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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1980s Movies»Movies 1980
    Movies 1980 Movies P 2 Mins Read

    Private Benjamin (1980)

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    Widowed on her wedding night, sheltered and spoiled socialite Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) is feeling forlorn and forsaken and so proves susceptible to a wily and persuasive recruitment officer extolling the joys of life in the “new army of the 80s”.

    But, however unfit Judy may be for the military, the army is even less prepared for her.

    Against the odds, Judy accepts the challenges facing her and miraculously becomes a good soldier. Eventually, she gets a European posting with NATO and presently meets wealthy French doctor Henri Tremont (Armand Assante).

    It looks as though a love affair might develop, but after a lifetime of being possessed by parents, fiance, husband and now the Army, she feels that life might be more satisfying on her own.

    At a time when everyone was looking for a star vehicle for Goldie Hawn, she turned up in this high-octane tale about a Jewish princess who joins the US Army.

    It’s basically a one-joke effort, but that joke has Hawn throwing herself with great gusto into the role of a bewildered spoilt brat who comes good and her Oscar-nominated performance has huge charm.

    If only director Howard Zieff had allowed someone else to get a look in – the members of the supporting cast are mere satellites around a perky sun – and the screenplay had been broadened to contain more than just gags about broken fingernails.

    Even so, Eileen Brennan (as Captain Doreen Lewis) and the writers also received Oscar nominations.

    Judy Benjamin
    Goldie Hawn
    Captain Doreen Lewis
    Eileen Brennan
    Henri Tremont
    Armand Assante
    Colonel Clay Thornbush
    Robert Webber
    Teddy Benjamin
    Sam Wanamaker
    Harriet Benjamin
    Barbara Barrie
    Private Mary Lou Glass
    Mary Kay Place
    Sergeant Jim Ballard
    Harry Dean Stanton
    Yale Goodman
    Albert Brooks

    Director
    Howard Zieff

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