Review of Catch-22 (1970) by Dave A — 29 Jun 2008

If ever there was a classic book which is impossible to translate to film, surely this is it, and yet not only did Mike Nichols succeed, the film is actually better than the book. Ok, a lot of details are glossed over, otherwise the film would have been about 20 hours long, but the essence is there (and to be honest I think the book is overly long and meandering).

The non chronological, cut up narative works perfectly. Adequately casting a film with so many strong characters would seem to be an impossible task, but the choices made are faultless (I don't know how Orson Welles, Bob Newhart and Art Garfunkel can work so perfectly in the the same film!).

Anarchic, riotous, often bleak but ultimately triumphant, this is probably the single most underrated film ever made.