I was probably first made aware of this one after seeing a solitary still from it in a reference book dealing with Sci-Fi cinema written by Philip Strick; the fact that the image featured a nude Valerie Perrine increased my interest considerably, needless to say! Truth be told, I had intended to check it out soon after I learned of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s recent passing (he wrote the novel on which the film was based) but, somehow, kept postponing this viewing until now; actually, I ended up making it a double-bill of Vonnegut adaptations as I also managed to rent BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS (1999) in the meantime...
Anyway, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE turned out to be quite an odd film: I was somewhat let down by the fact that the sci-fi elements proper didn't come into play until the last half-hour or so but, then, its main theme of time travel is a popular one within this particular genre; the thing is that the majority of the 'flashbacks' have to do with the protagonist's experiences during World War II however, one could hardly consider this a typical war film! Even so, it admirably maintains a delicate balance between comedy and tragedy throughout: the automobile rampage (and subsequent death) of hero Billy Pilgrim's wife comes off as hilarious, for instance; ditto the insistence of the spokesperson for the alien planet Tralphamadore, to which both Pilgrim and Montana Wildhack (Perrine) have been abducted, for them to mate since they hardly know each other even though he had often pictured her, an actress, as his idealized woman; while the war sequences, relatively grim in themselves, are still punctuated by the humor of the Ron Leibman character. Michael Sacks manages to capture Pilgrim's essential mix of innocence and prescience; the supporting cast also features a youthful Perry King as Pilgrim's son (who, in the course of the film, turns from teenage anarchist to dutiful soldier) and Friedrich Ledebur as the German Commandant of the titular POW camp.
The film was a surprising choice of material for director Hill, particularly as it came in between his two most successful efforts BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE STING (1973); even so, he was up for a DGA award as Best Director and SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE itself walked away with the Jury Prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival! In any event, he recruited top talent to ensure the best possible results, such as renowned Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek and composer Glenn Gould but, also worth mentioning, is the editing of Dede Allen: to render seamless (and credible) the concept of jumping back and forth in time was no small feat. Incidentally, Vonnegut himself was quoted as saying that he was very happy with how the finished film turned out as for myself, while I generally liked it, I couldn't help recalling what critic David Thomson had written about SOLARIS (curiously enough, another sci-fi epic released the same year): "a long way to go for a story about a failed marriage"; in the case of SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, what it ultimately boils down to is this: to savor the special memories in life, one has to be able to discern the good experiences from the bad! Unsurprisingly, despite the occasional interjection of modern trimmings such as nudity and foul language, the film remains a distinctly uncommercial venture.
Anyway, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE turned out to be quite an odd film: I was somewhat let down by the fact that the sci-fi elements proper didn't come into play until the last half-hour or so but, then, its main theme of time travel is a popular one within this particular genre; the thing is that the majority of the 'flashbacks' have to do with the protagonist's experiences during World War II however, one could hardly consider this a typical war film! Even so, it admirably maintains a delicate balance between comedy and tragedy throughout: the automobile rampage (and subsequent death) of hero Billy Pilgrim's wife comes off as hilarious, for instance; ditto the insistence of the spokesperson for the alien planet Tralphamadore, to which both Pilgrim and Montana Wildhack (Perrine) have been abducted, for them to mate since they hardly know each other even though he had often pictured her, an actress, as his idealized woman; while the war sequences, relatively grim in themselves, are still punctuated by the humor of the Ron Leibman character. Michael Sacks manages to capture Pilgrim's essential mix of innocence and prescience; the supporting cast also features a youthful Perry King as Pilgrim's son (who, in the course of the film, turns from teenage anarchist to dutiful soldier) and Friedrich Ledebur as the German Commandant of the titular POW camp.
The film was a surprising choice of material for director Hill, particularly as it came in between his two most successful efforts BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE STING (1973); even so, he was up for a DGA award as Best Director and SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE itself walked away with the Jury Prize at that year's Cannes Film Festival! In any event, he recruited top talent to ensure the best possible results, such as renowned Czech cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek and composer Glenn Gould but, also worth mentioning, is the editing of Dede Allen: to render seamless (and credible) the concept of jumping back and forth in time was no small feat. Incidentally, Vonnegut himself was quoted as saying that he was very happy with how the finished film turned out as for myself, while I generally liked it, I couldn't help recalling what critic David Thomson had written about SOLARIS (curiously enough, another sci-fi epic released the same year): "a long way to go for a story about a failed marriage"; in the case of SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, what it ultimately boils down to is this: to savor the special memories in life, one has to be able to discern the good experiences from the bad! Unsurprisingly, despite the occasional interjection of modern trimmings such as nudity and foul language, the film remains a distinctly uncommercial venture.