Slaughterhouse Five (1972)

 

            I had not considered “Slaughterhouse Five” to be a war movie until I recently saw a list of the greatest war movies and it appeared on it.  Even though this was the first time I saw it on one of the many lists of greatest war movies, I decided I needed to review it.  The movie was directed by George Roy Hill (“The Great Waldo Pepper”).  It is based on Kurt Vonnegut’s classic novel.  Stephen Geller gets credit for bringing the novel to the screen.  Vonnegut was very complimentary about the film.  It won the Jury Prize at Cannes and won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film.  The character Howard Campbell, Jr. appears in the film and later was the main character in the movie “Mother Night” which is also based on a Vonnegut novel.

            The movie opens with Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) writing a letter to a newspaper claiming that he is “unstuck in time”.  This means he jumps through time, but has no control of it. He is an optometrist in New York, but sometimes he is a prisoner of war in WWII and other times he is an abductee on the planet Tralfamadore.  The narrative is nonlinear.  In the present time, he is in a dysfunctional marriage and has a troublesome son.  He occasionally jumps to WWII where he is taken captive during the Battle of the Bulge.  He is part of a threesome that includes an asshole named Lazzaro (Ron Liebman) and the saintly Derby (Eugene Roche).  They are taken to a slaughterhouse named Slaughterhouse Five in the city of Dresden.  If that name conjures up tragedy, you’ll know that even though they have been told the city is peaceful, that won’t last.  They are there for the terrible fire-bombing of the city.  In the future, Billy is living in a human aquarium with a film starlet named Montana (Valerie Perrine).  The Tralfamadorians want them to breed and they want to watch.

            First, is it a war movie?  Clearly, it fits best in the sci-fi genre, but the WWII scenes allow one to argue it is also a war movie.  I personally would not put it in the genre.  Second, is it a good movie?  Although Vonnegut was happy with it, I was not impressed.  It is a weird film and veers between drama and comedy.  The comedy is highlighted by the slapstick demolition derby death of Pilgrim’s wife.  The film jumps the shark with this scene.  It does not recover its footing.

            Viewed as a war movie, one of the three threads is worthy of the genre.  Unfortunately, the Dresden scenes do not overcome the other two threads.  The destruction of Dresden features a good set showing the ruins of the city.  However, since Billy and the other prisoners are sheltered, we don’t get the full effect of what it must have been like for the civilians.  We do get an appropriately rubbly set.  Which contrasts with the sterile set on the planet.  The Dresden scenes are by far the most intriguing of the three.

            I have not read the book, so I can not comment on how faithful the movie is.  Based on Vonnegut’s reaction, it is worthy rendition.  Since this review is not a comparison to the book, let me just comment about how good a movie it is.  It is certainly a weird film.  The nonlinear structure makes it more memorable than it deserves.  Like Billy’s life, it jerks you to another time with no warning.  This can be jarring.  And it can be frustrating when we leave Dresden for one of the boring scenarios. 

The movie is hurt by the cast.  For such a famous book, the cast is distinctly unimpressive.  Sacks made his debut and it shows. But he is not the only wooden actor in the film.  I theorize that Valerie Perrine was cast for her breasts.  It was her screen debut and she showed what she is most known for.  They are not worth sitting through the movie.  Ron Leibman was on his third movie.  His Lazzaro is a grating character and he brings down the Dresden segments.

I know some of you will be upset that I was not impressed with the movie.  It was acclaimed, but as a science-fiction movie, not as a war movie.  I do like sci-fi and I like war movies that are different from the run of the mill.  However, I found “Slaughterhouse Five” to be overrated.  From what I researched, it does appear to be faithful to the book.  Not surprisingly, it does not have all the characters or incidents.  If you have to write a book report and don’t want to read the novel, the movie will probably get you a passing grade.

GRADE  =  C