Catch.22-Overview.pdf

Catch-22 (1970)

Catch-22 is a 1970 war film adapted from the book of the

same name by Joseph Heller. Considered a black comedy

revolving around the "lunatic characters" of Heller's satirical

novel, the film was mired in production problems and

artistic issues that led to its commercial failure.

Although a talented production team – which included

director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Buck Henry (who

also acted in the film) – worked on the film for two years,

the complex task of recreating a World War II bomber base

and translating an anti-war satire proved daunting. Besides

Henry, the cast included Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam,

Richard Benjamin, Norman Fell, Art Garfunkel, Jack

Gilford, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss,

Martin Sheen, Jon Voight and Orson Welles.

The story follows the adventures and misadventures of

Captain Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a fictional U.S. Army Air

Forces B-25 bombardier, and the other members of his

squadron stationed on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa

during World War II. Captain Yossarian is being sent on

bombing raids in Italy. He doesn't want to go - you have to

be mad to want to go. You can't be sent on bombing

missions if you're mad, and only a sane person would not

want to go, but if you're sane, then you're fit for the

bombing missions. And that's Catch-22. The pacing of

Catch-22 is frenetic, its tenor intellectual, and its tone

largely absurdist, interspersed with brief moments of gritty,

almost horrific, realism.

The film does not follow a normal chronological progression. Rather, it is told as a series of flashbacks and

dream sequences from the point of view of the central character. This gives the film a surreal, at times

nightmarish quality, where one sequence will run into another. After a while threads begin to emerge: characters

are dying off (although not as many as in the book), the men running the war care little for saving lives and are

more intent on taking them, and Yossarian has been deeply scarred by an incident with an injured pilot that

continues to haunt him.

Every scene in Catch-22 has a fascination for the serious film fan, the kind of kick that doesn't translate to a

regular audience. It plays like a shifting series of wild standup routines, that start with black comedy and become

ever more strange. All these familiar faces and interesting characters behaving like madmen... It's as if the clown

comedians in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) entertained us by shooting innocent bystanders, or dying

in gory car crashes. The dialogue is brilliant but cryptic; there's always the sense that we are going to be

victimized for trying to care about what happens to these reluctant bomber pilots.

In this nightmare war, part Twelve O'Clock High (1950), part Dante's Inferno (1935), there's nobody to latch onto.

It's a constant barrage of insanity: crazy characters in a crazy setting. As the jokes get sicker they begin to

resemble tortures, as when nurses swap the IV and urine bottles on a man in a full body cast. When traumatic

scenes pay off with gore as graphic as a Herschel Gordon Lewis film, well, theaters everywhere were emptied.

Even Paula Prentiss' full-frontal dream-sequence nude scene has a disturbing quality.

Much of the film is shot in long takes with complicated airplane maneuvers in the background; the fliers

complained that Nichols, an un-technical director, burned up their air-cooled engines by making them wait in

place on the hot Mexican runways. This is the film where helicopter cameraman John Jordan, who had already

sacrificed a foot shooting You Only Live Twice (1967), lost his life in yet another aerial filming accident. David

Watkin's camerawork is breathtaking, capturing the feel of the bright sunlight without making us squint to see

faces, and lighting some night scenes with only the illumination of the special effects explosions.

The adaptation to film substantially changed the book's plot. Several story arcs are left out, and many characters

in the movie speak the dialogue and experience the events of other characters in the book. Despite the changes

in the screenplay, Heller approved of the film, according to a commentary by Nichols and Steven Soderbergh

included on a DVD release. According to Nichols, Heller was particularly impressed with a few scenes and bits of

dialogue Henry created for the film, and said he wished he could have included them in the novel.

Paramount assigned a $17 million budget to the production and planned to film the key flying scenes for six

weeks, but the aerial sequences required six months to shoot resulting in the bombers flying a total of about

1,500 hours. They appear on screen for approximately 10 minutes.

Catch-22 has become renowned for its role in saving the B-25 Mitchell aircraft type from a possible extinction.

The film's budget could only accommodate 17 flyable B-25 Mitchells, and an additional non-flyable hulk was

acquired in Mexico, made barely ferry-able and flown with landing gear down to the Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico

filming location. The aircraft was burned and destroyed as part of the landing crash scene. The wreck was then

buried in the ground next to the runway, where it remains to this day.

