That’s Some Catch…

One Of The Greatest Anti-War War Movies of All Tim

Catch-22 (1970) – An American pilot tries everything to be relieved of combat flying, including being certified as insane. The problem is that there’s a catch to that question. An omnipresent, infallible stumbling block to the insanity all around it.

Directed by Mike Nichols

Starring – Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Art Garfunkel, Bob Newhart, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles

Why I Liked It – A fabulous representation of the insanity of war and human beings in general.

I read Joseph Heller’s brilliant book “Catch-22” in college. It was part of my exploration of the anti-war literature that emerged following the second World War and Viet Nam. That book, along with Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”, and others like “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman, were a huge new reading vista for me. But I never believed that “Catch-22” could ever be made into a movie. How do you manage the balancing act of gritty realism and rampant madness that beset Yossarian and the other pilots on the island of Pianola?

You start with a great director, and hand the script to a stunning “spot the stars” cast. Then you stand back and watch.

This cast is amazing. Arkin creates a believable Yossarian, the pilot who is certain everyone is trying to kill him. Colonel Cathcart, the unit commander, keeps increasing the number of flights the crews have to complete in order to be rotated out of combat. It looks like insanity is the fastest way out (Hello, Corporal Klinger!). But there’s that catch. Catch-22 says that if you’re insane, you can’t fly. You can only be relieved of your flying duties if you ask to be relieved. But if you ask to be relieved, you’re obviously not insane.

That’s some catch, that Catch-22.

There are so many finely etched characters in this story that it’s hard to get them the attention they deserve and that they get in the novel. Bob Newhart is perfect as the overwhelmed Major Major. A man thrust into a role that he is without qualification to hold, and trapped in his rank because the Army can’t lose its only officer named Major Major. Voight’s Milo Minderbinder is a more peripheral character than he is in the book, as an example. All the characters are created with superb skill, no matter how much screen time they get. Art Garfunkel as the naïve Nately, Jack Gilford as Doc Daneeka, the unit medical officer, who is “killed” in an airplane crash despite the fact that he never leaves the ground. The truly odious “Aarfy” Aardvark brought to life in all his fatuous, sleazy glory by Charles Grodin. I could go on and on, but watch the movie and keep your eyes open.

Is it a perfect film version of the book? No. Is it vastly superior to the version from 2019, in my opinion. That version felt like a white wash of the original. The novel is a product of its time, and there are a couple uncomfortable moments in it. The newer version felt like it scrubbed much of the unique madness away in trying to make it a more “modern” telling. Whether we like it or not, the first would be accurate for the time and place. We don’t have to like it or approve of it, but the story is lessened if we insist on creating a bowdlerized version. A story of this quality deserves better.

Rating – **** Recommended