Catch-22 Revisited

[RobertJ.]

The channel Hulu has decided to re-imagine Joseph Heller's novel, and turn it into a series.

I watched the first episode. That was it for me. If you're a fan of the book and/or movie, skip this series entirely.

George Clooney is one of the actors (and directors), and he's completely unlikable. He, along with Hugh Laurie, are just about the only names I recognized.

Both the book and movie had unlikable characters (Buck Henry as Col. Korn!), but at least they were funny. This "remake" doesn't have any of the humor of the original movie, and certainly not of the book.

The bomb run scenes were quite obviously CGI, and that was a big detractor, also.

Just a heads-up!

 

[ace22]

the original 1970 movie is a tour de force classic imo, one of my all time favorites.
i wasn't aware of the new series but i won't be watching it anyway as i don't have hulu but my thought is it's bad enough when hollywood can't make something original and resorts to rehashing and remaking a bad movie but it's worse when they try to rehash a classic like catch22.

 

[redlevel]

Never saw the movie. Had to read the novel in a freshman English class in 1967. I remember particularly Chief White Halfoat’s lament about racial prejudice. Also remember Major Major Major Major. Didn’t one of the characters, Doc Daneeka maybe, corner the market on Egyptian cotton? Might be confusing that with something else I read.

Just how in the heck does stuff like that stick in your brain for 50-plus years?

 

[RobertJ.]

Didn’t one of the characters, Doc Daneeka maybe, corner the market on Egyptian cotton? Might be confusing that with something else I read.

No, that was Lt. Milo Minderbinder, played by Jon Voight in the movie.

 

[Watchdog]

Just how in the heck does stuff like that stick in your brain for 50-plus years?

Because it's classic modern fiction, and it obviously made enough of an impression on you that a half-century later you still remember characters and things about them. I'll bet Catch-22 isn't the only book that's like that for you.

I can remember passages from The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Dracula, just to name a few. At the age of 80, my dad could still recite Poe's The Raven in its entirety, and passages from The Gold Bug and The House of Usher.

Good literature means something to certain people. You're obviously one of those people.

 

[Aggie1906]

Yep, read it many times. Time to read it again.
Thinking it was Milo, maybe Minderbender, who
cornered the market, and contracted out bombing
attacks.
Though a lot more of the book than I did the movie.
Nateley's *****, Kid, Col. Korn. Still an Arkin fan, just
not for that one.

 

[Aggie1906]

Golly Gee! Got censored!

Oops, ran afoul of the censor.
Such fun: lady of ill repute?

 

[RobertJ.]

Also remember Major Major.

Bob Newhart, as Major Major (along with Norman Fell) was one of my favorite scenes!
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwT-_uCEMiA[/ame]

 

[Coot47]

Hate to say it, but only made it half way through the remake. The book is iconic and the original film is a masterpiece. I don't quite remember Yossarian being such a whiney little ***** as portrayed in the Hulu piece. And nothing can top the sortie of all those B-25's in the original, nor Col Cathcart's lid blowing off when the ordinance finally went off in the crashed '25.

 

[Marshwheeling]

The movie was pretty darn good; the book was great. Learned a new word: callipygous. The lasting image for me was the soldier in white, swathed hed to toe in bandages, with an IV drip and a catheter. Every so often, a nurse would come in and switch the bottles around.

 

[Watchdog]

The movie was pretty darn good; the book was great. Learned a new word: callipygous. The lasting image for me was the soldier in white, swathed hed to toe in bandages, with an IV drip and a catheter. Every so often, a nurse would come in and switch the bottles around.

It's a sobering image, and one that probably mirrored real life.

 

[El Biblioitecario]

What I am sensing is that in the case of the remake, "I see everything twice!" should not apply.

 

[llowry61]

I watched the entire series, ironically I did not see the original nor did I read the book which is odd as it sounds like I really missed something with the originals and need to remedy that. I enjoyed it. Korn was an a real tool as was the character played by Clooney. All in all, I found it entertaining, which I guess is the point. One criticism in general was the anti military slant of the movie. I realize bureaucracy exists in the military and I see it every day in my work life, but I think it takes away from what these WWII pilots accomplished. Other than that it was worth the few hours of viewing time. OMMV. Now Ozark on the other hand is in a class by itself.