Sci-Fi Classic Review: SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE (1972)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- Often overlooked due to its financial failure, the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's famous anti-war novel doesn't deserve to be forgotten or obscure.
If you're looking for a "review" in the traditional sense, then let me just say I love this movie. This video, however, is a "review" in the literal sense (using the Miriam-Webster definition "a retrospective view or survey"), in that I'm going over the history of the film and its place in sci-fi cinema history.
In other words, please stop commenting on how my videos aren't what you consider "reviews."
#Slaughterhouse5 #KurtVonnegut #Dresden
00:00 Intro
02:16 Synopsis
03:05 Production History
04:16 Shameless Self-Promotion
04:56 Casting
07:49 Filming
08:53 Release & Legacy
10:08 Opinion & Analysis
12:20 Outro
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Art Garfunkel image credit: Gab Archive / Redferns / Getty Images - บันเทิง
I love this film, and I don't understand its obscurity either.
It's telling two stories: the one on the surface, and the one below the surface. The subtitle, The Children's Crusade, a Duty Dance of Death is supposed to be a huge hint about the story below the surface.
I did not realize that this was Valerie Perrine's debut. Very interesting review.
I wish you could see me grinning and giving you a standing ovation for this one. As a lad, I LOVED THIS BOOK and the movie, while not as amazing as the book, was and is STILL a classic in my humble opinion. Thank you!
I just discovered your channel. For the record, I prefer your style of "reviewing"; I love learning the background and histories behind a film, more than I enjoy hearing other people's personal opinions about the content (although I like that too). Keep up the good work!
Thank you!
An absolute masterpiece I repeatedly watched with renewed pleasure every time. An incredibly clever allegory spanning several periods and places (real or imaginary). The horror of war has never been better illustrated.
If you'd been critiquing the novel, I would have agreed, but the film met or surpassed the book on so many levels. A cinematic masterpiece!
I'm a sucker for 70's movies, especially Sci Fi and I've always loved this one. Aside from Valerie Perrine, who looks spectacular, the score for the film is brilliant. Especially haunting is Glenn Gould's rendition of the Largo from Bach's Fm Harpsichord Concerto, which has a sense of space and melancholy which fits the film perfectly.
In 1980 I was 15, and my older sister was excited that this movie would be on the late show later in the week. We had the book already in our home library, so I decided to read it before seeing the movie.
I don’t remember if my sister watched it with me. She doesn’t remember the book or the movie at all.
I remember. It was my favorite movie of all time for the next ten years, and it’s still #2 on my list.
I don’t even have a list anymore. There are too many good movies for me to try to rank them, but if anyone asks my second favorite movie, this is the one I name.
Ive not seen this movie but i think i will give it ago it sounds intriguing! As for novels that have not had a fair outing as movies i think HG Wells Time Machine and War of The Worlds deserve to be re made set in their own time of writing . Sure i do like the George Pal movies of both and even Simon wells 2002 Time Machine has its merits but they no way reflect the Novels. If you want a cringe worthy watch try the BBC s 2019 adaptation of War of the Worlds simply awful Ugh !!!
I haven't seen this movie either 😊
I love Paul Lazzaro. The epitome of just about every bully I've ever encountered.
Valerie Perrine also appeared in the American Playhouse production of Bruce Jay Friedman's "Steambath." (PBS)
I remember discussing the film with the teacher of a bible study class that my wife and I attended with her parents(RIP) some twenty odd years ago at their church. I remember that the discussion was very interesting with the teacher referencing death and the time shifting parts of the movie with real life.
I found this book difficult to understand. I do have it in my library. Thank you for reviewing this film. I will have to give it a look.
Excellent! thank you
My cousin, Jack Stewart Coster (RAAF), was a 97 Pathfinder Squadron bomb-aimer on the Dresden raid (laying the target indicators for the other squadrons) so I'm perhaps biased, but Slaughterhouse 5 uses the Goebbels-proposed death toll of the raid, up to 200,000, instead of the later (German} recalculated total of up to 40,000. I still like the novel but it is, to me, a misstep to use that as a total death toll for the raid (though I can see how, as a witness, he was overwhelmed by the raid).
BTW My cousin and his almost all RAAF crew went missing a few weeks later. They're still missing.
Speaking of Vonnegut, have you ever seen the 1995 TV adaptation of "Harrison Bergeron"? It expands the short story nearly to unrecognizability, but it's actually a pretty good dystopia in its own right. I'd also recommend the 1980 version of "The Lathe Of Heaven," which succeeds despite its tiny budget, and Ursula K LeGuin apparently liked it. (But don't bother with the 2000s remake.)
I haven't seen Harrison Bergeron, but I have seen Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. That probably makes me one of about a hundred people who saw it - and maybe one out of ten who liked it.
(And I agree with you about The Lathe of Heaven. The first attempt to adapt it was acceptable, although I was disappointed that they didn't have the budget to film the book's surreal ending. The second attempt left me going, "What the hell was that?")
