Catch 22 [DVD]

Mike Nichols directed this cinematic adaptation by Buck Henry of Joseph Heller’s scathing, iconic novel, “Catch 22.” Fresh from the success of the anti-establishment hit “The Graduate,” the pair attempted to present an anti-war treatise, epitomised in Heller’s prose. A tale of a small group of flyers in the Mediterranean in 1944, the story centres on Captain Yossarian, a pilot who is manic in his desire to fly no more missions and haunted by the death of a gunner. Yossarian’s plea that he is mad falls on deaf ears - if a pilot knows that flying is a death mission, he is clearly not mad. There are winners, losers, opportunists, and survivors; separately and together they are nervous, frightened, often profane and sometimes pathetic and almost all are a little crazy. Despite slavish adherence to the novel’s plot, Nichols never quite manages to capture the book’s anarchic flavour and thorny, intelligent wit. Nevertheless the film still serves as a timely reminder of the lunacy of combat and Heller’s titular clause retains a stinging indictment on the sanctioned idiocy of war. An all star cast includes Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen, Jon Voight, Orson Welles and Bob Newhart.