WHO STABBED YOSSARIAN?

It was Nately's whore.

First of all, I would like to remind folks to avoid spoilers in the subject lines of these entries. Sometimes I would like to know a little about a movie I have not seen yet, and I do appreciate knowing which entries to skip over.


Anyway, yes, it was Nately's whore, and Mike Nichols says on the DVD commentary that he regretted not making that more clear in the film, because he's met a lot of folks who were not clear on that.

Well according to Joseph Heller, it was Nately's Whore, And I think he should know since he wrote the book..... The Character in the movie, seen in the opening scenes best, is bent over with their back to the camera raking the dust and wearing drab clothing, So from the camera's view pretty much unidentifiable. But in the scene at the end of the movie when Yossarian is in the Infirmary talking with Major Danby and Chaplain Tappman, he states unequivocably that it was Nately's Whore that stabbed him.

Mike Nichols acknowledged that Nately's whore stabbed Yossarian and he said he regretted making some of the facts and sequences in the film as obscure as they were. I didn't really have trouble following the story though.

There is no argument.

It was Nately's whore.

I have read the book maybe a dozen times. It was her alright.

I don't think there can be any doubt -

1. The hospital conversation and

2. I watched it with subtitles. It says "Nately's Whore: Assasino!"

I don't think there's any reason, artistic or otherwise, to look elsewhere. It's pretentious to do so.





Awight we're The Daamned we're a punk baand and this is called Carn't Be Appy T'day!

Watch the movie again looking specifically for Nately's whore. Bear in mind that this actress is 5'9" tall and is decidedly a full figured Italian woman. Now Alan Arkin in 5'9 1/2" tall, yet the figure who stabs Arkin is quite a bit shorter (more than 1/2 inch shorter)and more to the point, the figure is slim resembling a young man. It is quite inconceivable to me how Nately's Italian whore could ever be mistaken for a slim young man, let alone fit into the baggy fatigues outfit worn by the stabber. I understand that at the end of the novel CATCH 22 Heller states that Nately's whore stabs Yossarian. The exact wording is: "...the private in green fatigues turned suddenly into Nately's whore." Sounds more like a magic act than the writing of a literary genius like Heller. Also there is no serious attempt to capture the stabber even after the second stabbing attempt so we really don't know for sure. This only serves to illustrate that when novels are made into a movie they are put through a grinder and lord only knows what comes out. This is especially true when the director is a scary genius like Mike Nichols. As a final example we have the 'old man in the whorehouse' who engages Nately in a long conversation. In the novel the old man is supposed to be totally Italian. And yet in the movie he is played by an actor who is a French national who is also Jewish and in the movie makes no attempt at all to hide his French accent.