Catch-22 May 17 on Hulu (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Love that they have made this and really look forward to seeing it. I've never watched anything on Hulu so that will be a first.

Would be wonderful if they could get Mike Nichols film out on blu-ray as it sits atop my most wanted list...but you know, Paramount.

 

[Radioman970]

with me it's more about getting that movie on blu. i just didn't like the previews of this show. it's like the redo of TZ, just not so sure. Although the recent sci-fi one with the people on a space ship looks excellent, the preview seems to give away so much.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Count me in as waiting for the film on blu.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Don't have to wait for the blu; just got a screener for Emmy nod season (woo hoo). But I am very concerned that there is zero buzz about this series and it has certainly not inspired much by way of this thread. Yes, it would be tough to match the sheer directing/acting power of the Mike Nichols film (or even just Bob Newhart as Major Major), but it seems they could do a lot more justice to the full spectrum of the novel in six hours. Anyway, if no one else chimes in, I'll put my two cents in after screening.

 

[cinemiracle]

Don't have to wait for the blu; just got a screener for Emmy nod season (woo hoo). But I am very concerned that there is zero buzz about this series and it has certainly not inspired much by way of this thread. Yes, it would be tough to match the sheer directing/acting power of the Mike Nichols film (or even just Bob Newhart as Major Major), but it seems they could do a lot more justice to the full spectrum of the novel in six hours. Anyway, if no one else chimes in, I'll put my two cents in after screening.

i thought it was a brilliant series-liked it better than the original movie..

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

The real Catch is trying to do justice to a novel that is of its time and place and mood.

The film captures the absurdity of the novel better and condenses it to it's most salient points. The series, by nature of expanding on all the random events in the story, just succeeds in running some of these points into the ground. I also had a hard time telling anyone apart in the series since the young unknown faces were almost interchangeable. The film also succeeds better here because, through brilliant casting, you immediately grasp the character and type from an actor who's work you are already familiar with.

I mean Bob Newhart as Major Major just can't be topped. And once you get his reluctance to ever step up to the responsibility of the rank or actually meet anyone, the joke is over, you don't need to belabor the point. I submit that the Major should always have been a Minor character, as in the film.

Anthony Perkins as the neurotic chaplain fidgeting through his helplessness to help anyone. Perfect. He couldn't even 'help' a fly.

I'm seeing Jon Voight as Milo in a whole new light witnessing his near fascist embrace of capitalism at all costs by the end of the film. We should have seen that persona and cheerleader coming for the actor in real life, as well, lol.

Then you've got Orson Welles over George Clooney as the frustrated General. George tries to goofy it up, but he nowhere comes near the instant stature of Welles just walking into the scene.

You can't mess up the absurd ending of the novel,

Spoiler

which the film boldly embraces having Yossarian paddling off to Sweden per Orr in a rubber raft. Why does the series have him, sans clothes, just flying another mission? What kind of ultimate protest or symbolic gesture is that after all he's (we've) been through in six episodes? The mission count in the film is also much higher, getting up to 80 and not just 55.

Kyle Chandler does an acceptable job as Colonel Cathcart, but oh do I miss the moment where he's barking commands while still wiping his ass on the toilet in Martin Balsam's version. Anyone who remembers that's how Lyndon Johnson often did business to intimidate senators and congressmen trying to see him, grasps the impact of that method.

I applaud the series for attempting to encapsulate more fully the un-encapsulable events of the novel, but less was definitely more when it came to Mike Nichols' presentation, which gave us the Cliff Notes of the insanity of war and hypocrisy of its ranked proponents in spectacular fashion.