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Whistle Stopper - Slaughterhouse Five
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $15.75
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Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans, Valerie Perrine
Directed By: George Roy Hill
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9781558801271
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 1558801278
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 1998-07-07
Running Time: 104
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1972-03-15
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Space / Time Drifter...
Comment: First off, I've never read the book. That said, I must say that what I find most intriguing about the Billy Pilgrim character (Michael Sacks) in SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE is how much of a true pilgrim he is. He is unhitched from time, while simultaneously, due to his own pleasant personality and ever-calm demeanor, Billy is also a traveler through space. He drifts through life as a disengaged observer, like a cork floating down a stream. Billy is a warm, innocent human being who is utterly removed from his own existence! He watches / feels things unfold like a character in a play. He reminds me of Peter Sellars' Chauncy Gardener in BEING THERE. Adrift in a universe that simply takes him wherever it will. The main segments of Billy's life are presented from his own disengaged viewpoint. We get to go along with him on his bizarre journey. It's like following a leaf blowing in a hurricane! The very fabric of time / space / existence is unravelled, and tied into a knot of events all happening in no particular order. Billy is happy throughout! He has the perfect temperament to deal w/ the chaos of such shifting events. Personally, I'd go nuts! For Billy there is peace within the non-sensical trip to nowhere. He simply enjoys the ride. Even tragic events can't flatten him. Billy's nature is that of an ancient bhuddist monk, even when in a youthful body (during WWII). His attitude is infectious! The story is as mind-boggling as it is hysterically funny. The life of Billy Pilgrim is quite a trip! Special mention must be made of Ron Liebman's Lazzaro character, as well as Valerie Perrine's Montana Wildhack! The fact that Ms. Perrine spends much of her screen-time naked doesn't hurt! Highest recommendation...
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Summary: Life in the Slaughterhouse
Comment: Film adaptions of novels (from Madame Bovary to Catch 22) have proved how easy failure transcends effort. However, The film version of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five proves the exception: graceful, smartly directed and beautifully acted. Rediscover a real treasure and see this film.
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Summary: Dresden POW and the Heart of Space
Comment: 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 film is nihilistic and irreverent, which is the style of Vonnegut's fiction. As a veteran, I liked the fact that none of the soldiers were put on a pedestal and they were far more human than stock of the trade.
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Summary: Classis movie, classic story
Comment: One of my favorites since my teens. a forty year love-affair with a great movie!
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Summary: Better than the book...
Comment: 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 transformed into a work of like this. The cinematography is wonderful and the transitions, when Pilgrim leaps from time to time are masterful. The acting is superb, my favorite character being Paul Lazzaro; entirely quotable in every way. This film is well worth the money you spend on it, Vonnegut fans, and film fanatics alike will fall in love with it.
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Editorial Reviews:
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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
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