Catch-22 (1970) on Netflix
Captain John Yossarian is a B-25 bombardier on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa. Colonel Cathcart has raised the number of missions his men must fly, and Yossarian wants out.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Captain John Yossarian flies as a bombardier in a U.S. Army Air Force B-25 squadron based on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa, where the missions target the Italian mainland. He has survived many of them and wants to be rotated home. Colonel Cathcart, who commands the group, wants publicity, preferably a mention in a nationally syndicated magazine, and he keeps adding to the total a man must reach before anyone can leave. Yossarian appeals to him and gets nowhere. Doc Daneeka, the flight surgeon, explains the Catch-22 that traps him: only a man unfit to fly would accept more missions, yet a man who asks to stop flying is sane enough to keep going.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Catch-22 (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Second unit director John Jordan refused to wear a harness during a bomber scene and fell out of the open tail turret 4000 ft into the Pacific Ocean to his death.
- The film is credited with saving the B-25 Mitchell from possible extinction: its budget accommodated 17 flyable B-25s, and one hulk acquired in Mexico was burned and destroyed in the crash landing scene, then buried in the ground by the runway, where it remains.
- Paul Simon was cast in a part, as was Art Garfunkel, his partner in the musical group Simon and Garfunkel. Garfunkel's part grew while Simon's was cut from the final film, a move which, according to Garfunkel, contributed to the breakup of the duo.
- To reach a location that could previously only be accessed by boat, the filmmakers spent $180,000 building a five-mile highway and another $250,000 on a 6,000-ft runway; that airfield is today Guaymas airport.
- Orson Welles first tried to buy the rights to Heller's novel in 1962 to independently produce and direct it himself, but was unsuccessful. He wound up cast in the film instead, in the role of General Dreedle.
