Thanks to this film, I can never entirely think of "Private Benjamin" as a comedy about a society girl in the army (not that this one doesn't have a lot of funny moments, of the very strange kind). "Hessian" is right - it's so strange, you almost have to either love or hate it, and I'm completely attached to it. With the kinds of actors in it, it's really hard to think of anyone as especially standing out, but (as attached as I've always been to Burt Lancaster) the answer would almost have to be Patrick O'Neal as Beckman. It took me a long while to think of it, but he's almost like the Eleanor character in The Haunting, because of the way he's taken over by the castle completely, and his "private war" with the major because of it. One of the best scenes was between him and Private Benjamin (played by Al Freeman Jr.), who was pictured as his "soulmate" in a way. Beckman admitted that he'd been a war hero (before the beginning of the story), but he wrote it off as being temporarily crazy. Benjamin said, "But you'd fight to save this castle." Beckman said, "Yes - but I don't know who. Which side."
One of the best funny lines was one of Peter Falk's - "Swim the moat? What the hell war is this?"
One of the best funny lines was one of Peter Falk's - "Swim the moat? What the hell war is this?"