Great Character: Judy Benjamin (“Private Benjamin”)
This month’s theme: Fish Out Of Water. Here is Jason Cuthbert with another of his weekly guest posts featuring Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) from the 1980 comedy Private Benjamin, written by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer and Harvey Miller.
In 1980 with the release of Private Benjamin from director Howard Zieff (The Dream Team, My Girl), actress Goldie Hawn made her big movie star play after TV sketch comedy with Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and seminal 1970’s films like Steven Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express and Hal Ashby’s Shampoo. Along with playing the lead role as the Fish-Out-Of-Water soldier Judy Benjamin in Private Benjamin, Goldie Hawn also earned her first producer credit to boot. With the screenwriting circle formation of Nancy Meyers (Baby Boom, It’s Complicated), Meyer’s partner in writing and marriage Charles Shyer (Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Father of the Bride) and screenwriter/TV writer Harvey Miller (The Odd Couple, The Bob Newhart Show), Private Benjamin sought to give the military comedies like M*A*S*H a female prospective. That battle was won with Private Benjamin ending off 1980 as the 6th highest grossing motion picture with $69,847,348.
Private Benjamin plot summary from IMDB:
A sheltered young high society woman joins the army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected.
Judy Benjamin was not quite raised to be a military officer. Matter-of-fact, from the very beginning of Private Benjamin, Judy’s quite content with her only ambition being a wife and living vicariously through the accomplishments of her husband Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks). But unfortunately for Judy Benjamin, her newly wedded husband didn’t make it past their wedding night — allegedly death by sexual climax.
Yale was husband number two and is unfortunately out of the picture for Judy and her simple life as a happy housewife. After getting coerced into the military by an enthusiastic yet vague recruiter, Judy Benjamin becomes Private Benjamin, and her boot camp experience becomes a nightmare.
JUDY BENJAMIN: See, I did join the army, but I joined a *different* army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms.
As apparently the only soldier-in-training with a completely unrealistic, glossy version of the camouflage life, Benjamin’s post-husband get-away from grief becomes a series of behavior that is better suited for throwing a thoughtful house-warming party than throwing hand grenades. Each naïve misstep seems to set off a social landmine, further alienating Benjamin from her superiors and even her peers.
JUDY BENJAMIN: My name is Judy! J-U-D-Y Judy and I’d like somebody to call me by my name! Oh, okay I took my life in my own hands; I made a mistake fine I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again! I wanna wear my sandals… I wanna go out to lunch. I wanna be NORMAL again!
Getting back to her cushy, pampered life, as the daughter of financially secure parents is the course of action Benjamin keeps her trajectory pushing towards initially. The lack of more fashionable variety in her military gear, the early wake-up calls and the urinals in her bathroom keep her feeling out of place. But with a little brutally honest bonding with her comrades, Benjamin’s aloof demeanor begins to be traded in for that of a relatable soul worthy of compassion.
JUDY BENJAMIN: My husband had a heart attack and died on our wedding night, while we were making love.
PVT. MARY LOU GLASS: Jesus! Benjamin! I don’t get it, what do you do after a thing like that?
JUDY BENJAMIN: Join the Army!
A common theme that runs like a rapid refreshing waterfall through Private Benjamin, adding a welcomed layer of thought-provoking substance to this comedy is the idea of a Woman’s Identity. After the untrained and impassionate Judy Benjamin unsuccessfully tries to willingly live in the shadow of her first two husbands, the next male that she has to live her life through is her father, who is visibly embarrassed by her disappearance into the armed services. Judy’s dad feels she is incapable of cutting it in the world outside of his four walls and refuses to support her declaration of independence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaEPmOBngXg
Not only does Judy Benjamin take a life-affirming stand to stick it out in the land of tanks and explosions, but she rises above her bottom level rank in the process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psbrB-IuF0Y
The allure of a wealthy man, this time a French doctor that the military deems as an untrustworthy Communist puts Judy Benjamin right back inside the tug-of-war between living a life of her navigation or her tagging along for a ride with a man that calls the shots. With the feisty fight ready to be conjured up out of Private Benjamin, woman’s liberation will have further proof that it was not created in vein.
For her search for solo success, her evolution towards maturity and responsibility and her urgent desire for self-respect — Judy Benjamin is a super GREAT CHARACTER.
Last week Splash. This week Private Benjamin. Thinking back on it, the 80s was a stellar decade for FOOW movies. What other ones can you think of?
The allure is easy to see: If the Hero’s Journey involves a Protagonist separating from their Old World and entering a New World, almost by definition that Act Two experience of initiation involves being in a strange and unfamiliar environment. By pushing that out to an extreme — e.g., pampered woman in the Army — the concept opens itself up for dramatic and in this case comedic possibilities.
Thanks again to Jason for another great post.
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