Seemingly influenced by Ethel Merman's success on Broadway spoofing D. C. hostess Pearl Mesta in "Call Me Madam", Rosalind Russell takes on a part that obviously was spoofed by Goldie Hawn in "Private Benjamin". She's another pushy broad acting like a brigadier general when she's only a recruit. No wonder her obviously flustered husband Paul Douglas divorced her!
As a senator's daughter, Russell is totally imperious from the start, desperately in need of a take-down, not as a woman, but as a human being who is over-wrought with extreme self importance and pretension, especially when she adds President Truman to her list of character witnesses. While it is amusing to watch her make an absolute fool out of herself, I find the military response to her quite unrealistic.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Marie Wilson ("My Friend Irma"), a dizzy striptease artist who needs more than a little help fitting in. These two outcasts manage to change in different ways while going through basic training and eventually finding their footing. Russell's done much better comedy then this, and the story was much better done more than 25 years later.
As a senator's daughter, Russell is totally imperious from the start, desperately in need of a take-down, not as a woman, but as a human being who is over-wrought with extreme self importance and pretension, especially when she adds President Truman to her list of character witnesses. While it is amusing to watch her make an absolute fool out of herself, I find the military response to her quite unrealistic.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Marie Wilson ("My Friend Irma"), a dizzy striptease artist who needs more than a little help fitting in. These two outcasts manage to change in different ways while going through basic training and eventually finding their footing. Russell's done much better comedy then this, and the story was much better done more than 25 years later.