Private Benjamin (1980)

I had heard different versions of what this was about, the most common mistake about the plot was that it was a true story about a lesbian female soldier LOL, so I'm glad I watched it and putt all that straight, from director Howard Zieff (The Dream Team, My Girl). Basically Jewish-American woman Judy Goodman (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Goldie Hawn) marries Teddy Benjamin (Sam Wanamaker, Zoë's father), and it looks like she will be happy, but she is shocked when her new husband dies on their wedding night during sex. She one day after meets 1st Sgt. Jim Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) who convinces her that life in the army is actually quite glamorous, and with no sense of worth anymore she decides to enrol herself. Of course when new Pvt. Judy Benjamin gets a rude awakening, and is forced into doing vigorous boot camp training, and also getting into trouble a lot she really wishes to get out of it, but as she gets to know the fellow recruits and the lifestyle she is determined to stick it out. During her time in service she does find another love interest with dashing French doctor Henri Alan Tremont (Armand Assante), but this is short lived as he has to return to Paris, and her promotion gives her more duties she must stick to. However they are brought back together again when she is sent Belgium, and Henri proposes marriage to Judy, which she accepts, but her boot camp officer Capt. Doreen Lewis (Oscar nominated Eileen Brennan) finds out he is a communist, and she is forced into deciding whether to stay with him or in the army. She does choose her new romance over her duty, and it is only later she discovers her love interest's controlling side, he tells her for example to sign a prenuptial agreement, and then worse she finds out he is still in love with his ex, and he has cheated on her with a maid. Judy realises on the day of the wedding that she can do anything she wants, and with Henri having been unfaithful in two instances she leaves him in the altar, and walks off into the distance to go and live a new life. Also starring Poltergeist's Craig T. Nelson as Capt. William Woodbridge, 12 Angry Men's Robert Webber as Col. Clay Thornbush, Barbara Barrie as Harriet Benjamin, Girl, Interrupted's Mary Kay Place as Pvt. Mary Lou Glass, Finding Nemo's Albert Brooks as Yale Goodman and Halloween's P.J. Soles as Pvt. Wanda Winter. I can agree with the critics, it is a bit of a one joke film, the joke obviously being that the army is full of female soldiers (which of course isn't completely real life) and that the leading character is wimpy and scatterbrained, but as that character Hawn does give a nice performance, and so does Brennan as her commanding officer, overall it is not a bad comedy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Worth watching!

This must be the most under rated, under appreciated, overlooked comedy ever. It was never even released in Wide-screen on DVD. Goldie Hawn shines as the main Character Judy Benjamin as well as Eileen Brennen as the tough sergeant. Oh, and did I mention how funny it is.It is the Story of Judy Benjamin, a newly married Jewish "Princess" with over protective Parents. To them, Judy is the typical "be pretty and stay quiet" kind of a girl. They marry her off to a doctor as every nice Jewish girl must do. This begins a journey of self discovery for Judy and we are taken along for the ride. As the title insinuates, she joins the Army and begins to develop into the woman that deep down she knew she could be.I never understood why this movie has been cast aside. Maybe the audience does not want to see a mature, thoughtful Goldie Hawn. It's one of my favorites, and I hope one day it gets the treatment that it deserves on Blu-Ray.

'Private Benjamin' is probably Goldie Hawn's best movie, or at least most well known. Her role as a rich bitch in a fish out of water tale is one she has milked over the years, but here it was quite original and she is at her least annoying, The script by Meyers,Shyer and Miller is one they could do in their sleep and is quite Funny even if it does get incredibly mushy and slushy as the Movie goes on as her character falls for French smoothie Armand Assante. This was a big hit in it's day and deservedly so, but this story has been done to death in the years since and is quite similar to Bill Murray's Movie Stripes which came out barely a year later.Premiere Magazine voted this one of the 50 greatest comedies of all time, while I wouldn't go that far as it's not much better or worse than most of her repertoire.*** out of *****

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.