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Catch-22 (Mike Nichols, 1970)
Deeply flawed, but highly-absurdist WWII satire with a tremendous cast: Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Susanne Benton, Peter Bonerz, Marcel Dalio, Liam Dunn, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Charles Grodin, Buck Henry, John Korkes, Richard Libertini, Bob Newhart, Austin Pendleton, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, John Voight, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Wilson, etc. The movie begins with one of the greatest single shots in film history, involving the actual departure of many bombers from a Mediterranean landing strip, leadng up to the introduction of some of the key characters, and culminating in the knifing of the lead character. David Watkin's cinematography is mind-boggling, but this opening scene pretty much takes the cake, at least cinematically.
The film is a rarity: a big-budget, American surrealistic, absurdist comedy. It contains some incredible scenes, including what happens to Snowden, some scenes which truly look like the cast are flying the bombers in the sky, and the finale, which attempts to cinematically top the opening shot, but falls just a bit short. This is the kind of movie where you spend equal amounts of time laughing out loud and yelling "WTF?" at the TV. It's full of entertainment, but I believe most people will have lots of problems with the last half. Even so, this is one film I believe everyone should watch. As far as I know, this is the only cinematic version of Catch-22 which we currently have, so love it for now.
Deeply flawed, but highly-absurdist WWII satire with a tremendous cast: Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Susanne Benton, Peter Bonerz, Marcel Dalio, Liam Dunn, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack Gilford, Charles Grodin, Buck Henry, John Korkes, Richard Libertini, Bob Newhart, Austin Pendleton, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, John Voight, Orson Welles, Elizabeth Wilson, etc. The movie begins with one of the greatest single shots in film history, involving the actual departure of many bombers from a Mediterranean landing strip, leadng up to the introduction of some of the key characters, and culminating in the knifing of the lead character. David Watkin's cinematography is mind-boggling, but this opening scene pretty much takes the cake, at least cinematically.
The film is a rarity: a big-budget, American surrealistic, absurdist comedy. It contains some incredible scenes, including what happens to Snowden, some scenes which truly look like the cast are flying the bombers in the sky, and the finale, which attempts to cinematically top the opening shot, but falls just a bit short. This is the kind of movie where you spend equal amounts of time laughing out loud and yelling "WTF?" at the TV. It's full of entertainment, but I believe most people will have lots of problems with the last half. Even so, this is one film I believe everyone should watch. As far as I know, this is the only cinematic version of Catch-22 which we currently have, so love it for now.