Directed by Mike Nichols, the screenplay by Buck Henry is totally brilliant. The novel by Joseph Heller is itself brilliantly written, with nuances and subtleties many readers miss. Henry caught the gist of the novel and got it on screen, using the device of returning again and again to an airplane with a scene we don't fully see, showing us a little more each time, then fading to white as we get the voice over of the next scene. We get the circularity of the novel and the scattered sanity of Yossarian as he struggles to keep his shredded reality less tattered if not totally intact.

The cast is incredible. Nichols gives us an all-star cast without the drivel of such disasters as "A Bridge Too Far" and "The Longest Day." The cast includes Alan Arkin, Martin Balsam, Richard Benjamin, Buck Henry, Bob Newhart, Anthony Perkins, Paula Prentiss, Martin Sheen, John Voight, and Orson Welles, among many, many others.

Henry had to make a movie out of the novel, so he made some hard choices, excising characters and situations that some find disappointing. My suggestion is to see the movie as the movie without comparing it to the book; on the other hand, I'm astounded at how well Henry captured the essence of Heller and his work. Jon Voight is chilling as Minderbinder, who is in my very humble opinion the lynchpin of the movie. When Minderbinder tells Yossarian, "Then they'll understand," the full impact of World War II (and who's the real enemy) shatters Yossarian's weakening sanity.

For me the end of the novel and the end of the movie are unsatisfying, but the ride is still worth it.

Trivial notes concerning the people involved in the movie. Mike Nichols also directed "The Graduate," with Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman. Charles Grodin (Arfy Aardvark) was supposed to play Benjamin, but couldn't agree on a salary with Nichols, so Bancroft suggest Dustin Hoffman to Nichols - she'd heard about Hoffman from her husband, Mel Brooks, who had just signed Hoffman for his movie "The Producers." Hoffman bailed on Brooks and did "The Graduate" instead. Norman Fell (Sgt. Towser) played Benjamin's landlord in a short scene (also involving Richard Dreyfus) in "The Graduate." Bob Balaban (Capt. Orr) was in "Midnight Cowboy" with Jon Voight (and Dustin Hoffman, of course). Buck Henry wrote a TV series for Richard Benjamin (Major Danby), who is married to Paula Prentiss (Nurse Duckett). Orson Welles (General Dreedle) did the voice-over narration for Mel Brooks's "History of the World." Mel Brooks and Buck Henry developed "Get Smart." Bob Newhart (Major Major Major) and Peter Bonerz (Capt. McWatt) were in The Bob Newhart Show together. And Susanne Benton (Dreedle's WAC) had a completely unrelated role in the totally unrelated "A Boy and his Dog." Hollywood is a small town.

You might say that "Catch-22" shows the insanity of war from an insane viewpoint. Yossarian (Alan Arkin) is an American soldier on an air base in WWII Italy who is constantly trying to get out of flying the missions. Unfortunately, he can only get out of flying the missions if he is declared crazy, and he will only get declared crazy if he turns himself in. But if he is trying to get out of flying missions, then he is obviously not crazy, so there is no way to get out.

Among the other characters are the Machiavellian Milo Minderbender (Jon Voight), the crude-mannered Col. Cathcart (Martin Balsam), the nervous Maj. Major (Bob Newhart), the robotic Sgt. Towser (Norman Fell), the dorky Danby (Richard Benjamin), the socially awkward chaplain (Anthony Perkins) and the menacing Gen. Dreedle (Orson Welles). The movie leaves nothing to the imagination, particularly in the scene where a pilot's innards get blown out (not a scene for the fainthearted). But overall, "Catch-22" shows that in war, there eventually are no good guys, especially when your orders are to bomb a town with "no strategic value whatsoever".

A few scenes are sort of just for laughs. One could say that the medal-awarding scene "strips" all facades off of war. But it's certainly a movie that anyone even considering fighting in a war should watch.

I read through the reviews for "Catch-22" and really felt confused. So many reviewers loved it and its comedy...but I just felt that much of it was so absurd that it felt dopey....and a waste of a lot of talent.

I have never read Joseph Heller's novel, so I cannot compare this film to the book on which it was based. I have no idea how closely the film follows his story and if it was as absurd as the film.

So what didn't I like? Well, the idea of making fun of war and finding the absurdity in it didn't bother me...I like pointing out the insanity of war. But here, the actions of pretty much everyone in the film make no sense at all and just aren't funny. I mentioned absurd...and the film seems like an absurdist piece, like the French film "Buffet Froid"...a film which also made no sense and many reviewers seemed to love.

To me, a film SHOULD be enjoyed and make sense. If there is nonsense, there should be an underlying sense of why...but here it just seemed like nonsense for the sake of nonsense. I think having SOME of the craziness of the film would have worked in a story....but with this one, it was pretty much constant after a while and the story just seemed unimportant...an excuse for the weirdness.