MovieChat Forums > Catch-22 (1970) Discussion > One of the best films ever...

One of the best films ever...

posted 15 years ago by caroline-mode
7 replies | jump to latest

The book is very good, the film is different and brilliant. I saw it first when I was about 15, I remember what an extraodrinary experience it was. Thrilled every single minute. Amused.
10 years later I tried to watchit with some friends, they were bored with it and made me stop it. Guess not for everybody.
Now, again 10 years later I bumped into the film again, watched it, curious if It´s still good, hell it is.. That´s what I call a good film.

I keep wondering if there is some kind of a chart of 100 top films which is picked out carefully.. I had a look at IMDB top films and there´s so much junk next to a few good films...
You can´t take it seriously as a recommendation or anything.. Just sorry about it.

[–] jammerjax 15 years ago

Well I saw this film many years ago in the 90's for the first time on HBO and it never left my mine either.And now I have it on DVD and it's great to see it again after all these years too.

This film was a great satire on the second world war too,and I loved the fact that is wasn't a lot of killings in the film.And the fun of being in a war;fighting in a war and living though it.This was a nicely directed film that was not pro war or against it aswell so this war satire was a film that anybody can enjoy without having an entire country being blowup so anyone who likes war film that are satire this the one to see.

[–] corgi37 15 years ago

I'd seen the film a few times on tv before i got to read the book. I had always adored the film and wondered why many critics never raved about it.

Then i read the book and i can see why. This film could be re-made & more faithful to the book & it would be awesome. I dont hate it. In fact, i still like the movie very much.

But the book is one of the greatest novels of the 20th century - pretty hard to match that i guess.

[–] trymyproduct11 15 years ago

That's always the problem, though, isn't it? Taken on its own, it's an excellent piece of cinema. Of course it doesn't compare to the brilliant insanity of Heller's book. I came into this with very low expectations, thinking "how could they possibly pull this off?" and I was shocked to discover that it was actually really good, up there with Dr. Strangelove as one of the great black comedies.

[–] netshopper-2 15 years ago

How was the box office? It doesn't seem to be one of the first films mentioned when people discuss the great work of Mike Nichols. I found it a little too weird to enjoy.

[–] toysmusiccenter 15 years ago

The book made me laugh out loud. I never imagined that it could be possible to turn the book into a film. WAYYYY too much going on in the book.

But the movie did an admirable job, I thought. It ensnared the best and the biggest parts of the book, as well as the funniest, and translated them beautifully for the screen.

[–] EdgarST 14 years ago

One great thing about "Catch-22" is its wide-screen format. I remember it was awesome on a big screen when it was released.

[–] shepardjessica-1 10 years ago

I think it's undervalued. It's not as great as the book (which has so many characters), but it was my #5 that year.