CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

gab-14712 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

DriftedSnowWhite This movie deserved a sequel. Maybe I missed it? In any event, I came to IMDb to see if there were opinions on what Judy does next at the end of the movie. To my surprise, in the IMDb description, it says that Judy reenlists. I don't think that point was made; rather, it is left to the audience to decide.Anyway, I started reading reviews, and my neck tensed up. Why? Because so many people write that Captain Doreen Lewis is a lesbian. First - who on earth cares? And, why then, was she drooling, and more, over Captain William Woodbridge. Good grief! If Captain Lewis' sexual preference were remotely connected to the story line, that would be a different story, but it's absolutely not. What's the problem? That Captain Lewis is a Captain?I hate it that we've become a world of sexual-preference-obsessed. It didn't used to be like that. It's not as though this heightened awareness is keeping kids and adults from getting their heads bashed in. I'd bet it happens more often. My daughter and I were almost attacked because we were holding hands and some idiots decided we were lesbians. What's wrong with them/you? This is a fine movie with great comedy, great performances, important messages... can't you ever detach from sexual preference obsession, and leave it at that? Good grief...

blueleo65 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.

Welshfilmfan '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 *****