Protocol

"Protocol" is a hit-and-miss picture starring Goldie Hawn as a bubbly cocktail waitress who one night saves the life of a visiting Arab from an assassination attempt. The woman immediately becomes a celebrity, and gets a new job working for the U.S. Government. Will the corridors of power in our nation's capital ever be the same? Hawn is excellent as usual even though "Protocol" isn't as funny as her best film "Private Benjamin". But it's still a good movie, and I did laugh alot.

*** (out of four)

First the standard/boring parts. I am not particularly a fan of Goldie Hawn, or the other actors. As with many politics movies, this one has "a nobody" plucked from obscurity and thrust to the attention of the nation. International relations and diplomacy are 'the angle' to which this movie enters Hollywood's political lansdcape. It is not done particularly well.

Now to the reason I am writing this review.. a day after I watched the movie. The movie has a low key element to it. That is it does not attempt to be bigger than what it is. As a result, it helps to normalize politics. Makes a case that anyone can become a politician. I consider that to be an important message. Now in the 2020s.. more than ever.. there is this political class. Big money is more involved than ever.

I did not think I would be writing a review for this movie as the closing credits rolled up (I rarely write any). Let alone that it would be a positive one... or at least have a positive aspect to it. Yet, here we are. It is what it is.

If the Sultan of Brunei ever saw this film it would be banned in Brunei and who's to say he hasn't seen it. Clearly the Moslem potentate on whom Robert Romanus's character is based is him, a person with large appetites for pleasure. If eating was his number one thing he'd be the late King Farouk of Egypt.

But this is a man who likes to keep his harem filled and while on a visit to the USA he's nearly assassinated but for the intervention of plucky cocktail waitress Goldie Hawn. The girl becomes an instant celebrity with her infectious and sunny personality. In fact that's Goldie's character name, Sunny Ann Davis.

She lives in Washington, DC a place of power and intrigue and with Romanus intrigued with her, some would be power brokers in our State Department decide she is just the person with the right leverage with Romanus to negotiate a treaty for an American base in his country. And what do we give him in return?

All I can say there is Goldie is hardly the type to assume a woman's place in a Moslem country.

Protocol is a one woman show for Goldie Hawn and she delivers in style. Also delivering nice performances are a pair of State Department connivers who dream up this scheme, Ed Begley,Jr., and Gail Strickland. They contrast with Chris Sarandon who resigns the Department rather than be a marriage broker. Hawn and Sarandon are like Judy Holliday and William Holden from Born Yesterday. At least you like to think Billie Dawn might have used her celebrity there the way Hawn uses it in Protocol.

Nicely done Goldie Hawn. You really do speak to the average American here.

If you like Goldie Hawn, you might like this story about a wide-eyed girl who happens to foil an assassination, then--because of her folksy charm--is hired by the Dept. of Protocol.

"Protocol" is a comedy with a moral. It's nearly impossible to miss the parallels with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and, even more "Born Yesterday", (in which Judy Holliday plays the Washington neophyte who finds that civic duty requires her to educate herself in the basics of politics). Goldie plays the part of Sunny with her usual plucky charm. She is surrounded by a sharp cast, but she carries the film as she does most of her films. The writing, by Buck Henry, takes shots at the media, the government, foreign affairs, and the office of the Vice President. Its style is somewhat reminiscent of Elaine May.

Overall, this film is lightweight, even with its serious call for self-education in government affairs. It is not Ms. Hawn's best, but amusing nonetheless.

Plot In A Paragraph: Sunny Ann Davis (Goldie Hawn) is a ditzy blonde who works as a cocktail waitress in Washington, D.C. She rents a room in the home of a gay couple, has a lousy love life and drives a rust bucket of a car that she cannot afford to repair. When she prevents the assassination of The President and a visiting Arab emir and winds up a national heroine.

Only Goldie Hawn could have played this role. It would not have worked with a different actress. It's Hawn's charm that totally carries this movie.

John Ratzenberger really made me laugh in his one scene as a security guard, whilst bonus points must go to any fans who spot an uncredited Chevy Chase as a doctor (Not the one who does the operation) who looks at Goldie Hawn ass and says "Beautiful, just beautiful" to which a heavily medicated Hawn just replies "Thanks"

As a "Married With Children" fan it was fun to spot Amanda Bearse (Marcy) as a soap opera actress.