A Washington, D.C., cocktail waitress who prevents the assassination of a visiting Arab emir and winds up a national heroine.
Cast:
- Goldie Hawn as Sunny Davis
- Chris Sarandon as Michael Ransome
- Richard Romanus as Emir
- Andre Gregory as Nawaf Al Kabeer
- Gail Strickland as Ambassador St John
- Cliff DeYoung as Hilley
- Keith Szarabajka as Crowe
- Ed Begley Jr. as Hassler
1984 memories
I didn’t see this in the theater. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any Goldie Hawn movies in the theater until Overboard came out. Her movies from the 70s and early 80s were all rentals or seen on TV.
By 1984 I’d seen a few of Hawn’s movies, Private Benjamin, The Sugarland Express and Foul Play. All of them were enjoyable.
Let’s see how Protocol looks after forty years.
40th Anniversary Re-watch
Goldie Hawn plays Sunny Davis, a ditsy cocktail waitress. Through a series of comedic events Sunny thwarts an assassination attempt on an Emir from an unnamed Middle Eastern country. During ruckus Sunny bites the arm of the would be assassin and ends up getting shot in the butt.
Sunny is celebrated as a national hero and gets the attention of the State Department. Michael Ransome (Chris Sarandon) is assigned to Sunny to help her through her first press conference. In her first press conference she answers all the reporters questions with a refreshing, small-town charm.
The State Department goons, Hilley and Crowe, decide to use Sunny as a pawn to get the military base in the Emir’s country.
Unbeknownst to anyone, the two men offer Sunny to the Emir as his new wife in exchange for the military base and the Emir accepts. Meanwhile the Vice President offers Sunny a job in the Protocol office of the government.
Sunny ends up going to the Middle East and finds out she was traded for a military base. After she finds out the truth a military coup erupts and she escapes with the Emir.
In the United States Sunny faces a Congressional inquiry over the incident, while the government is trying to lay all the blame on her. She accepts some responsibility and chastises the government for their role. She resigns her position and returns home.
Two years later, Sunny is married to Ransome and running for Congress in her hometown. As the movie closes she gets a call confirming she won the election.
Favorite Line:
We’re all out of camel’s milk, but this is yogurt and 7Up.
Protocol is a fun movie. Hawn is refreshing in her role as a ditzy waitress. She always seems to play a ditsy, aloof, yet lovable character. Sarandon is good as the staffer as well. The Emir, the Middle East and the government goons are all cliche and somewhat one-dimensional.
If you’re a Goldie Hawn fan you may want to watch Protocol. Hawn is in another movie, Swing Shift, in 1984 that is a better use of your time. We’ll take a look at Swing Shift later in the series.
Overall, Protocol is a formulaic fish-out-of-water movie. There’s nothing new in the plot or characters. That doesn’t make it a bad movie, just an average movie that is watched and quickly forgotten.
Protocol was one of the last movies released in 1984 hitting theaters on 21 Dec 1984. It made over $26 million on a $12 million budget.
Did you watch Protocol? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on X(Twitter). The main Geekster channel is @GeeksterMedia and I’m @MileHighSamurai You can also find me on Bluesky @MileHighSamurai
6/10 stars
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