Catch 22

[DickyC]

TheRainMaker said:

I noticed that, all the planes were the same.

They were in formation. The planes' positions relative to one another would be the same until one was shot down or otherwise removed.

Spoiler Alert: Presumably they're going to have the scene where Yossarian pulls his plane out of a raid and leaves a gap in the formation.

[Some Gump]

XCP said:

Someone will be along shortly, no doubt, to point out that the bombers should have been the type G rather than the type F. In any case I enjoyed it.

Nah, Eric doesn't read the telly threads

[DoubleSix]

I struggled with the book. Not sure why, something about the way it was written made it hard work...

Enjoyed the TV show.

[Smollet]

TheRainMaker said:

lufbramatt said:

Spot the issue in this shot

I noticed that, all the planes were the same.

It's little things like that take the edge off for me of an otherwise good attempt at translating the book onto the small screen.

[Evangelion]

I couldn't make head or tail of the book, and bailed out of the film before the halfway mark. Still, I know many do like it, so will probably give this one a go at some point.

[DickyC]

Major Major was promoted to Major by an IBM machine with a sense of humour as keen as his father's. Not by Col Cathcart.

[Piersman2]

DoubleSix said:

I struggled with the book. Not sure why, something about the way it was written made it hard work...

Enjoyed the TV show.

Me too. I've tried to read the book 3 times over the years as it's always been so iconically referenced. But I could never get passed the first chapter, and yet I could never work out why.

But I binge watched the TV series last week and kinda enjoyed it although I felt the 'funny' bits everyone seems to reference as being few and far between. Fortunately I found the quality of production, good characters and acting, alongside the general story enough to keep me hooked until the end.

[Halb]

DickyC said:

Major Major was promoted to Major by an IBM machine with a sense of humour as keen as his father's. Not by Col Cathcart.

THat annoyed me too.
edit.
I thought it was ex pFC WIntergreen that did that, after reading up on characters, it was not!

Edited by Halb on Wednesday 3rd July 08:35

[Frank7]

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

[zygalski]

LimaDelta said:

Yes, a great book and movie.

I'm against the grain here.
I found the book a real struggle. I thought it was effectively the same joke told over & over again ad nauseum and the sarcastic/ironic humour was very one-paced throughout.
Not something I'd want to read again and massively overrated IMO.

[stuarthat]

Frank7 said:

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

Blimey it was a fun series not a documentary.

[Frank7]

stuarthat said:

Frank7 said:

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

Blimey it was a fun series not a documentary.

I wouldn’t describe it as a “fun series”, I’m still enjoying it, I just thought that that Bologna bit pushed the envelope a tad too far.
What’s next, Yossarian’s plane running low on gas, and descending from the clouds, and coasting up to the pumps at a Tuscany gas station?

[LimaDelta]

Frank7 said:

What’s next, Yossarian’s plane running low on gas, and descending from the clouds, and coasting up to the pumps at a Tuscany gas station?

No, that's 1941

[stongle]

Frank7 said:

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

Clint Eastwood pulled the same stunt @ the start of Kellys Heros.....

[227bhp]

Frank7 said:

stuarthat said:

Frank7 said:

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

Blimey it was a fun series not a documentary.

I wouldn’t describe it as a “fun series”, I’m still enjoying it, I just thought that that Bologna bit pushed the envelope a tad too far.
What’s next, Yossarian’s plane running low on gas, and descending from the clouds, and coasting up to the pumps at a Tuscany gas station?

Maybe some canned laughter at the appropriate moments would help you?

[Frank7]

227bhp said:

Frank7 said:

stuarthat said:

Frank7 said:

I appreciate that in any production, film, TV, whatever, you have to suspend belief, and allow for some artistic licence, but Major de Coverley’s (Hugh Laurie) trip into Bologna was a doozy.
Yossarian raised the string on the bombing map above Bologna, to give the impression that Bologna was now in Allied hands, and he wouldn’t be sent on a mission to bomb it.
Major de Coverley is sent to Bologna to scout out billets for U.S. officers.
Not only does he apparently fly into a German airfield, he has a Jeep adorned with a white star, in which he drives into central Bologna, unnoticed by the enemy, and walks into a briefing room, filled with German troops, after pulling down a swastika flag flying outside.
Fair enough, you have to think that he was probably captured then, but how the hell did he get that far?

Blimey it was a fun series not a documentary.

I wouldn’t describe it as a “fun series”, I’m still enjoying it, I just thought that that Bologna bit pushed the envelope a tad too far.
What’s next, Yossarian’s plane running low on gas, and descending from the clouds, and coasting up to the pumps at a Tuscany gas station?

Maybe some canned laughter at the appropriate moments would help you?

That the best you can do?
You have a wonderful career ahead of you, as a quick witted cynical critic.

[DickyC]

By amalgamating the characters of Lieutenant Scheisskopf and General Dreedle I suspect we won't be having the "Ooh-ing" scene. This is a shame. In fact a lot of the really comedic elements are missing.

Major .. de Coverly's unimpeded progress through Bologna could have been a silent-comedy-esque series of near misses. It started well with Italian pilots flying him in one of M&M Enterprises' commandeered German planes.

IIRC it was the squadron who bombed their own airfield to cut out the middle man. I can't see why they changed that.

So much unresolved for the final episode; from minor players like Mudd to pivotal characters like Orr and Snowden. The opening of Episode 1 saw Yossarian walking naked across the airfield but other than that no reference to Snowden.

[Frank7]

I can't help silently chuckling at the fact that Clooney's character,
General Scheisskopf's name translates to General Sh*thead.

[Some Gump]

The big thing I'm feeling...

Last night and last week were dark.

The book felt really light. Fun. The series isn't. In fact, watching last night made me feel really bad in parts.

It's really well done which is why the emotional side is so key - can you imagine being YoYo and in a way responsible for the gunners death? He went around and a guy died. If he didn't go around then a plane could be downed / multiple planes down because they know the target. Catch 22. If they don't punish the rape and murder of some poor girl then justice is miles away. If they do punish that airman it might bring additional enemies to the war. Catch 22. I'd never spotted these reading the book (and I've read it 3 times).

It's not better, it's not worse - it's just different. This interpretation has brought a whole new view in my head to the subtlety of Hellier's novel.

[stuarthat]

Yes have to agree at the beginning of the
threat stated it was a rollercoaster series ,for me anyway laughing one minute then the next very serous as mentioned with the young girl scene was deep ,but all in all really liked it .