| Slaughterhouse Five (1972)
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| Front Cover |
Actor |
Back Cover |
|
| Michael Sacks |
Billy Pilgrim
|
| Ron Leibman |
Paul Lazzaro
|
| Eugene Roche |
Derby
|
| Sharon Gans |
Valencia
|
| Valerie Perrine |
Montana Wildhack
|
| Roberts Blossom |
Wild Bob Cody
|
| Karl Otto Alberty |
German Guard
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| Richard Schaal |
Campbell
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| John Wood |
Englishman
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| Kevin Conway |
Weary
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| Holly Near |
Barbara Pilgrim
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| Perry King |
Robert Pilgrim
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| Friedrich von Ledebur |
German leader
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| Plot |
| "Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time." These opening words of Kurt Vonnegut's famous novel make an effective and short summary of a haunting, funny film. For the screen, director (George Roy Hill) faithfully renders Vonnegut's black anti-war comedy about Pilgrim (well-played in a low key by Michael Sacks) who survives the horrendous 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden then lives simultaneously in his past as a naive American POW; in the future as a well-cared-for zoo resident on the planet Tralfamadore (with zaftig Valerie Perrine as his mate); and in the present as a middle-aged optometrist in Ilium, N.Y. If this sounds like a bit of a jumble, it is. But viewers willing to watch carefully will find the movie as intricate and harmonious as Glenn Gould's plaintive renderings of the Bach keyboard pieces that decorate its soundtrack. It's not essential, but fans who read the short, poetic book will find it a treat in itself, and it will help them appreciate Hill's genius in bringing this "Children's Crusade" to the screen. In addition to Sacks, there are noteworthy performances by Ron Leibman (Norma's union man in Norma Rae) as Pilgrim's crazed nemesis and by radio-TV-movie legend, John Dehner, as the arrogant Professor Rumfoord. Hill, of course, came to this film from a big hit, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and went on to triumph with The Sting one year later. The elaborate medieval and Baroque architecture of pre-bombing Dresden was represented authentically in the film by scenes from Prague, since much of Dresden's architecture was lost to the bombing, and that city, in any case, was deep in East Germany, thus inaccessible at the time of filming. — Michael P. Rogers |
| Movie Details |
| Genre |
Comedy; Sci-Fi; Drama; War |
| Director |
George Roy Hill |
| Producer |
Jennings Lang; Paul Monash |
| Writer |
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.; Stephen Geller |
|
| Studio |
Image Ent. |
| Country |
USA
|
| Language |
English |
| Audience Rating |
R (Restricted) |
| Running Time |
104 mins |
| Movie Release Date |
1972 |
| Color |
Color |
|
| Personal Details |
| Format |
DVD |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
189 |
| Collection Status |
In Collection |
| Location |
Disc 23 |
|
| Product Details |
| Region |
 Region 1 |
| Screen Ratio |
 1.85:1 |
| Layers |
Single Side, Single Layer |
| UPC (Barcode) |
014381422726 |
| Chapters |
16 |
| Release Date |
10/17/2000 |
| Packaging |
Snap Case |
| Audio Tracks |
 English Dolby Digital 1.0 |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
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Extra Features
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| Color Closed-captioned Widescreen |
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