La bidasse

Goldie Hawn and I are the same age. Well she is actually 4 months older. I first saw her in the 1960s TV show "Laugh In" which we all enjoyed in college.

Here she is Judy Benjamin, in a great stroke of bad luck her husband dies on their wedding night. Distraught and not sure what to do with herself she goes to the Army recruiting office. In a good performance by Harry Dean Stanton (as the recruiter) he tells her this tall tale of what she would look forward to, a private room, a selecting of jobs, and if she didn't like it she could quit any time she wanted.

With that vision she showed up for 6 weeks basic training totally unprepared. The comedy kicks into high gear as she tries to cope, almost washing out, ultimately deciding to tough it out and become an exemplary military woman. Back then, in her early 30s, Hawn was unique and this military comedy fits her talents well.

I struggle a bit with the plausibility of the premise in Private Benjamin. I simply found it hard to believe that army recruiters would be so brazen about lying to people in order to get them to enlist. However, I'm all for an unlikely story of a screw-up being whipped into shape by the military. It is fodder for a lot of comedy, and I think that's where this movie shines. Those early scenes where we see her struggling through boot camp, and the contentious relationship with her drill instructor (played to perfection by Eileen Brennan) are rife with good laughs. It's kind of sad that the movie seems so anxious to move on from that storyline. There is some serious fast-forwarding through the fun of the movie thanks to needless montages.

The real problem with Private Benjamin is that it is a movie which should be about a spoiled-rotten rich girl learning to be useful, but instead it seems more interested in exploring her love life. The entire opening is an exploration of her new marriage and all that comes with that relationship, and then the final act is entirely about another romance that seems clearly doomed from the start. Pretty much everything after she leaves boot camp was disappointing for me, and I was struggling to figure out who thought that was a good idea. I still enjoy Goldie Hawn in any comedy setting, though. She has great timing, and tells a lot of the story with just her exaggerated expressions. My memory of Private Benjamin was that it was hilarious and all about her boot camp experience. Turns out that's what I thought because that is the only memorable part of a film which drags on through more plot than it needed.

What I've always enjoyed about this film is that, once you get past all the slapstick and Jewish American Princess jokes, you find the story of a sheltered young woman seeking her identity and independence. Judy Benjamin has been raised in a very coddled existence, believing she can do nothing, and that her only value is to be someone's wife, or attached to a person in some way. When her husband dies on her wedding night, she foolishly joins the army, where her inability is played for laughs. But this is not what the film is really about, in the long run. When her parents come to retrieve her, Barbara Barrie as Judy's mom is literally holding the pen, showing Judy where to sign. To me, this scene is very believable. It's as if Judy finally realizes that she has set herself up to fail. She decides to stay and proves that she can do a good job, she just believed she couldn't.

Perhaps my perspective is different because I saw this film first in 1980 when I was 18 years old, but I still enjoy it to this day. I can overlook the portions that are not very PC by today's standards. It was, after all, a different world then. I find Goldie Hawn's performance to have great comic timing and believability. Eileen Brennan is memorable in her role, even though it is a bit stereotypical by today's standards. Barbara Barrie and Sam Wanamaker are hilarious as Judy's parents, and Robert Webber is unforgettable as Col. Clay Thornbush. I will always enjoy this film, perhaps always from a different viewpoint.

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.

Gosh, I don't know how many times I passed this movie up in my mom's collection. But I never really had an interest in this film, but my mom told me what a great comedy it was and that I should give it a chance. So, finally, today I got some time and watched it and I'm glad I did. Private Benjamin is a great comedy staring then new comer Goldie Hawn. I didn't realize how much she was meant for comedy, I've seen some of her work like Overboard and Death Becomes her, but usually she has the supporting cast helping her in the comedy, this time she was on her own and did great.

She plays Judy Benjamin, a 29 year old whose been married twice, her last husband died on her, literally, had a heart attack while he was making love to her. So, since she has always been taken care of, a stranger helps her out and recruits her in the army showing her the AFTERMATH of what she could have in the future, but she thinks that she's getting all the good stuff immediately. Therefore, she becomes the princess of the boot camp, but after a harsh talk with her folks, she realizes she needs the army and to become strong. She ends up meeting a suave French man and gets transferred to Paris after graduation, but she soon realizes who she needs most in life: herself.

Private Benjamin is a great comedy that I think anyone could get a little kick out of. It has great jokes and fun moments that I had a good time watching. Not to mention, Goldie Hawn is just so adorable and you definitely want to keep rooting for her during the film, she's just great.

7/10