For the film, mock upper turrets were installed, and to represent different models, several aircraft had the turrets

installed behind the wings representing early (B-25C/D type) aircraft. Initially, the camera ships also had the

mock turrets installed, but problems with buffeting necessitated their removal.

Many of the "Tallman Air Force" planes went on to have a career in films and television, before being sold off as

surplus. Fifteen of the 18 bombers used in the film still remain intact, including one on display at the Smithsonian

Institution's National Air and Space Museum.

Catch-22 was not regarded as a great success with either the public or critics, earning less money and acclaim

than M*A*S*H , another war-themed black comedy from the same year. "Paramount spent a great deal of money

on Catch-22, but it wound up getting trumped by another 1970 antiwar farce: Robert Altman's MASH." Film

historians and reviewers Jack Harwick and Ed Schnepf characterized it as deeply flawed, noting that Henry's

screenplay was disjointed and that the only redeeming features were the limited aerial sequences.

Trivia

George C. Scott turned down the role of Colonel Cathcart, saying he had effectively played the same part in Dr.

Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).

While on a tirade in his office, Major Major walks past a framed photo of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In a

continuous shot, he paces around his office, and when he passes the picture again, it is of Winston Churchill, as

he makes one more round of his office and grabs the fake mustache out of his filing cabinet, the photo has

changed to that of Joseph Stalin.

Paul Simon was originally going to be in the film, but his role was written out.

Director Mike Nichols wanted 36 B-25's to create the big Army Air Force base, but the budget couldn't stretch to

more than 17 flyable Mitchells. An additional non-flyable hulk was acquired in Mexico, made barely ferry-able and

flown with landing gear down to location, only to be burned and destroyed in the landing crash scene. The wreck

was then buried in the ground next to the runway, where it remains to this day.

The film has one of the longest, most complex uninterrupted scenes ever made. In the scene, where two actors

are talking against a background, 16 of the 17 planes, four groups of four aircraft, took off at the same time. As

the scene progresses, the actors entered a building and the same planes were seen through the window,

climbing into formation. The problem was, for every take, the production manager has to call the planes back and

made to take off again for every take of the particular scene. This was done four times.

Second Unit Director John Jordan refused to wear a harness during a bomber scene. While giving a hand signal

to another airplane from the tail gunner position in the camera plane, he lost his grip and fell 4,000 feet to his

death.

Stacy Keach was originally cast as Colonel Cathcart when shooting started, but things did not work out, and

Charles Grodin (I) (who had already been cast as Capt. Aarfy Aardvark) was asked to take over. As the part was

written for an older man, old age make-up was experimented with for a few days, until it was decided to cast

Martin Balsam instead, and Grodin returned to his original part.

This is the first American film to show an actor on the toilet - Martin Balsam, playing opposite 'Anthony Perkins'.

Ten years earlier, the first American film to show a toilet was Psycho (1960)... starring Martin Balsam and

'Anthony Perkins'.

The film has no original musical score.

The actor who played the wounded airman had to share his costume with several pounds of offal that made it

look as if his intestines had been exposed by the injury.

The Mexico location shooting took six months to complete because cinematographer 'David Watkin' would only

film between 2pm to 3pm to get the same lighting.

Orson Welles tried to acquire the rights to the novel so that he could film it. He had to be content with playing the

part of General Dreedle.

Since the filming of Catch-22 (1970) took longer than planned, Art Garfunkel wasn't able to make it back to New

York in time to start writing and recording the Simon & Garfunkel album "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Angered

by the delay, Paul Simon wrote the track "The Only Living Boy in New York" about the incident. The lyrics "Tom,

get your plane right on time/I know your part'll go fine/Fly down to Mexico" were a thinly veiled attack aimed at

Garfunkel (who was "Tom" of Simon & Garfunkel's earlier incarnation, Tom & Jerry) leaving Simon alone in New

York to write the bulk of the album himself.

According to his book, "Kiss Me Like A Stranger", Gene Wilder was the original choice for Lt. Milo Minderbinder,

but he turned the role down, citing creative differences, and instead accepted the dual role he plays in Start the

Revolution Without Me (1970)

The squadron patch on Yossarian's leather A-2 flight jacket -- a female nude riding a descending bomb, hurling a

bolt of lightning -- was the actual patch of Joseph Heller's 488th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), one of four

B-25 squadrons (the others being the 486th, 487th, and 489th) in the 340th Bombardment Group (Medium)

during World War II.

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: