The Private War of Major Benson

Cutesy little comedy that tries hard but trips over its own obviousness. Hard-nosed army Major Charlton Heston is unwillingly dispatched to a lax military school to shape up the boys' failing ROTC program. There's an immediate clash of backgrounds that provides some comedic potential, but I suspect this is a film Heston would just as soon forget. The trouble is he's miscast-- Moses just doesn't do pratfalls well. And here, unfortunately, he does a lot of them. The comedy is clumsily done, with a real lack of timing , and is not helped by the many blaring close-ups of the precious little Tim Hovey, who I'm sure many find adorable-- which he may be, but in very small doses. After about the 20th close-up of "how cute I am", my dinner began to rebel. I kept wishing a really digestible kid like Alfalfa or Spanky had been available . With a more jaundiced eye, better direction, and appropriate casting, this might have made a humorous little 90 minutes. As it stands, the only interest is to aficionados of early Sal Mineo.