Major Payne

Major Payne is a 1995 American comedy film directed by Nick Castle, and written by and starring Damon Wayans. The film co stars Karyn Parsons, Steven Martini and Michael Ironside. The film is a loose remake of the 1955 film The Private War of Major Benson, starring Charlton Heston. The film was released in the United States on March 24, 1995.

Plot
U.S. Marine Corps Major Benson Winifred Payne, a hardened Marine, returns from a violent but successful drug raid in South America, only to find out that he was once again not promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. Payne receives an honorable discharge on the grounds that "the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield", and that his military skills are no longer needed.

Payne tries to adjust to civilian life through an application to the police academy. He hits a man repeatedly during a training scenario, causing him to be arrested for assault after the man was rendered unconscious. His former general visits him and informs Payne that he has secured a job for him that will get him back in the military.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) As the title suggests, there's gonna be some major pain given to the main characters throughout the film.
 * 2) An greatly executed story about a war-obsessed man trying to fit into another environment after his war-loving past and his efforts with achieving this goal relating to getting his old job back. In spite of the ridiculous and weird qualities the movie may have, it's still fun, entertaining, and enjoyable to watch.
 * 3) Great, whimsy musical score composed by Craig Safan that brings a fun vibe to this film and its lighthearted theme of militarism.
 * 4) * At the same time, it has appropriate use of copyrighted music whether it came from other sources of media like the song Bad To The Bone being played at the very start of the film for example.
 * 5) This film takes similar vibes/concepts from other military-themed movies like Stripes (1981) and Full Metal Jacket for example, and has fun with it.
 * 6) Great acting, Damon Wayans's role as Major Payne in particular.
 * 7) Plenty of memorable and/or enjoyable scenes featuring Major Payne or his group getting the spotlight (e.g The grenade training scene in itself).
 * 8) Fantastic humor. Many of the jokes are either remarkable, on point, referential, at times sophisticated, comedic, or flat-out humorous.
 * 9) Major Payne's personality as a hammy, wacky, ruthless, off-the-wall, free-spirited yet badass with a heart of gold is very timeless and hilarious to watch because of his comebacks, one-liners, quick quips, and his abrasively sarcastic, somewhat dark, edgy, facetious yet priceless sense of humor. All while being an inspirational and well-written character at the same time. (Check it out for yourself to see his best in its entirety and you be the judge)
 * 10) * Just looking at the cover of this movie shows his personality for how comedic he can be.
 * 11) There are tons of quotable, hilarious lines of dialogue from Major Payne himself such as: "Ble-Ble-Ble-Ble What are you laughing at, Pig Boy?", "Who's the dummy now?", ".. One tubby-tubby! Come on pork-chop! Two-tubby tubby!", "Hello Q-Balls! Welcome to the House of Payne!" and many more that were all done hilariously due to how it was delivered in an exaggerated, verbally abusive yet comedic manner.
 * 12) Almost everyone is given character development, especially how Major Payne is dealing with the cadets' mischief & irresponsibility he's also trained to be better than before. And this is also shown by how Payne was adapting to this environment and starting to like what he is doing when he was only trying to get back into the military in the first place, and then he needed to make a strong decision between the two, be there for his team (and lover) or going back into the military and ditching everyone he's grown attached to and was done decently.
 * 13) While his cadets didn't want to train for the games and hated Major Payne so much that they were trying to get rid of him for good, they then start getting used to Major Payne's way of teaching to the point that it got his students to imitate what he's said when they were all motivated and determined in succeeding at the military games, whether there was a setback or not.
 * 14) Hilarious ending with Major Payne's comically sadistic laugh.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some intentionally unlikeable characters include Cadet Alex's stepfather (played by Michael Ironside), who is an utterly abusive, usually drunk, and careless person towards his son who just visited him so he can get respect from his son, even when Alex sees how pathetic his stepfather is.
 * 2) * Some characters can have less of a personality in this film due to not having enough screen time, like Michael Ironside playing Alex's stepfather being a minor disappointment to those who are a fan of Michael Ironside.
 * 3) Major Payne's performance or his character can come off as too over-the-top, extreme, and grating to some viewers.
 * 4) * Major Payne's voice can also come off as annoying to some people.
 * 5) As mentioned in WIR #2, it has some ridiculous and weird context by how the story was executed.
 * 6) While the humor was done amazingly, there are some tongue-in-cheek jokes that can come off as jokes that would not pass off nowadays in cinema.
 * 7) * Some jokes are hit-or-miss with minor jokes that can occasionally fall flat and some also don't age well like a 'yo mama joke or deaf/blind people jokes as examples of this (whether if it was funny or not).
 * 8) * Not to mention that some of the tongue-in-cheek jokes can sound harsh when you think about it.
 * 9) Some of the dialogue can have an occasionally inconsistent pace to a scene like some scenes having Payne continuously if metaphorically conversating to Tiger's mother for example.
 * 10) It's not well-received by critics.

