The news this week that Eileen Brennan passed away made me long to see "Private Benjamin" again, a movie I've watched 182 times at least. And, as if by magic, without an assist from Netflix or Vudu or Hulu, there it was on cable last night, "Private Benjamin," waiting for the SJG. No matter how many times I've seen it, I always remember my initial love/hate relationship with the movie. Behind the humor and the fun of seeing Goldie Hawn go up against Eileen Brennan, there was always the question in the back of the SJG brain: "Good for the Jews? Bad for the Jews?" The decision: Mixed. When "Private Benjamin" came out in the early 80s, the whole Jewish American Princess stereotype was big. JAP jokes started in the 70s and spilled into the 80s. "What does a Jewish American Princess make for dinner? Reservations." Ha ha. Fresh out of college, the Short Jewish Feminist (back then, we called each other women, not girls or gals), didn't know whether to laugh or shake my fists at the plight of Judy Benjamin, who epitomized every cliche of selfish, overprivileged, spoiled-rotten young ladies whose ancestors came from Russia.
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| "I want to go to lunch." |
Was it okay to giggle when Judy refuses to sleep with the cute French doctor she's only known for two hours, until she finds out he's Jewish? Yes, I decided. Judy works hard throughout the movie to break the stereotype the only way she knows how. She kvetches. She whines. She threatens to quit. She hangs in there. She almost marries the selfish, overprivileged, spoiled-rotten French doctor, and then, thank God, she retreats. She's going to make it on her own, with or without the mansion. "Private Benjamin" still makes me laugh, and still makes me a little comfortable, which makes sense. That's what comedy is supposed to do, anyway.
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