Thank you for this comment. I never read Vonnegut, so this is the first time I heard of "Harrison Bergeron". Looked it up and oh boy, what a strangely relevant vision it seems to be. A world where everything is being adjusted to the lowest common denominator, because people are "not allowed to be smarter, better-looking, or more physically able than anyone else"... Geez. I'm not gonna cry "this is literally 2023!" but seriously this reminds me of some people who are pissed at mere existence of people who are better than them. Seems like most Holywood movies now are being made in "Harrison Bergeron" world and cross-dimensionally transplanted into ours!
Great 😊
I never knew this movie existed!
Great subject TUG. Valerie Perrine was a great Montana Wildhack. The book was always a favorite but it wasn't the greatest adaptation but, then again, I don't think it was ready to be appreciated in the early 70's. I swear, too many faces go completely blank when confronted with a non-linear narrative even in the best of times.
Anyway, I've often found myself saying, "If the accident will..." which has also netted me plenty of blank stares. So it goes...
There is another book, in a similar vein, that I always liked called Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan, that I would have loved to have adapted for the big screen. I recommend it to anyone as it is a VERY fast read.
As for books that have been adapted, The Shining has always been a pet project of mine that I can talk at length about. As well as other adaptations of Stephen King's work. Frank Darabount's adaptations in particular. I think Coppola's adaptation of Puzo's The Godfather is brilliant. Coppola's adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, along with his wife's accompanying documentary. I went on a kick of reading a lot of W. Somerset Maugham works, so adaptations of Of Human Bondage, The Razor's Edge and the many interpretations of his great short story, Rain.
Lol, i guess i have a lot to say about adaptations... Sorry for the book length comment.
PS ( you can all kill me later, lol) I also went on a Michael Crichton kick in my early 20's and actually got to meet him in the early 90's when a lot of his writing was being adapted. I also gave him some grief, using my actual name (sean inness is a nom de plume for the internet btw) in his book, Rising Sun. I got him to sign my copy too. Why? I was doing a little freelance script coverage and trying to get more work as a reader for a time.
This must have been an intimidating subject to discuss. We'll done.
Another Sci-fi literary adaptation was The Illustrated Man. I think the film is a complete disaster but is an interesting one for you to tackle. Best wishes and I always enjoy your content
That’s on my list! I’ve already got a copy and everything.
I’ve always been curious about this film but have never been able to find it. Of course I’m a fan of the book!
I would love to watch this one as a double feature with CLOUD ATLAS. Before doing that, though, I would need to pick up the Arrow Video Blu-ray, with has more extras features than the initial DVD. (Unfortunately, the documentary mentioned in the afternotes is not one of them.)
Ive never seen the movie. Will have to check it out.
How obscure could this movie be that I, having read the book several times, didn't know about the movie adaptation. Hope I can find some place to stream it from.
Prepare to be disappointed
@@AlightingOnAir I've already been for the last three weeks.
7:42 - For a moment I was confusing Kevin Conway with Kevin Conroy and thought, "Wait! *Batman* was in this film?" But I quickly realized his age wasn't right, as he was just a few months older than me and I was only a teenager when this film was made.
I saw this movie years ago on TV, so it had to have been edited for over the air broadcast. I haven't seen it since. It may be too much of a 1970s movie for audiences who are confused by the character jumping from one period to another, the sex and violence isn't exciting, the hero isn't charismatic, the imagary for the real world to ordinary.
edited to clarify.
recently watched and loved it. I was nervous as a fan of the book. Why are there so few Vonnegut films?
How could you love this movie? It’s literally a 180 degree turn from the book’s message of free will. The movie is literally saying war is inevitable, so it’s pointless to try and create peace.
@@AlightingOnAir Movies and books are different, especially studio Hollywood movies
@@danthsmith Agreed, but I hold that this is the worst film adaptation of all time. Hell, even the book says that the book is written in the Tralfamadorian style, so a movie is almost the last medium it should be in. There’s a whole scene where lit critics are talking about the death of the novel, but obviously Vonnegut believes in the novel.
I think this movie was a cash grab made by people who didn’t “get” the book at all.
In the movie, Billy is actually aware of the future, which implies fate/destiny is real and free will doesn’t exist. War is inevitable.
Like, the Avatar movie is a better adaptation than this movie.
Sorry, I’m just very passionate about this book.
Slaughterhouse-Five was popular when it came out. Everything about it said early 1970's. The book and movie came out at the right time. Derby is enlisted. That is why the British solder was explaining things to the Americans. Consistent with the laws of war they had enlisteds separated from officers. The enlisted vote for their representative. The US military makes it clear the representative is not the person in charge, that goes to the ranking prisoner.
This is a very interesting movie...Quite surreal. Surprisingly good SFX. I put this in the same category as "Catch 22" with Alan Arkin there are some similar comparisons (Is this reality or not). I haven't seen this in many years. Time for a revisit.?
