Private Benjamin

source: Private Benjamin

source: Private Benjamin

I'm telling you, Harry Dean Stanton was such a suave smooth Army Recruiter in this movie I almost went downtown and signed up for the Army myself. Promising Goldie she could go anywhere in the world she wanted to, could choose from 300 different jobs, that housing on base was like living in a condo on the beach, and that everything: meals, housing, wardrobe, etc. would be provided for her. Man oh man. He could have persuaded a Hawaiian an igloo was nice, warm and cozy. Great job of acting in this movie!

Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is a picky superficial newlywed who loses her husband (Albert Brooks) during wedding night sex on the bathroom floor. She's 28, married twice, and trained for nothing. Lying recruiter Jim Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) tricks her to join the army. She's in for a rude awakening and wants to go home. Captain Lewis (Eileen Brennan) is her tough trainer. After being belittled by her father, she decides to stay rather than go home getting taken care of. She becomes a great private and rout the opposition in a war game. While on leave in New Orleans, she meets french doctor Henri Tremont (Armand Assante). Later, he would propose but he isn't prince charming. Goldie Hawn is fun and Eileen Brennan is terrific. They are both great and the movie is actually uplifting. The movie should probably stay with basic training. The second half isn't quite as compelling and the comedy dries up. The movie is better off expanding on the first half and cut out the second half.

For a comedy with a message to helpless women, this movie is great. It depicts a rich, spoiled woman who is able to find self worth and confidence in the military. Casting for Private Benjamin was perfect. I loved this movie.

I've loved Goldie Hawn since her 'Laugh-In' days, and never miss anything she does, but this one was confusing to me. Were the producers trying to make a comedy? They did, up to a point. The movie is crude comedy typical of other Hollywood 'misfit in military training' slapsticks (see 'Stripes'), up to the scene in Colonel Thornbush's office in which Judy accuses the Colonel of attempted rape. From that point on, there is not a single laugh, and the plot shifts to cold war politics, a potentially abusive relationship and revenge. Even the Eileen Brennan character, a comic foil for Hawn in the first half, becomes a mean-spirited superior, out to destroy Benjamin's career. The lead user comment on this site refers to Judy Benjamin as a woman seeking her identity. I would say the same for the movie, and regret that it never discovered exactly what it was trying to be. 5/10.

Private Benjamin is one of those films you can come back to it years after watching it and still be cheered up by its cheer brilliance and Hawns excellent portray of a middle class 'blonde'. The film really displays excellent sense of friendship and discovery of ones self, which Hawn discovers after her husbands unexpected death and joins the an army camp in Boloxi unaware of what she has got herself into. During her inintital training we see great comical acting from Eileen Brennan who plays Capt, Doreen Lewis. Judy goes on to discover love in Paris with Henri, who is communist and must decide whether she is going to continue with her career or go back to the nothing life she had before. It must be said that Goldie Hawn is the Reese Witherspoon of the 1980's.

Judy Benjamin gets married . Her husband dies on their wedding night . Judy joins the army . The end So there you go that`s the plot of this movie summed up or rather that`s the premise summed up because other things do happen like Judy falls in love ( This is a chick flick after all ) but PRIVATE BENJAMIN is to all intents a one trick pony of a sheltered spoilt rich girl finding herself in the US army because it seemed like a good idea at the time . It`s a comedy but the problem is it`s all rather overplayed which is the worst thing you can do with comedy since everything ends up being rather silly and unconvincing in parts ( A bit like a female HEARTBREAK RIDGE ) not to mention rather unfunny and it`s painfully obvious that the movie is one large ( non military ) excersise in box office appeal when perhaps a more cynical and darkly humerous approach might have made for a better movie . Didn`t anyone think of having a subplot of the new girl platoon being discharged from the army because they all got pregnant ? One can`t help thinking how this movie had ended up if Col David Hackworth had some in put into it . Still as it stands Eileen Brennan did win an Oscar nomination as Doreen Lewis well deserved since she gives by far the best performance in the movie . As for the rest of the cast they`re pretty lightweight but that`s probably down to the lightweight feel of the movie . I wonder if we`ll see a sequel where Judy and co. get sent to Iraq to work in an Iraqi prison ? You see the point I`m making about PRIVATE BENJAMIN being lightweight don`t you ? One point I seem to have missed though is there any reason to the plot that the title character has to be Jewish ? I`m fairly certain that not all Jewish women are spoilt little princesses hanging onto their parents coat tails and purse strings . Take my cyber friend Michele who has spent many years working hard building up her indie record label and who still lives in a not very nice part of New York below scumbags . Below scumbags who like to play hardcore techno music at all hours of the night . Below scumbags who like to play hardcore techno music at all hours of the night and who like to leave taps on flooding Michele out of her flat . Scumbags

I'll tell you one thing about Goldie Hawn: SHE'S NO DUMB BLONDE!! She is definitly been at her busiest since Laugh-In. And she past the test with flying colors. Being a bubbleheaded Jewish "princess" who feels lost, after her wedding one night ends up in a funeral the very next day. What a way to go. She's a Gomer Pyle with heels, and she claims to have things going her way. Judy Benjamin learns that there's more to life than material things. She wanted to break free. Eileen Brennan was a hit in both the movie and the TV version along with Hal Williams. I enjoyed when everyone got down to "We Are Family". Her family were the instruments of indecision for Judy, at the end, she really made her point. If Judy have joined the Marines, she would be Automatically Discharged, but who's to say? IT'S GOOD! A 10+!

One would believe, with the talents of Goldie Hawn, that Private Benjamin would be a comedy smash hit. While it has its moments, it falls short of the mark needed for a great movie. The first half is good. Goldie Hawn's Judy Benjamin lives a ritzy social life. Judy is the spoiled pampered princes who faces uncertainty and confusion about her future when her husband (in an all too brief occurrence by Albert Brooks) Yale dies on their wedding night. Depressed, downtrodden, and seeking self-fulfillment. Judy decides to join the Army after visiting her local recruiting office. She is told about how wonderful the Army is, and decides to try it. Judy is convinced that the Army is like it's advertised on TV, with yachts and exciting adventures. Predictably, Judy struggles through basic training with a mean drill sergeant. The other women in her platoon squad at first resent her, but gradually warm up to her, pulling pranks on the drill sergeant and laughing at Judy's jokes and campfire stories about her life. Goldie does a fine job with the material here. However, the script IS predictable, and strained. The last good part of the movie is the Thornbird's parachute training sequence to the song, "The Battle Hymn of The Republic." Than the movie falls apart in the second half. After basic training, Judy's squad is recruited to France where she reunites with family and friends at a bar. She quickly falls for a French man and the movie becomes a mess. It's never really explained why Judy would have feelings for such a man. At this point, the story almost becomes a totally different movie where the viewer no longer cares and just wants the movie to end. A rapid wedding is planned, but before the ceremony, Judy comes to the realization that the Frenchmen was just using her. He insults her, she responds by decking him, than says, "don't call me stupid" and walks out of the church, a liberated woman. It is as if the writers ran out of the good Army material in the first half of the movie. Than they sloppily tacked on Judy's relationship to the Frenchmen, because they needed to stretch the movie for another half hour. The lesson here is you can't just take what would have been a good movie had it focused on Goldie Hawn in the Army exclusively, and tack on a subplot that makes no sense and offers no explanation for why it's there, other than to add time to the picture. What could have been a 7/10 movie gets downgraded to a 5/10 because of this. There is not enough good story plot in Private Benjamin for it to succeed as a full-length movie.