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I watched the movie "Catch 22" last night. Alan Arkin has the main role, although the cast is a multitude of young faces with whom we have become very familiar over the years. I believe it was made in the early 70's. It was based on the Joseph Heller novel of the same name.
It is a relevant work to our world, though set in the time of WWII. War is war, a significant point of “Catch 22", and until we stop having them, we all might benefit from some of the thought that this movie evokes.
The hook isn't great enough in some of these older movies. We have progressed from that technology, and our children have grown up with quality and ability. These movies don’t all start with “punch” so the kids don't always stick around for the whole thing, you know?
But there was a reason I liked these movies -and my kids have come to see that most movies on my list are well worth seeing, at least once.
(The movies "Deer Hunter" and "Glory" should be played in all public middle schools. I think Rocky Horror and Monty Python should be a part of all high school programs too- I would also show them some of the old "black-and-whites, with people like Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, and Sidney Portier, to name a few- To me, THAT would be “no child left behind”-)
So, “Catch 22" - There was a scene where Bob Newhart, playing Major Major, after being promoted to a position he didn't know how to run solely based on the fact that his last name was Major- and they needed a 'Major', instructed his subordinate that he could only allow people in his office to see him after he had climbed out of the window. So people would walk into an empty office. Okay, remember this is the movie where the guy doesn't want to fly and bomb anymore and can't get out of the military because only a sane person wants to get out of war, and if you’re crazy, you would want to stay, or at least not ask to get out. Crazy people CAN opt out. Catch 22.
A very young Jon Voight (here comes a spoiler) trades all the parachutes for commodities for profit, unbeknownst to the guys in the planes. Martin Sheen, Charles Grodin, even Art Garfunkel. Fun movie full of irony and messages still (even?) potent today.
Where DO you put a medal on the chest of a naked guy?
-Weird but very thoughtful. Not too dark, but somewhat "shady". I liked it, but I'm an optimist with a huge dose of cynic. I laughed out-loud a lot, but seldom with a sense of light heartedness. -If that's what you're looking for "Stripes" is a much better choice.
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Elizabeth Maksymiuk
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