Mired in production difficulties and problems from day one, 1970’s Catch-22 manages to be an entertaining, black comedy about war and the absurdity involved with it. Mike Nichols took on the task of bringing Joseph Heller’s brilliant novel to the screen, but Buck Henry tinkered with the book so much that much of it was almost unrecognizable on screen. Nevertheless, Heller approved of the finished product.
That’s not to say many others did, however, as the picture didn’t do well at all with critics or at the box office. It is now seen as somewhat of a cult film. There is some good stuff in Catch-22, even if there isn’t really a discernable cohesive narrative or thread to follow. The characters are entertaining, the script is witty and entertaining, and the tone of the movie is deeply sardonic and rich with dark humour.
Alan Arkin stars as Captain Yossarian, a U.S. Army bombardier stationed in Pianosa during World War II. He is continually dispatched on dangerous missions and watches his friends die. The whole thing is driving him a little bit crazy, so he tries to escape combat duties. The problem is the “catch-22” employed by the army: a pilot is crazy to fly more missions but sane if he doesn’t want to and the only way to be grounded is to be determined crazy. In other words, flying the missions would prove the man to be crazy, but asking not to fly them would only prove sanity and, thus, would mean more missions.
Nichols’ film becomes concerned with how various people cope with such convoluted logic. We explore various characters along with Yossarian, including Lt. Milo Minderbinder (Jon Voight) and his bizarre black market scheme, Major Major (Bob Newhart) and his inability to do his newly-assigned job, and Captain “Aarfy Aardvark” (Charles Grodin) and his commission of murder.
Catch-22 had some difficulty going up against MASH in 1970 and was Paramount’s big gamble against the powerhouse picture from Robert Altman. Catch-22 tried largely to bank on star power, using the likes of Anthony Perkins, Art Garfunkel, Orson Welles, and Martin Sheen in the picture. In the end, it was the lack of cohesive narrative that probably cost it the most, as it can be a little hard to follow with its reliance on flashbacks and bizarre sequences.
In that respect, though, Nichols does capture the absurdity of the war. His use of strangely convoluted logical corners and David Watkin’s cinematography make for interesting aspects, helping drive the movie into some truly odd places. Newhart’s performance, for instance, is devilishly comic and reinforces the sense of incompetence flowing through this particular military base. Keep an eye out for the changing pictures on the wall in Major Major’s new office, too.
Of course, doing justice to Heller’s peculiar tour de force is going to be an uphill climb and Nichols’ picture doesn’t quite do it. While Heller’s novel was so batshit crazy that it made sense, Nichols’ movie adaptation doesn’t quite work with the ultimate irrationality of the concept of the catch-22. Instead, it takes bits and pieces from the book and attempts to find its own ground. It makes nothing out of Yossarian’s insane insanity, choosing instead to play it extraordinarily straight in a sea of absurd supporting characters.
That said, there are still plenty of reasons to check out Catch-22. The performances are solid from top to bottom, even if they do employ many of the anti-war movie stereotypes from time to time, and the cinematography and meshing of the violent with the comically absurd is worth a look as well. Nichols certainly doesn’t knock this one out of the park, but there’s enough goofy, bizarre fun within Catch-22 to make it worthy of a recommendation.
6.9/10
