Private Benjamin (1980) User Reviews

Goldie as the world's most unlikely soldier...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 30 August 2006]

Thanks mainly to a clever script and the presence of GOLDIE HAWN and EILEEN BRENNAN, this is the kind of service comedy that brings back reminders of how this sort of thing was done back in the '40s with comedies like SEE HERE, PRIVATE HARGROVE or YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW or BUCK PRIVATES.

But this time, it's a woman enlistee who has to go through the rigors of boot camp (arguably, the best segments in the whole film and the funniest). Goldie is a spoiled rich girl who thinks the Army is going to be a respite from her problems as a woman who lost her husband on her wedding night. She's in for quite a learning experience and the gags come fast and furious for the first half-hour or so.

Then, when romance enters the story, it becomes rather uneven as she has an affair with a Frenchman, ARMAND ASSANTE, who turns out to be a first-class heel. By the end of the film, she decides to re-enlist rather than return to the civilian life she found so empty.

It's a decidedly uneven comedy, but Goldie's perfect comic timing and ability to switch gears when romance is called for, shows she had more dimension as an actress than anyone suspected. She was nominated for an Oscar for her Private Benjamin--and Eileen Brennan, hilarious as Capt. Doreen Lewis won a supporting role nomination.

Goldie's fans should love this one; and after all, it's not supposed to be taken seriously, it's all done tongue-in-cheek style.

A woman searching for her identity

[doeadear · 7/10 · 14 July 1999]

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.

Fun first half

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 9 January 2015]

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.

Perfect comedy to reflect 1980s sensibilities.

[TxMike · 4 January 2021]

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.

A very cute and enjoyable comedy

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 7/10 · 19 October 2006]

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

Salute!

[SmileysWorld · 7/10 · 7 April 2011]

When it comes to comedy,there are many every day situations that are good fodder to build on.The military is one of them.You can take an endless list of comedic performers and,when examined,the whole idea of any of them being in the military is hysterical.Goldie Hawn is definitely on that list.Now,you need to surround her with the right people to make the idea work.Mission:Accomplished.Hawn's talents were complimented well in this film and we have ourselves a gem of a military comedy.While not the best ever made,it certainly is among the best.It has moments about midway where it drags just a little,but not enough to damage the overall viewing experience.

Entertaining

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 18 June 2011]

Private Banjamin is an uneven film, but it is also an entertaining one. The first half is very focused, but the second half does get rather scatter-shot and dull. While most of it is funny, some of the laughs have a tendency to become sporadic, while the romance felt forced for my tastes. On the other hand, the film is at least nice to look at with good cinematography, editing and scenery, the story is decently paced and maintains interest and at its best the script is smart and snappy. Goldie Hawn is a very likable lead, and there is a sterling support cast including Eileen Brennan and Harry Dean Stanton. Overall, a very decent and entertaining film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Stripes" is sort of like "Private Benjamin"...but with guys.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 July 2022]

As I watched "Private Benjamin", I couldn't help but think it was essentially the same film as "Stripes"....though with far less of an emphasis on laughs. And, considering "Private Benjamin" came out a year before and was a very popular film, I can only assume "Stripes" was essentially a knockoff. And, of the two, I much prefer "Private Benjamin"...as the humor in "Stripes" seems very dated when you see it today.

Goldie Hawn plays Judy Benjamin, a spoiled and rather scatterbrained young lady with TONS of bad luck. Her first marriage only lasted six weeks but her second...only six hours, as her husband dies of a heart attack while they are consumating their marriage! Not surprisingly, Judy is an emotional wreck..surprisingly she deals with this by joining the Army after the recruiter makes her all sorts of insane promises he has no intention on keeping! Very soon, Judy realizes she's made a mistake and emotionally she is NOT Army material. Can she manage to turn it around or is she destined for civilian life?

