2008-07-03 00:00:00 0 out of 0 found this reivew helpful
This movie is about the battle of the Bulge, POW life in Dresden during its firebombing, wealthy life in New England, and then eternity on a fictional planet. It is a bit Dadaesque. There are a few flashbacks and flash forwards. The tone of the... (Read full review at Amazon)
2008-02-26 00:00:00 0 out of 0 found this reivew helpful
I love Kurt Vonnegut, and own nearly everything the man has written, mostly dog earned and yellowed after far too many readings. I was at first skeptical, however after viewing this film I can say that never before have I seen a piece of prose... (Read full review at Amazon)
2007-12-10 00:00:00 0 out of 0 found this reivew helpful
Read Vonnegut's novel whether or not you see this film, but if you do decide to see or purchase this movie you'll be grateful you read the book first. On the other hand, if seeing the film induces you to read the novel, all the better. Count the... (Read full review at Amazon)
2007-09-23 00:00:00 0 out of 0 found this reivew helpful
I don't think Kurt Vonnegut's books can really be done justice by movies, mostly because his writing style and ideas are just so out there, but this is probably as close as someone will get to it.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. s classic novel comes to life in this haunting and darkly humorous film from acclaimed director George Roy Hill.Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) is an ordinary World War II soldier with one major exception: he has mysteriously become unstuck in time. Billy goes on an uncontrollable trip back and forth from his birth in New York to life on a distant planet and back again to the horrors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden. This dazzling and thought-provoking drama co-stars Ron Leibman and Valerie Perrine.
System Requirements:
Running Time 104 Min
Format: DVD MOVIE
Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) has a problem with time: he keeps jumping about in his own life, principally between three key scenes. The "present" is a kind of glowing suburban bliss involving a dutiful wife, large house, and presidency of the local Lions; the "past" is being a prisoner of World War II and experiencing the firebombing of Dresden from the wrong side; the "future" takes place in a glass dome on the planet Tralfamadore, to which Billy has been mysteriously spirited along with the woman of his fantasies (Montana Wildhack, played by Valerie Perrine). It isn't meant to make too much sense, since the point is to represent a man (and a century) that has witnessed things too unbearable for a wholly sane person to make sense of. In fact author Kurt Vonnegut's anguished cry on the insanity of war is one of those completely unfilmable books, so director George Roy Hill gets points even for trying. The whole package is thought provoking in a wholly Vonnegutian way. All this, and Glenn Gould playing Bach as well. --Richard Farr