MovieChat Forums > Catch-22 (1970) Discussion > I finally spotted Hungry Joe, before he ...

I finally spotted Hungry Joe, before he gets cut in two!

posted 17 years ago by rac701
6 replies | jump to latest

After watching the film many times since 1970, I finally spotted two brief appearances of the character of Hungry Joe, played by Seth Allen, before he is cut in two (Kid Sampson, not Hungry Joe, was the character who was cut in two in the book, but I digress) by McWatt's plane's propeller on the raft at the beach.

In the scene in which General Dreedle arrives and exits his staff car outside the briefing room, seen by Yossarian and the others through the window, Hungry Joe is the photographer who is scrambling around the General's car trying to take a picture as Dreedle, Moodus and Dreedle's WAC (a nurse in the book) get out of the car. He can also be seen manuvering around trying to take photos at the medal ceremony in which Yossarian appears naked.

Blink and you'll miss him, but that's Hungry Joe!

[–] sd187 16 years ago

Loved the film (8 out of 10), but that scene with Hungry Joe totally confused the hell out of me.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] JohnFK 16 years ago

Why do you find that scene confusing?

[–] sd187 16 years ago

B/C I didn't know who Hungry Joe was.

[–] ridge-m-1 16 years ago

The inside story of the lack of screen time for Hungry Joe is the unfortunate fact that Mike Nichols and Seth Allen had a falling out during filming. Consequently, Allen's scenes were left on the cutting room floor. The scene on the raft where Hungry Joe is cut in half is pivotal to the movie and a very difficult shot to boot. Very unfortunate, considering the disjointed time line and the near impossibility of fleshing out all of the characters.