Basic Training (1985)

Too much of everything

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Beautiful, moving film.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Something you would find on up late night TV, "Up the Military" is amusingly straight-forward, madcap 80s sexploitation comedy produced by none other than Playboy enterprises. The wonderfully attractive Ann Dusenberry plays Melinda -- a headstrong lady who moves to Washington with big ambitions to make some sort of difference. There she moves in with her friend Debbie and her ditsy flatmate Cheryl. Debbie manages to get Melinda a job at her work… the Pentagon. She starts off as an administrative sectary, but her boss Lt. Cranston seems more interested in getting to know her intimately than doing his work. However this isn't just her own boss, as all the military officers seem to have nothing more than sex and women on mind. This makes her uncomfortable, but she comes to the realization that she could use it to her favour to get what she wants and move up the ranks. A capable Dusenberry is the film's backbone in a straight-laced performance, which transforms into seductive empowerment. Where she goes on to sensationally manipulate the sexual advancements to her own advantage. As she dominates and teases her way to the top, as she knows what makes these men weak at the knees. She played a very similar role three years earlier in "National Lampoon's Movie Madness", but this one is a lot better. The playful cast features some salty beauties in the shape of Rhonda Shear and Angela Aames who played the raunchy, free and easy characters Debbie and Cheryl. Will Nye is enjoyable as the patriotic, but sex craved Lt. Cranston. Director Andrew Sugarman's basic point and shoot handling keeps it quirky and smutty by upping the sleazy nudity and steamy sex quota with an interesting backdrop to set-up in. The military defence really does become the butt of the jokes. Some instances borderline on embarrassing, especially when the mushy music broke out to accompany the scenes of Melinda actually falling in love with a guy she met on a plane. But even with certain lame moments, it stayed watchable.Typical staples and clumsy execution can't knock that it remains a fun digestible low-budget sex comedy.

This so-called movie was a waste of film and time. I had great hopes for Rhonda Shea at the time this lame porno was released. Rhonda should have simply avoided the entire project. I would wager it hurt her more than anything else I have seen her in. Yes.... actors are supposed to act... but not at any price. You have to have perimeters and standards to live up to. Basic Training had almost nothing going for it. Even the sound was bad. It appeared at the Robert E. Lee theater in New Orleans (Rhonda's home town) and it was a low quality heart breaker to all her local friends. There were people walking out of the theater as the movie went on. Into each life any number of mistakes must come. This was certainly one for the book. ....... Chucky B Woodenhead.

If your a fan of Ann Dusenberry or Rhonda Shear, this film is worth watching. If you think the ladies in this dorky 80's flick are not worth looking at, renting this movie is a waste of time. Of course, the plot is god awful, but to be expected in this low budget 80's flick. I personally like it only because i am a big fan of Ann Dusenberry. I didn't expect this movie to be decent at all, but there are some funny moments in this film. Like i said before, a lot of talent is wasted in this film, because any moron can write a better script than this. If your a fan of Ann Dusenberry, i recommend renting Jaws 2 or Lies. In Jaws 2, of course she played one of the teens and was the receiving end of viewing a horrific death. In Lies, she basically is strapped to the bed all movie with some intriguing underhand schemes.

A young virginal graduate goes to work at the Pentagon as a typist, where she is promptly hit upon by anything with a pulse. Meanwhile, the two female nymphomaniacs she shares a house with show her what she's missing. Completely dire in every aspect, this low budget sex comedy doesn't even feature very attractive women.. which is the least that should be expected by its genre. The jokes here wouldn't pass muster in a Confessions film with Robin Askwith, and half the cast seem to have been dragged off the streets. In fact, this film is so inconsequential and pointless, it isn't worth writing anything else about it. So I won't. 1/10