Catch-22

A brand new print of this classic film, perfect and awesome. A great movie; just to have for the future as an example of great comedy with a serious message. Heller wrote the book after World War 2 to warn us about the insanity of war in general, but more specifically about those who profit while others must be counted among the missing, the maimed & the dead. Beware the Milo Minderbinder's!

Growing up in the '60s, I thought that Joseph Heller's Catch 22 was one of the great literary achievements of my lifetime -- and I still do. When Mike Nichols' film version came out in 1970, I was disappointed. I'm not sure why I felt that way, except that it's impossible to capture the richness and the many layers of Heller's satyric masterpiece. Just today, I [watched]the recently released DVD version of this film ...for the first time in 30 years. All I can say is, I was blown away. I can't imagine what my 20-year-old self was thinking in 1970 ... this is simply one of the greatest films I have ever seen. Start with David Watkins' astonishing cinematgraphy ... it's reason enough to buy the DVD version. ...he does more dazzling things in the first 10 minutes than all the multimillion dollar special effects in .... There's one scene midway through the film, when Watkins shoots from in front of Yossarian's B-25 in flight -- with his entire squadron behind him -- that has to be seen to be believed. Seeing it again, Buck Henry's script is a masterful adaption of Heller's Rabelasian masterpiece. I think he captures the essense of the novel and even makes a couple of useful additions. Seeing the way he uses the comic elements reminds me of Robert Heinlein's explanation of humor: "We laugh because it hurts to much to cry." (from Stranger in a Strange Land, the OTHER seminal book of my youth!) Alan Arkin's Yossarian is superb -- The highest praise I can give is that it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the role. But the supporting performances are also uniformly excellent -- from Jon Voight to Martin Balsam to Bob Newhart to Jack Gilford to Bob Balaban to Martin Sheen to Art Garfunkel (in his first role). Special mention to Charles Grodin, especially in his final scene after mudering the young girl. One other performance deserves special mention -- the final film appearance of the great Marcel Dalio. Although only on screen for a brief time as the old man in the Roman whorehouse, his performance is, I believe pivotal to the film. It's the moment where the light, almost farcial tone of the film turns into a dark, Fellinieque nightmare. Watch Dalio after he finishes his conversion with Garfunkel, while Arkin takes over the dialogue and the old man sits quietly in the foreground, saying nothing, but continuing his lecture to Garfinkel with his eyes. There's so much more I could rave about .... Pardon my enthusiam. I'm still too overwhelmed by my viewing of the DVD (with a very, very useful commentary by Michael Nichols and Steve Sodenbergh) to sort everything out. But one of the DVD extras did help me understand just a little bit why the movie wasn't more successful -- it had to boast the worst theatrical trailer ever made. ....

I just wasn't sure if this film was going to amuse me like it did when I first saw it in the theatre. It'd been so long since I'd pulled my VHS copy off the shelf I just wasn't sure, I mean it's happened to me before on a couple of films. Just seeing the cast again was almost worth the price of admission: Richard Benjamin, Alan Arkin, Bob Newhart, Jon Voight and Buck Henry. There are many more but if you're reading this review to decide on buying the movie then I'll spare you the others as half the fun of the movie is seeing these performers in this film. Now, there are so many quotable lines in this movie that I can't begin to list them. Hey, the movie is flawed. In other words, no, it isn't perfect for some of the reasons stated in other reviews but the fact is any movie buff, or rabid fan of dark, dark comedy will appreciate and fully enjoy Catch 22 in its entirety. "That's some catch that Catch 22." The book is incredible, too. I originally read it in high school and loved it. Seeing the filmed version a few years later was just icing on the cake.

This movie Catch 22; was very good, it is a war time "weird twist" on the fact that service men are actually signed up to fight or swap their own life to become a prisoner themselves. Being attached by a Contract they sign, to do anything they are told to do, or die trying to do just that; which makes them caught between the rights and the wrongs of the whole deal, Catch 22. That would really bite a big one, kudos to those finding themselves here.

No lo he podido devolver porque estoy de vacaciones y se me ha pasado el plazo. El DVD se vende en España pero no se puede reproducir en un aparato español. Es de México donde hay otro sistema. Ya escribí este comentario pero recibí el aviso de que no se puede publicar. Soy cliente frecuente en Amazon pero tendré que pensar seriamente si sigo comprando si no me hacen caso con esta compra inútil. Estoy muy decepcionada.

Ce film est particulièrement intéressant pour étudier ce que Linda Aronson (auteur indispensable si vous écrivez des scénarios !) appelle un"life-changing incident flashback", càd un évènement traumatisant subi par un personnage mystérieux et qui est expliqué peu à peu jusqu'à ce que le mystère au centre du film soit dévoilé intégralement. Le film souffre un peu de manque de clarté à certains moments, ce qui a dérouté le grand public. Mais ce défaut est largement compensé par la force de ce film atypique à regarder comme tel. On aime ou on déteste ! Je ne veux pas insister sur les autres aspects positifs du film (humour noir, distribution prestigieuse, prises de vue, etc.), puisqu'ils sont mentionnés dans les autres critiques.

Den Roman "Catch 22" - in der DDR im Verlag "Volk und Welt" erschienen unter dem Titel "Der IKS-Haken" - des amerikanischen Autors Joseph Heller filmisch umzusetzen erfordert einiges Geschick. Das Buch hatte ich, als ich es das erste Mal las, im Jahr 1976, vielen Freunden weiter empfohlen. Interessanterweise konnte diejenigen den tiefen Sinn dieses Anti-Kriegs-Romans am besten nachvollziehen, die selbst in der sog. Nationalen Volksarmee dienen mussten. Andere Leser konnten eher weinger damit anfangen, ihnen schien manches nicht glaubwürdig oder zu sehr überspitzt. Bevor man sich den Film ansieht, das meine Empfehlung, sollte man das Buch gelesen haben. Natürlich: der Film ist in die Jahre gekommen und es gibt keine restaurierte Fassung. Aber die schauspielerischen und die Regieleistung sind bemerkenswert. Großes Kino.

I deliberately ordered this DVD (movie version of Catch-22) on Amazon Australia mistakenly thinking that I would be sent an item that would work on an Australian DVD player. Unfortunately the DVD was sent from the USA and is formated to play on USA machines. It's not much good to me. Catch-22, eh???

Interesting film, almost as good as the book. Catch 22 now a complete reality.