"Stripes" was filled with goofy and very, very unrealistic humor...for good or for bad. "Private Benjamin", in contrast, is much more realistic though Judy is a tad tough to believe....as it's tough to imagine a woman this naive and spoiled joining the military. But it is an amiable comedy/drama and is worth seeing. Hawn is good in the lead and the script clever and worth seeing.

Army Recruiter Extraordinaire..

[cotennfl-1 · 5/10 · 6 December 2019]

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!

"...The army couldn't afford drapes? I'll be up at the crack of dawn here!"

[thehappychuckler · 6/10 · 16 September 2019]

Goldie Hawn (in an Oscar nominated performance) plays Judy Benjamin who expects everything to be given to her on a gold-rimmed plate. Until she gets to the army that is. After her brand new hubby Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) passes away on their wedding night, Judy joins the army believing that it will be like a vacation. She gets herself a rude awakening and must deal with Captain Lewis (Oscar nominated role played by Eileen Brennan), but in the end decides to redesign her life for the better.

A nice little movie with a message that both the critics and the general movie-goer seemed to love back in 1980 when this came out. Also starring Armand Assante, Robert Webber and Harry Dean Stanton. If you haven't seen it, give it a watch you might enjoy it.

Part of it is great, but the rest is a mess

[blott2319-1 · 5/10 · 16 February 2021]

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.

Judy, Judy, Judy!

[j-lacerra · 10/10 · 26 May 2009]

Many reviewers here have compared this movie to Stripes, which came out the following year. Beyond the fact of the Army setting, and the participation of P.J. Soles, I see nothing in common between this thoughtful and well-acted production, and Stripes, an unfunny, undisciplined farcial bore. On its own merits, Private Benjamin develops characters you can care about (or hate), shows significant metamorphosis of the title character, and plays out countless funny scenes and situations.

The war-games scenario has been done and done endlessly (ref. The Dirty Dozen, etc), but is played for humor here with great success. Eileen Brennan is the CO everyone loves to hate, and gets her comeuppance more than once in PB, to the audience's delight.

Support is solidified with performances by P.J. Soles, Albert Brooks, Harry Dean Stanton, Robert Webber, Craig T. Nelson, and, perhaps best of all, Sam Wanamaker as Judy Benjamin's doting yet controlling father.

The final portion of the movie involves our heroine conceiving matrimony with a slick and caddish French gynecologist, played to perfection by Armand Assante. This culminates in our being treated to an ending that leaves the world wide open to Judy, thanks to her Army experience of maturing and self-discovery.

A good choice for viewing any time.

A military feminist comedy with (unwelcomed) serious overtones

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 16 April 2006]

"Private Benjamin" reignited Goldie Hawn's status in movies, but it doesn't leave behind good feelings, and occasionally the self-serious overtones are mean-spirited. After a strenuous opening, pampered Jewish princess Judy Benjamin (Hawn, looking great) asserts herself for the first time by joining the U.S. Army; her recruiter has convinced her it's like Club Med... Is anyone this naive? Probably not, but that's what gives the first-half of the movie a silly kick. The boot-camp stuff has all been done before, but seldom with a woman at the center, and most of Goldie's lines get big laughs (After scrubbing the latrine with her electric toothbrush she tells the guard, "You could eat off that floor--why don't you?"). Unfortunately, the screenplay aspires to higher things other than military slapstick. Judy falls for a mumbling Frenchman (Armand Assante) who is the stereotypical Euro-cad completely out-of-place in these sitcom surroundings; his scenes deaden the rest of the film, which has a curious, but unfunny 'sanity restored' ending. The streak of late-'70s pro-feminism red carpets the movie practically in advance as if Hawn (one of the producers) really wanted to say something; naturally, almost every male in the film is a jerk, a liar, a weakling, a rapist, or a cheat. The portrayal of Judy's parents is torturous, and Eileen Brennan is stuck in the one-note role as cruel Captain Lewis, whose character is eventually brought down to size by turning lesbian! Hawn does manage to carry the movie for much of the way, and yet she bears some of the blame for the film's sour tone. **1/2 from ****

Not As Good As it Could Have Been

[jbartelone · 5/10 · 27 October 2007]

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.

Enlist with Judy. You could use a good laugh.

[budmassey · 22 January 2003]

Hawn's string of successes in the 1980's, Swing Shift, Overboard, Protocol, Seems Like Old Times, and Private Benjamin, are among my favorite comedies of all time. She has timing, presence, and character galore, and this one may just be at the top of my Goldie Hawn list.

The cast is extraordinary. Eileen Brennan is a showstopper as the, shall we say, less than feminine company commander and Benjamin's nemesis, but that's not the start of it. There's an embarrassment of talent here. Craig T. Nelson as the amorous Capt. Woodbridge, Armand Assante as the even more amorous Henri Tremont who sexes Benjamin up, and the still more amorous Albert Brooks, the husband who dies sexing her up, are all stellar. But Sam Wanamaker (see The Competition) and Robert Webber (both sadly deceased) are male role models who may not exactly set the bar very high as father figures, but add a delightful pseudo-machismo as counterpoint to all the talented women.

Mary Kay Place seems so young as a fellow recruit, even more so than in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, which is a nice segue to the fact that this, like many Hawn movies, draws from a distinguished television pedigree to deliver its surprising success.

This is one of those perfect little movies that I pull out of the DVD closet several times a year like visiting with an old friend, and it just occurred to me why. It's not nihilistic or deconstructionist or multi-plotted or any of the other crap that has supplanted story and dialog in too many movies since. It's sad that the only available version of the DVD is in pan and scan, as with some other great movies of this era, but I keep hoping for a widescreen release.

Favorite Line: "There are mine fields out there. Most of them are inert. However, some are ert." My recommendation: Enlist with Judy. You could use a good laugh.

A "golden" oldie.

[Aroura64 · 7/10 · 23 June 2019]

There were some really memorable comedies in the 1980's; 9 to 5, and Tootsie to name but a few. Private Benjamin is a film that I keep wanting to watch, even though I know the plot off by heart. Yes it does have its flaws, the first half of the film is very good, the second half lets it down. But I still enjoy it, and thats all that matters.

A golden giggle...but a frenchman?

[mandaaidan · 7/10 · 13 July 2007]

I first watched Private Benjamin as a teen, thought it mildly amusing.I have since watched it as an adult, and think it is good,but could have been funnier. The film opens with the main character,Judy, marrying Yale.Unfortunately this is not happy ever after, Judy finds herself a widow, and is coerced into joining the army.the fun really begins then.After a few hiccups,Judy finds herself accepted by most of the others, although not by Sgt Lewis(a superb performance by Eileen Brennan).She does get revenge though,all i can say is blue rinse! I personally think the film loses its way in the second half after Judy meets Armand Assante.In some aspects it shows Judy nearly lose the backbone she got in the army,but it doesn't quite fit.The ending is quite apt,but also peculiar. I still watch it,but I prefer Stripes.

I could name worse movies

[triglet · 7/10 · 19 July 2020]

It was the 80's, and I would venture to guess it wasn't just me who enlisted after seeing this movie! Lol

Funny First Half, Second Half....Not so Much!

[gab-14712 · 7/10 · 15 November 2017]

Private Benjamin is a movie that could have been a comedy classic. It has an all-star cast led by the likes of Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, and Albert Brooks. The premise is comedy gold. Who wouldn't like a snobby, self-centered person put into his/her place by the military. The thing is, Private Benjamin only partly delivers on the promise of an endearing comedy. The first half of the film is solid entertainment filled with funny gags. However, the second half was stale and it left me with a sour taste in my mouth that diminished the overall quality and effectiveness of the movie.

When Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) dies after marrying his wife Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn), Judy decides to enlist in the United States Army. The Army recruiter, Jim Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) paints her a picture about a wonderful life in the Army. But when she arrives to basic training, it is anything but that pretty picture. Now she must survive from the likes of her captain Doreen Lewis (Eileen Brennan), and the commander of the Army's elite paratroopers, Clay Thornbush (Robert Webber).

If the movie only had a focus on the first half, this would have been a great movie. Judy, who always has been dependent on other people her entire life, really gets a rude awakening when she arrived at camp. That scene where she was trying to explain that she signed up for the army, but not this army to Captain Lewis and her fake understanding was really funny. I bet she loved cleaning those latrines! Watching her struggle through basic training is comedy gold. Whether it's crawling in the mud or going over brick walls, she has come to realize perhaps she made the wrong decision to join the military. The interactions between Captain Lewis and Benjamin may be the only reason to give this movie a watch.

Then Clay Thornbush entered the picture. We abruptly go from a story about basic training to a segment about an older man making sexual advances on Judy. These scenes were mean-spirited and didn't make sense. Then we have illogical sequences featuring a romance between Judy and a Frenchman (played by Armand Assante). The whole post-basic training part of the movie was messy, incoherent, and did not fit well with the first half.

This premise is the perfect premise for a comedic talent such as Goldie Hawn. In fact, Nancy Meyer's script was tailor made for her. Her character was made to be annoying at times, but Hawn did well with what she was given. But there is one performance that stands out above the rest, and that is Eileen Brennan as Captain Lewis. It's nice to see a female portray a tough-as-nails drill instructor. Not only is she tough, but she adds fake sweetness to her toughness. The chemistry she both Brennan and Hawn had is worth every penny.

Private Benjamin could have been a better movie, if only it stuck with the basics. The first half was a well-done farce about military basic training, but the addition of not-needed characters and some rather abrupt personality changes took down the movie several notches. I was surprised how the movie was nominated for three Academy Awards. Sure maybe Eileen Brennan deserved her nomination, but I do not think Goldie Hawn was good enough for a nomination, and definitely not the screenplay. That being said, I still laughed from time to time and had some fun.

My Grade: C

Not the movie i remembered

[brexitstageleft · 3/10 · 19 September 2022]

Often i watch movies i remember from my youth, but haven't seen in decades, and i'm pleasantly surprised at how good i still find them. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those. I suspect like many people, in my mind Private Benjamin is a hilarious movie about a wealthy, attractive and precious woman totally out of her comfort zone after being conned into joining the army. In reality, that plot only lasts about 45 minutes. Those 45 minutes are really very funny at times, but the rest of the movie is a complete mess of 80's ideals and feminism and frankly spectacularly boring. It all comes straight from the Disney Frozen playbook of making all the wrong choices, blaming men in your life for it, then calling that empowering. Absolutely hilarious that the screenplay got nominated for an Oscar.

Only worth watching for the first 45 minutes, Goldie Hawn and Eileen Brennan. After that, it's a Wrigley's Extra "Time to Shine" commercial somehow stretched out to an hour.

Just A Step Above Mediocrity...

[g-bodyl · 6/10 · 4 February 2015]

Private Benjamin is a decent movie, maybe just a step or two above mediocrity. There are some amusing moments and even a laugh-out-loud moment or two, but the film does fall flat at its feet more times than not. The premise is good, but I felt the film faltered towards the latter half of the movie. The romance she strikes with the French guy seems so forced and unbelievable. I did like the scenes when she was in basic training though.

This film is about a fragile woman named Judy Benjamin who joins the Army after her husband died on their wedding day. She quickly finds out that the Army is different from which she was told it would be.

One of the redeeming points of the movie is the acting. Goldie Hawn had good comedic timing and her character was a good satire. I really liked Eileen Brennan's performance as Captain Doreen Lewis, who tries to make Judy's life hell. Robert Webber's performance as Colonel Clay Thornbush was also quite memorable.

