Slaughterhouse Five Movie Review

Fine adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's challenging breakthrough novel has never managed to find an audience. Perhaps Vonnegut's quizzical pessimism and director George Roy Hill's straightforward approach to it simply don't mesh for viewers. The story trips back and forth across time and space – never losing its intelligent humor – from the World War II fire-bombing of Dresden to hero Billy Pilgrim's (Michael Sacks) imprisonment with B-movie queen Montana Wildhack (Valerie Perrine) by extraterrestrials. Considerable philosophizing occurs in between. So it goes. (Fans who have missed this one really should give it a look. It's better than its reputation.)

1972 (R) 104m/C Michael Sacks, Valerie Perrine, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Perry King, Sharon Gans, Roberts Blossom; D: George Roy Hill; W: Stephen Geller; C: Miroslav Ondricek. Hugos ‘73: Dramatic Presentation; Cannes Film Festival ‘72: Special Jury Prize; Nominations: Cannes Film Festival ‘72: Best Film. VHS, Beta, LV MCA