Basic Training

A young virginal graduate goes to work at the Pentagon as a typist, where she is promptly hit upon by anything with a pulse. Meanwhile, the two female nymphomaniacs she shares a house with show her what she's missing. Completely dire in every aspect, this low budget sex comedy doesn't even feature very attractive women.. which is the least that should be expected by its genre. The jokes here wouldn't pass muster in a Confessions film with Robin Askwith, and half the cast seem to have been dragged off the streets. In fact, this film is so inconsequential and pointless, it isn't worth writing anything else about it. So I won't. 1/10

I appreciate how very low-budget this is; if moments rolling past this or that landmark aren't stock footage, then they may as well have been. And why not pause the image for a few seconds on such scenery, or recycle some shots, just to help pad out the length that tiniest bit? Factor in a rudimentary plot with thin sketches of characters, both serving merely as an excuse for innuendo, sex jokes, gratuitous nudity, and sex scenes - hey, that's a movie! The set dressing and wardrobe are just enough to get the job done, as are the acting, the direction, and for that matter the writing... Look, this is no must-see. I wonder if anyone ever needs to see it ever, unless you're a huge fan of someone involved. But if you're looking for something silly and light that you don't need to actively engage with, or if you're just bored or curious, I suppose there are worse things than 'Basic training' that you could watch.

If you enjoy "sex comedies" as a genre, this is probably right up your alley. I guess my point of concern is that it takes the cheap and easy road at almost all times. There are bits of cleverness here or there, a gag or a line that come off well, and I suppose writer Bernie Kahn deserves credit for finding ways to insert innuendo anywhere and everywhere. I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek core concept of idealistic Melinda being forced to change her tune to get anywhere with those ideals. At the same time, it's very easy to imagine how this could have been smarter, and more fun. For one thing, in some measure this is definitely intended as a parody or maybe a satire of the United States government, and specifically of its military management (think 'Canadian bacon,' or 'Stripes'). Such facets are pretty much only a vehicle for that very same sex comedy, however, so the intelligence that could have gone into witty mockery of the halls of power doesn't really go anywhere. Alternatively, the writing and even the set design - almost uniformly geared strictly toward those same raunchy ends - are so outrageous that the picture is a half-step away from being a parody of the sex comedy. I'm distinctly reminded to some extent of John Waters' imperfect yet underrated 2004 romp 'A dirty shame,' that embraced every most farcical notion and ran with it. 'Basic training,' however, earnestly wants to be that cheesy, sleazy sex comedy, and it never especially aims higher. Ah, what this could have been.

It's not outright bad. Even as someone who doesn't broadly care for sex comedies, I think this is entertaining on some baseline level, the sort of thing you put on when you just want to space out. I'll even go so far as to say that in the narrative and scene writing alike there are parts of this I genuinely like; were Kahn of a mind to approach his screenplay with more sincerity, well, there would probably be more praise in my words now. Andrew Sugerman seems like a perfectly capable director. As it stands, of course, the feature prioritizes All Things Sexual over anything else, so whatever other value one may discern basically ends up being an incidental bonus. This includes, for example, Walter Gotell playing a cheeky variation on General Gogol, the Soviet official he revisited multiple times in Eon Productions' James Bond franchise; on the other hand, the climax where we see Gotell the most is paired with a concurrent scene that just lingers too long, as is true of some others. All told I think 'Basic training' is a good time; only, one way or another, it's nothing super special, and not essential by any means. Save it for a lazy day, and let's just leave it at that.

The best thing I can say about this is that it was marginally better than Fat Guy Goes Nutzoid. But that's like saying I would prefer a kick in the testicles to a punch to the throat. This one is a sex comedy based around the Pentagon. There were literally no laughs whatsoever. Imagine Police Academy without George Gaynes or the man who made the funny noises? How is it possible to write a comedy script and not come up with any funny lines/ideas at all?! It's a disgrace! And you do end up asking yourself how does a screenplay this diabolical make it to the screen? And where the hell is Steve Guttenberg when you need him!? Next!

This movie begins with a young, naïve woman by the name of "Melinda" (Ann Dusenberry) arriving in to Washinton D.C. in the hope of finding a job and starting a new career. To save on money she moves in with an old friend named "Debbie" (Rhonda Shear) and her current roommate "Cheryl" (Angela Aames). And to make things even better they also assist her in finding a job at the same place where they work-the Pentagon. What they forget to tell her, however, is the culture of sexual permissiveness she comes face to face with on her very first day at work. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this comedy had more than its fair share of gratituitous sex and nudity with most of it being more crude than actually funny. But to be fair, there was some pretty good humor here and there which kept the film from being a total bore. Likewise, having the three aforementioned actresses certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way either. In any case, while this clearly wasn't a good film by any means, I suppose it wasn't a total waste of time either and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

As a youth, I was constantly trolling the C-Band for any nudity I could find, I knew all the good ones from about 80 till 88, and many of the raunchy comedy's were mainly providing one thing to the viewer, and it wasn't laughs, I remember this movie came on and right off the bat it opens up with a cheesy porno sounding song, and boobs, immediately, but this movie didn't use boobs like most of these movies, this movie and the people who made it, seeing I never heard of one actor or actress in this, couldn't even pull off good nudity, the fact I don't remember one part of this movie I found funny, even as a horny 10 year old, even Fraternity Vacation had stuff I found amusing as a kid, like I don't even know if this was a comedy, I thought it was, but it's like the most mundane, stone faced literally no thought inducing garbage possibly ever, and I have seen some trash, whoever wrote this obviously put zero thought or effort into it, and then on top of that, they screwed the nudity up, how is that possible? IDK but it is, and they did, I'm sure this will never see any type of current format, so if you just gotta see this, hunt down the VHS,but you might as well just sit and count to 1000 or watch air, cause it will be more mentally stimulating.