Reception
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a critic approval rating of 33%, based on twelve reviews, but gave the film an audience approval rating of 68%. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "While 'Major Payne' is too predictable for most adults, it's an ideal entertainment for youthful audiences that allows Damon Wayans to be at his best in a dream part." Caryn James of The New York Times wrote, "Though the movie is rarely more clever than its title, Mr. Wayans gives the dark cartoonish comedy an irreverent edge."

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 3/4 stars, and called it a smart and funny satire of military films.

Trivia
1. To research his character, Damon Wayans endured several weeks of DI qualification training, learning the requirements of a Marine Corps Drill Instructor, as well as other aspects of Marine Corps training. Viewers can see several small things he does like the cadence of his walk, almost unconsciously correcting his cover after berating & getting in the face of each cadet, and the list goes on. A common sentiment among former DI's, not only in the Marines, but in all other branches, is their statement that one most be akin to an improvisational or stand-up comedian as a DI, since they constantly have to improvise on the spot, break down the cadets, come up with statements on the fly, and Wayans' prior experience as one was a huge asset.

2. The theme song playing when Major Payne is dreaming about being married with the picket fence is The Donna Reed Show (1958). The husband on that show was Alex Stone. Alex Stone is also the name of the cadet who leads the unit.

3. Despite the campy portrayal of Major Payne, his uniform shows the Scuba Diving Badge and Parachutist Badge. In the US Marine Corps, this almost certainly means that Payne came from an elite Marine Reconnaissance or Force Reconnaissance unit which would certainly justify his war grizzled character. Until the recent formation of the Marine Raider Regiment (itself formed by former Force Recon operators), Marine Force Recon was considered the very tip of the spear when it comes to the Marines' combat fighting elite.

4. In one scene, Major Payne tells the children, "Now apparently, what we have here, is a failure to communicate!" This is a famous quote taken from the movie Cool Hand Luke.

5. In the scene when Major Payne ( Wayans) first meets the cadets, he screams at one of them saying "I am not your damned brother" in fact, he's his uncle in real life. The cadet's real name is Damien Dante Wayans.

6. Damon Wayans' Payne character was dancing to "Pop that Coochie" by 2 Live Crew in the nightclub scene. Interestingly enough Wayans was having a real life feud with 2 Live Crew at the time due to a joke he told about the group during his comedy special, Damon Wayans: The Last Stand? (1991), when he called them "Gangstas with microphones". This prompted 2 Live Crew front man Luther Campbell to cut a response rant on Wayans and his show In Living Color (1990) on a track called "I Ain't Bullshittin' III", which coincidentally appears on the 'Sports Weekend' album. The same album that also features "Pop that Coochie".

7. Filmed at the same location as the 1991 film "Toy Soldiers".

8. When Major Payne encounters the blind cadet he mockingly refers to him as Ace Ventura. This was of course the breakthrough film role for Jim Carrey who co-starred with Damon Wayans on In Living Color.

9. Major Payne quotes 10 separate rhymes which are: Don't push the "maybes", baby.
 * Love my barracks night and day, Won't complain That's where I'll stay
 * Got no worry, got no stress! 'Cause we feel good in a dress.
 * Major Payne's a major diss. He makes us squat when we piss.
 * Got no worries, got no care. I'm just a bald headed son of a bitch without hair.
 * -Used to be Samson, now I'm Ann. Gotta earn my right to be called a man.
 * One! Don't you feel dumb. Two! Look at you.
 * Hey Dunn you missed all the fun. Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum. What beanstalk you fall from?

10. After the opening firefight and surrender of the drug cartel, Major Payne's HUMVEE can be seen driving past a sign that reads: Camp Pendleton Virginia. The only Camp Pendleton in Virginia is an army installation that is mainly used as a recreational facility with cabin rentals and the like. MCB Camp Pendleton (which is where Payne would be more likely to report) is actually in southern California.

11. The trailer for this movie contains a clip from a deleted scene in which Major Payne, to rouse the cadets for reveille, holds a cigarette lighter under the barracks' sprinkler system. The sprinklers kick in, soaking everybody while Payne struts among the bunks in full rain-gear. "RISE AND SHINE, PUKES!"

12. Willinger did 57 push ups during the film, 25 for sneezing on Major Payne, 25 for "speaking out of line", and 7 during the ROTC games.

Videos
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