Overall, I really wanted to enjoy Private Benjamin a whole lot more than I did, but I really couldn't. The movie isn't terrible, but it just isn't great either. The performances are fine enough, but the story needs tweaking and the romance towards the end was just unnecessary. There were some funny moments, but that is when Judy was in training. I rate this film 6.5/10.

Doesn't Hold Up

[rioplaydrum · 2/10 · 9 January 2012]

Sigh. The innocent 80's and what used to pass for a movie way back when. I remember first seeing this movie in the theater 30 years ago and being mildly amused by Judy and Company. I should have left it at that.

While camped-out at a friend's horse ranch, I found the movie on VHS and decided for a trip down memory lane. Big mistake. How this over-rated comedy ever became nominated for THREE Oscars baffles me to no end. Guess it was a SLOW year for comedy in 1980.

The screenplay and acting is on the same level as a bad sit-com. The acting is cardboard and sophomoric. The plot? Beyond simplistic. The entire package presented couldn't suspend the disbelief of present-day 12 year old.

Just a pile of disorganized fluff that never should have made the big screen but should have been adequate for a made-for-TV-movie now long forgotten and mercifully so.

A comedy with heart

[turboglo · 9/10 · 10 March 2010]

Many of the reviewers have complained that this movie isn't funny enough. I'm not sure what that means. While there are certainly funny moments in this film, it's not intended to be pure slap-stick or laugh-riot farce. Rather, it's a poignant tale of a woman asserting her independence, as told through a comic vehicle.

Another complaint is that too much is going on and that the film doesn't know what it wants to be. Again, I'm not sure what this means. I think the narrative is very straight- forward and all aspects of the story serve to illuminate the central theme: that women no longer need to define their lives according to traditional roles dictated by men.

Goldie Hawn's performance is subtle and charming. She's a delight to watch, and her comic timing can border on genius. Perhaps the best example of this is when she and her army friends are sitting around the campfire smoking pot and she tells them the story of how her second husband died on their wedding night. One of the friends, played by Mary Kay Place, says gravely, "I don't get it. What does a person do after something like that?" After a beat, Goldie Hawn responds, "Join the army," and they all burst out laughing.

I believe that this movie has withstood the test of time, but maybe that's because I'm pushing 50.

Didn't Bill Murray Remake This Movie?

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 5 December 2007]

A harmless, cute movie that rests nearly entirely on the talents of two women: Goldie Hawn and Eileen Brennan.

Hawn is an expert comedienne and her string of late 70s/early 80s comedies are nearly all perfectly watchable now. Brennan is a total hoot as a drill sergeant who you love to hate. The movie is basically an all-female version of "Police Academy" or "Stripes" (which would come out a year later).

I don't have anything else to say about this movie but I have to have ten lines of text to get my comment approved.

Grade: B+

A near-great comedienne ups the ante on this one

[MOscarbradley · 5/10 · 14 March 2006]

There are millions of comedies like "Private Benjamin". They are like TV shows that turn out the same joke week after week, (and "Private Benjamin" itself turned into a TV show). The best ones work and stay in the memory, not because the jokes are great, (though sometimes they are), but because the players are good and can develop the characters beyond the mere limitations of the gag. ("Frasier" and "The Golden Girls" fall into this category).

The jokes in "Private Benjamin" are not particularly original but they are funny, and they are funny because there is a near-great comedienne at the heart of Howard Zieff's film. With the right director Goldie Hawn's kookie, goof-ball wooziness was just about perfect and Zieff brings it out. Her character is the kind of woman who needs a good shaking, (Bette Davis would have made mincemeat out of her), but you love her all the same. At least until she starts making a fool of herself with Armand Assante's French sleaze-ball and the film loses it's comic momentum.

There is at least one other grand-standing comic turn from Eileen Brennan as Hawn's drill sergeant. Brennan's like a slightly butcher Mae West, (I think we're meant to assume she's a lesbian), and she gives her lines the kind of inflection that West did. Between them they raise the ante on this one.