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| Warner Bros. | Release Date: October 10, 1980 |
Starring:
Alan Oppenheimer, Albert Brooks, Armand Assante, Barbara Barrie, Eileen Brennan, Goldie Hawn, Harry Dean Stanton, Mary Kay Place, Robert Webber, Sam Wanamaker
Summary:
A sheltered young high society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected.
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Even when the film capitulates to its predictable feminist battle cry, director Howard Zieff maintains his poise, demonstrating the gift for light comic timing he showed in Hearts of the West. But the best reason for seeing Private Benjamin is Goldie Hawn, who proves herself a comic leading lady of the first order, a Cinderella in reverse who could charm the brass off the Joint Chiefs of Staff. [20 Oct 1980, p.84]
Mr. Zieff demonstrates great skill in keeping the gags aloft and in finding new ways by which to free the laughs trapped inside old routines about latrine duty, war games, forced marches and calisthenics. [10 Oct 1980, p.C6]
This is arguably although unfortunately Goldie Hawn's most memorable role. For while she embodies the character perfectly and when the jokes are funny they are hilarious, sadly there just isn't enough to keep the film going and it begins to run out of steam half way through, with an attempt at a deeper meaning ruining the film.
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The trouble may be with the use of too many screenwriters who have been told to always keep their star’s image uppermost in their scribblings. But she’s not so gifted that she can carry a heavy load of indifferent material on her own two little shoulders, without considerable sagging.
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Aug 22, 2021
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