick humor, Candy would never again be put into a vulnerable position like the Stripes mud wrestling scene. Additionally, the perception of Candy around female co-stars would evolve from being the butt of obese jokes to becoming an unconventional romantic gentleman in films such as Only the Lonely and Uncle Buck.
John Candy: I Like Me is now streaming on Prime Video in the US.
- Release Date
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October 10, 2025
- Runtime
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113 Minutes
