|
Here's some Catch-22 Trivia courtesy of IMDB:
Jerry
Trivia for
Catch-22 (1970) More at IMDb Pro »
George C. Scott turned down the role of Colonel Cathcart, saying he had effectively played the same part in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
While on a tirade in his office, Major Major walks past a framed photo of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In a continuous shot, he paces around his office, and when he passes the picture again, it is of Winston Churchill, as he makes one more round of his office and grabs the fake mustache out of his filing cabinet, the photo has changed to that of Joseph Stalin.
Paul Simon was originally going to be in the film, but his role was written out.
Director Mike Nichols wanted 36 B-25's to create the big Army Air Force base, but the budget couldn't stretch to more than 17 flyable Mitchells. An additional non-flyable hulk was acquired in Mexico, made barely ferry-able and flown with landing gear down to location, only to be burned and destroyed in the landing crash scene. The wreck was then buried in the ground next to the runway, where it remains to this day.
The film has one of the longest, most complex uninterrupted scenes ever made. In the scene, where two actors talking against a background, 16 of the 17 planes, four groups of four aircraft, took off at the same time. As the scene progresses, the actors entered a building and the same planes were seen through the window, climbing into formation. The problem was, for every take, the production manager has to call the planes back and made to take off again for every take of the particular scene. This was done four times.
Second Unit Director John Jordan refused to wear a harness during a bomber scene. While giving a hand signal to another airplane from the tail gunner position in the camera plane, he lost his grip and fell 4 000 feet to his death.
Stacy Keach was originally cast as Colonel Cathcart when shooting started, but things did not work out, and Charles Grodin (I) (who had already been cast as Capt. Aarfy Aardvark) was asked to take over. As the part was written for an older man, old age make-up was experimented with for a few days, until it was decided to cast Martin Balsam instead, and Grodin returned to his original part.
This is the first American film to show an actor on the toilet - Martin Balsam, playing opposite 'Anthony Perkins'. Ten years earlier, the first American film to show a toilet was Psycho (1960)... starring Martin Balsam and 'Anthony Perkins'.
The film has no original musical score.
The actor who played the wounded airman had to share his costume with several pounds of offal that made it look as if his intestines had been exposed by the injury.
The Mexico location shooting took six months to complete because cinematographer 'David Watkin' would only film between 2pm to 3pm to get the same lighting.
Orson Welles tried to acquire the rights to the novel so that he could film it. He had to be content with playing the part of General Dreedle.
Since the filming of Catch-22 (1970) took longer than planned, Art Garfunkel wasn't able to make it back to New York in time to start writing and recording the Simon & Garfunkel album "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Angered by the delay, Paul Simon wrote the track "The Only Living Boy in New York" about the incident. The lyrics "Tom, get your plane right on time/I know your part'll go fine/Fly down to Mexico" were a thinly veiled attack aimed at Garfunkel (who was "Tom" of Simon & Garfunkel's earlier incarnation, Tom & Jerry) leaving Simon alone in New York to write the bulk of the album himself.
According to his book, "Kiss Me Like A Stranger", Gene Wilder was the original choice for Lt. Milo Minderbinder, but he turned the role down, citing creative differences, and instead accepted the dual role he plays in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)
The squadron patch on Yossarian's leather A-2 flight jacket -- a female nude riding a descending bomb, hurling a bolt of lightning -- was the actual patch of Joseph Heller's 488th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), one of four B-25 squadrons (the others being the 486th, 487th, and 489th) in the 340th Bombardment Group (Medium) during World War II.
According to writer Nora Ephron in a March 16, 1969 New York Times article, Jack Lemmon had "originally wanted to play Yossarian" in a film version of Joseph Heller's book.
_________________
"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
