Biloxi Blues
Universal
March 25, 1988
Historical Comedy, Historical Drama
DVD
B
This movie surprised me in that I think I was expecting something more on the sitcom or even cartoony side, but there are serious and even philosophical moments, and even a dark-humored horror feel to the scene where Walken's character threatens Broderick's with a gun. I'm not sure how well it all hangs together, and despite the tag line that "Daisy gave him basic training," Eugene's first love is dealt with in a cursory manner that makes less impact than the surprisingly sweet and funny scene where he loses his virginity to a hooker (played by Park Overall, who I couldn't place, but it turns out she was Laverne Todd for seven seasons of
Empty Nest). The ensemble cast works well together, and I like that the characters end up having more to them, good and bad, than the stock characters I expected and apparently were all that Roger Ebert could see three decades ago.
I should note that the subject of homosexuality is brought up and handled with tolerance and yet ambiguity, and in the Where Are They Now? voiceover at the end, I did not catch what happened to Hennessy.
