The proto-Beatnik and one of the main characters in the famous
1970 war/comedy
Kelly's Heroes.
Oddball is self explanatory. He is a
laid-back tank crewman with an optimistic often misunderstood personality. He enjoys barking like a dog. His voice always sounds stoned.
Example:
"Why don't you knock it off with them
negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?"
----Sgt Oddball
"To a New Yorker like you, a hero is
some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three tigers"
----Sgt Oddball
Oddball: "I'm drinking wine and eating cheese, and catching some rays, you know."
" Ah, Bellamy,
for cryin' out loud. That's the the stinking, most awful, stupid joke and you're always pullin' that stinking awful stupid joke. You don't want in this thing, you don't get in this thing.
I cut you out of everything. I don't need you. Sixty feet of bridge I can get almost anywhere. Schmuck!"
----Sgt Oddball
"Well, yeah, man, you see, like, all the tanks we come up against are bigger and better than ours, so all we can hope to do is, like, scare 'em away, y'know. This gun is an ordinary 76mm but we add this piece of pipe onto it, and the Krauts think, like, maybe it's a 90mm. We got our own ammunition, it's filled with paint. When we fire it, it makes... pretty pictures. Scares the hell outta people! We have a loudspeaker here, and when we go into battle we play music, very loud. It kind of... calms us down"
----Sgt Oddball