User Reviews

As you can tell, this film has just been re-shown on Australian TV. I first saw this movie about 10 years ago, also on TV, and my memories of it, until I saw it again this week, were better than they are now. I have all of Kurt's novels and short stories - and the film is quite faithful to the play as published in paperback. There are two problems with the film. Firstly, Kurt Vonnegut was obviously disenchanted with the play as he states that he was continually rewriting it during the original stage rehearsals. Secondly, there is a lot of overacting. However, I am not sure that this is the fault of the director. The script is so much "larger than life" that the actors appear to be saying the words in the only way possible.

Nevertheless, the film is good for a laugh. The version just shown was uncut, and contains some language that was cut from the original TV release. Looseleaf Harper (William Hickey) has some classic lines. Susannah York seems unable to manage an American accent and Rod Steiger plays the "hero" in a completely over the top way. George Grizzard is excellent as the doctor. The scenes in heaven are great - and are obviously close to Kurt's creed. It is a shame that he rewrote the ending of the play for the movie - the end of the play is a classic.

However, the film ultimately fails as the script is essentially impossible to perform meaningfully. It is much nicer to read the play as you can imagine the characters better than they can be played. Having said that, go and see the film anyway. There are a hell of a lot worse films than this one!

A frank and very funny film about life, love and KILLING. Kurt Vonnegut's play is not very cinematic and director Mark Robson makes no attempt whatsoever to hide that fact. Stylistically, this is probably the flattest adaptation of a play to film. Nevertheless, there's a lot to enjoy, including several hilarious performances by the likes of George Grizzard, Don Murray (as a creepy idiot man-child/Eagle Scout), William Hickey and Susannah York. Rod Stieger is a great white hunter who returns after eight years "lost" in the Amazon jungle to find wife York engaged to peacenik doctor Grizzard, as well as actively pursued by loony vacuum cleaner salesman Murray. Steiger either shrieks or whispers most of his lines but he's very funny and Hickey (one of the pilots who dropped the bomb on Nagasaki) is his smarter-than-he-appears pal. The screenplay is by Vonnegut and there's plenty of choice dialog, poking fun at American mores, the anti-war movement (it's 1971), modern medicine, and just about anything else you can think of.

The delightful presence of Pamela Ferdlyn in this black comedy based upon Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s play (which he adapted for the screen) really gives a sardonic, almost sketch comedy like theme to this delicious little surprise. The 12 year old Wanda didn't get her birthday cake simply because she was hit by an ice cream truck on her birthday and is now in heaven playing shuffleboard with various villains of history, so her bakery made cake has been purchased by Susannah York for her son Steven Paul's birthday, and it just so happens that he is 12 too. With her high pitched voice, Ferdlyn was perfect as an animated movie actress, still remembered as the young girl who adopts pig Wilbur in "Charlotte's Web". Her scene describing her death and the aftermath is so tongue in cheek that you expect an ice cream truck to come along and run her over once again.

The story focuses on Paul's birthday and his absent father Rod Steiger's return after years of absence, surprising his ex-wife York, who is busy dealing with two annoying suitors (George Grizzard and Don Murray) whom Paul can't stand. He keeps having them chasing him into the dangerous Central Park at night, so Paul seems thrilled by his father's return.

York, in dealing with her ex-husband's return, has to establish the fact that she has grown since he left them, and this leads to several violent outbursts by Steiger, playing a rather demented military man who is surprisingly charming in spite of his unpredictable ways. At times, I began to confuse him with Richard Burton. The direction of legendary Mark Robson keeps this hopping at a pace that will never have you bored.

Then there's Steiger's Peter Lorre like sidekick William Hickey, complete with Jerry Lewis like voice and his own wacky situations, and you've got the recipe for a souffle of bizarre proportions. Steiger and Hickey together seem like Raymond Massey and Lorre in "Arsenic and Old Lace". Pamela Saunders, as one of Steiger's ex-wives, now in heaven, seems dressed up to be emulating Agnes Moorehead in "Bewitched", and for those who believe that heaven has a bar, this is at least fictional evidence of that.

In addition to these wacky performances, there is the art direction of York's apartment, bizarre with its jungle like atmosphere, and aided by animal sounds in the background, even when Paul is running towards the Central Park Zoo. I made the mistake of assuming that this was a drama, but now that I've seen it, it has entered into my list of favorite comedies, and very close to the top 10 of my favorite 70's comedies. In editing my collection down to a manageable size, I've decided that this one is a keeper.