Review of Catch-22 (1970) by Grant S — 02 Jun 2018

Great satire on the insanity and inanity of war.

WW2, the Mediterranean theatre. Captain Yossarian is the bombardier of a B-25 medium bomber. His squadron's missions largely involve bombing targets on the Italian mainland. A veteran of countless missions, he has become cynical about the war and pessimistic about his chances of surviving. He should have been rotated home a long time ago, but the Wing's Commanding Officer, Colonel Cathcart, keeps raising the number of missions required to rotate out. Yossarian hits upon a plan to get sent home. However, there's a catch.

Great satire on the insanity and inanity of war, based on Joseph Heller's brilliant novel. Very funny, showing the silliness of bureaucracy, military rules and leadership and inept leadership in general. Over-the-top in its amping up and criticism of these structures. Some good general humour too.

It's not all comedy though. Shows the consequences and casualties of the rules and ineptitude and does so quite dramatically.

Great performances from an all-star cast. Alan Arkin is superb as Yossarian. Supporting cast are a who's who of the entertainment industry: Martin Balsam, Orson Welles, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen (in his third movie), Art Garfunkel, Jon Voight, Norman Fell, Bob Balaban.

However, helps if you haven't read the book. I first watched this soon after having read the book and wasn't impressed. The novel is one of my favourite books of all time and the movie didn't capture what made the book so great - the clever, funny descriptions of situations. The movie tries to replicate these through visual gags and dialogue but, while these work fairly well, they don't quite have the impact. The movie suffers badly if compared directly to the book.

Rewatching the movie now, more than 20 years since reading the book, I now appreciate how good the movie is in its own right.