Interesting. Catch-22 uses the same back and forth in time portrayal of reality. It made both books hard for me to read. In Catch 22 it could be an older yossarian remembering. It is called Flashbulb memory. Like the moment I heard Kennedy was shot. Certain events are crystallized in our memory. As TUG points out it could be to symbolize the way Private Vonneguts life was torn apart and made unreal. "The Hithikers Guode to the Galaxy 4 book trilogy uses the omniscent time view, God's and some physicists time view but with less drama. ( I believe the physicist Fynman used negative t, time going backwards, on his work with the Manhattan project. See Feynman Diagrams. Feynman is a great author himself. " Infinity"was a great movie based on his autobiographical writing. I digress)
"Slaughter House Five" is was will be always has-been a true story. Sarte and Camus were the French voices. Gunter Gross "The Tin Drum" the German voice and Jerzy Kosinski " The Painted Bird" the polish eye witness.
Audrey Hepburn brought her WW2 starvation not to the screen, but to her famine relief ac ivism. See her last divine performance in "Almost" as an angelic guide.
This is such a great movie, it doesn't deserve to be so obscure. *whispers* Actually, I prefer it to the book *runs for cover*
So it goes.
The book is some of the finest anti-war literature ever conceived
I remember seeing this as a kid back in the 80’s and to be honest it really didn’t feel like a sci-fi movie. Like all sci-if movies from that era it just felt like a drama. It wasn’t until years later that I figured it was supposed to be sci-if. It wasn’t bad just odd and melancholic.
I see 7 thumbs down. I really would like these people to express their judgement in the comments, because I just can't fathom why would someone dislike this review. It annoys me to no end when some assholes just click the button and that's it. Come on, assholes, what didn't you like???
Thanks, Elektro! I agree, but I would prefer they just not hit the dislike button. 😂
@@TheUnapologeticGeek That would be nice too, sure :) Though, it's impossible to satisfy everyone. There can be legit criticisms hiding behind these clicks. I would like to know what they are, or if they are legit indeed.
"Whoever *did* write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut."
This movie appeals to two groups:
those who liked the book
those who appreciate competent, if unspectacular, filmmaking
However, I suspect the average viewer was thrown off by the film's monotony; a monotony
of color palette, acting (primarily from the lead), lack of scoring, and story jumping.
It was clearly well crafted from the original source material, which isn't always easy to pull off.
But this film was not a particularly enjoyable ride (yet another aspect of the book the movie nailed).
It also has zero re-watchability and no memorable scenes or lines. That definitely works against
keeping it in the public consciousness.
This movie is a perfectly acceptable product of its time. And apparently destined to stay there.
BTW, given your stated review schedule, your screen shot had me wondering
if Travis Walton had been taken by the Tralfamadorians...
Yes, there was a delay in my Fire in the Sky video. It's coming next time!
Your comment gave me a flack-back to the film 'Back to School'!
@@TheUnapologeticGeek
Hacked by the MIB , I suspect...
@@thrashpondopons8348
I can definitely see you replacing Phoebe Cates with Marge Sweetwater in the pool scene from Fast Times...
@@indyspotes3310 I was thinking more in terms of Mr. Vonnegut's walk-on... But your implication shall haunt my nightmares!
I enjoyed the review. Not to nitpick, but it was 130,000 dead at Dresden not 30,000. More than the droppings of the atom bombs.
While that is what Vonnegut believed, the current consensus is much closer to 30,000.
I stand corrected. Thanks.@@TheUnapologeticGeek
schlacht haus funf... schlackt haus funf...
1:39 10:45 5:14 look to be a tribute to Picasso's central image of a shaded light dominating his "Guernica". Some interpret this as the eye of God or the eye of history from which atrocities sometimes successfully hide.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernica_(Picasso)
The bombing of Guernica heralded the experimental use of first avionic explosives to create tinder and force firefighters to shelter, then thousand of small incendiary igniters to ignite the urban centers.
Like Mr. Vonnegut, Pablo Picasso brought faces to the thousands incinerated by the failure of respect for life.
Wikipedia notes that the United Nations "Guernica " wall hanging was covered when Generals were videod arguing for the invasion of Iraq. It is noted that the central moment of the painting, the hind quarter of a horse, would have been the backdrop.return.
The Animè "Graveyard of the Fire Flies" paints the Tokyo Fire Bombing in a way similar to Vonnegut s treatment of Draden. In both you do not see the protagonists as victims but as heroes. A poignant moment in that moment is the falling of innocuous looking candles, most likely the same technology used in Dresden. Po-te-wee.
No interest in seeing the movie. We had to that stupid book in high school
High school ruined many books, didn't it? There are some literary greats that make me shiver from the traumatic memory of high school forcing them on me!
It can be a stupid book poorly written. Kurt Vonnegut really was a prisoner held in a slaughter house during the incineration of perhaps 80,000 people. As science fiction, with all the silly tralfagamore nonsense it seems silly. Perhaps that was the only way he could tone down the content to where it could be published.