Review of Catch-22 (1970) by Gabe S — 05 Jul 2007
Pretty great adaptation of Heller's seminal "war-is-madness" tome, with a head-turning cast of actors you know and love, back when they were fresh-faced kids. Yep, that's Charles Grodin as the pipe-smoking.
stoical creep who dives off the deep end near movie's conclusion. Yep, that's Jon Voight as the unscrupulous wheeler-dealer who turns Hitler Youth, brokering a deal with enemy forces to destroy huge portions of his own air base.
And, yes, that's Christopher Guest staple and master of the deadpan Bob Balaban as Orr, the smiling, placid, seemingly nutty young pilot who provides one of the film's only glimmers of hope amid jabs at a dark, twisted military system trying to ensure its might and legacy as it places a cocked pistol to its own temple.
Nichols strikes a very potent balance between laughing at what's killing you and the actual horror of being killed by it. And Arkin is great, with a grand platform to meld his killer comic instinct from "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" with his twitchy, infinitely humane brand of "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" melancholy.
Quite good.
This review of Catch-22 (1970) was written by Gabe S on 05 Jul 2007.
Catch-22 has generally received positive reviews.
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