I'm told it was panned when it came out. I saw it when it was released in 1970 soon after getting out of the Marines and thought it said a lot about human organization, social stratification, and idiosyncracies that are exposed in organizations.
Has 22 gained traction over the years as being something of a cult classic, or quasi-camp classic?
It always amazes me how ex US Marines seem far too literate - do you all have a lot of 'down' time for reading & contemplation ? You live on Ships so maybe - and if so - what an amazing way to broaden your horizons : Action / Adventure ........
..... Reading ! I swear i'm not takin da piss , just speaking as someone who was denied an education & is trying to make up 4 it so i'm interested , also i never know what 'quasi' means when used in conjunction with other words (or on it's own for that matter)..........
As for your post , i think Catch 22 is a Classic of Monster proportions , simply because you can use it as a reference to absurd bureaucratic situations anywhere in the world - and people instantly know what your on about , often with a smile !
I should have used the phrase "to some degree," I suppose in order to avoid blowing any O-rings in brain housing groups. I was never on a ship while in the Marines in the late 60. Catch-22 was also my experience while I was on a fire dept. As for reading, I never leave home without it. If I go into a bar, I always have something to read to blow off thirsty women. Not always, that is.
shareDespite disappointing reviews there was enough anticipation built up by the book's popularity and the talent involved that the movie was a big event in 1970, generating enough curiosity to gross $12 mil, which made it among the year's bigger hits. However....since it cost $18 mil to make (a huge amount at the time), wouldn't have attracted a large broadcast sale, and had no VHS/DVD sales to look forward to until it had largely been forgotten, it must be considered a financial flop.
shareIMDB shows the gross as $12,250,000, which presumably was a disappointment. Another online source disagrees rather wildly, showing the US gross (with accuracy that's either meaningful or deceptive) as $24,911,670.
In any event, I think that would be sort of middling - ahead of quite a few movies, at least by a little, but WAY off from the real hits: Love Story and Airport both broke $100 million.
Yeah, because of the book, there was enough curiosity to have people see it. I know it hung around from the summer of '70 until the winter or early Spring of '71. It's not a bad adaption at all as far as I'm concerned. But as somebody pointed out, it was very expensive, unlike the low budget MASH, which was based on a mediocre book. MASH was shot on a back lot, and they did not have the breathtaking planes taking off and landing - which I thought was outstanding in CATCH 22.
According to Mike Nichols' DVD commentary, they only shot an hour or two of film a day and this was usually at 3:00pm, the 'golden hour' or whatever you want to call it.
I don't think it was a failure, but due to the budget it was either a modest success or a disappointment. The thing that it was not was another MASH, which came out around the same time.