Movies - Catch-22

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Catch-22 (film)

	Movies - Catch-22

Catch-22 is a 1970 film, adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. Mike Nichols was the director; the screenplay was written by Buck Henry, who also acted in the film.

Along with Henry, the cast included Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Norman Fell, and Orson Welles. Initially it was not regarded as a great success, earning less money and acclaim than M*A*S*H, another war-themed black comedy from the same year. In subsequent years, opinions of the film have been revised and it is now seen as one of the great satirical anti-war films.

Summary

The story follows the adventures and misadventures of Capt.Yossarian, a fictional World War II US Army Air Corps B-25 bombardier, and the other members of his squadron stationed on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa during World War II. The pacing of Catch-22 is frenetic, its tenor intellectual, and its tone largely absurdist, interspersed with brief moments of gritty, almost horrific, realism. Like the much later Pulp Fiction, the film does not follow a normal chronological progression. Rather, it is told as a series of flashbacks and dream sequences from thenpoint of view of the central character.

Plot

Captain Yossarian is desperate. As a bombadier with the 256th Bomber Squadron, he and his unit should have been rotated out of combat duty months ago. Unfortunately, his commanding officer Colonel Cathcart has dreams of making the papers with stories of how his command has flown more missions than any other, and keeps raising the minimum number of missions that each airman must fly. In an attempt to get out, Yossarian asks Doc Daneeka to ground him. The Doc explains that he would be happy to, but Catch-22 (logic) prevents him from doing so. Catch-22 states that in order to be excused duty, Yossarian must ask to be grounded on the basis of insanity BUT: only a sane man would recognise the dangers of flying and request to be grounded. By requesting permission not to fly, Yossarian has demonstrated that he is in fact sane enough to recognise the dangers of combat and is therefore fit for duty. The irony is that as the film goes on, the rest of the squadron descends into madness while Yossarian is the only one to remain sane.

Adaptation

The adaptation to film changed the book's plot substantially. Several story arcs are left out, and many characters in the movie speak the dialogue and experience the events of other characters in the book. This significantly alters the implications of some events.

It has often been said that the book was ultimately unfilmable and critics have accused the film of being a confusing mish-mash. The film's editing, however, does preserve the book's fragmented structure making associative leaps rather than conventional transitions from episode to episode.

Despite the changes in the screenplay Heller approved of the film, according to a commentary by Nichols and Steven Soderbergh included on a DVD release. According to Nichols, Heller was particularly impressed with a few scenes and bits of dialogue Henry created for the film, and said he wished he could have included them in the novel.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Catch-22 (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Catch-22 (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Catch-22

Summary

Plot

Adaptation

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay