Private Benjamin

Before he fell victim to the debilitating Hollywood law that demands comedy star vehicles be written by committee, Zieff showed in Slither and Hollywood Cowboy a real flair for enhancing off-the-wall fun material. But Private Benjamin, concocted by no less than three scribes from a collective semi-consciousness bounded by re-runs of MASH and No Time for Sergeants, lodges gracelessly alongside House Calls and The Main Event as an anonymous chore for its director. Another depressing example of the big-screen gag-string sitcom, it turns exclusively on a plot that grew from a concept that developed from an idea that somebody should never have had - Goldie Hawn joins the army.