Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Expected more

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

No Matter How many Times I Watch This Movie I Am Always Amazed At How Like Kurt Vonnegut's Book It Is ... Billy (William Pilgram) Finds Himself Being Tossed Back And Forth Along His Life's Timeline, Reliving His Past As Well As His Future ... There Is So Much About This Story That Is Relevant To All Our Lives ... How Universally Large A Life Can Be In It's Impact On Others And Yet How Minuscule Our Lives Are In The Scope Of Existence ... Vonnegut Touches Not Only On Historical Moments In Our Lives But More Importantly On The Minute Details ... What We Realize (Without Having It Bashed Over Our Heads) Is That Billy Is Us And We, All Of Us Are Billy ... Vonnegut Address' The Most Important Of All Questions, Should We Make Up For A Past, Work For A Better Tomorrow, Should We Have Been Born There Instead Of Here, Should We Make A Left Turn Instead Of A Right Turn, Etc .... In This Brilliant Work That Reminds Us Of The Total Lack Of Control That We Actually Have In Our Lives And The Illusion We Create By Thinking That We Can Control Our Lives We Find A Kind Of Peace And Flexibility That Allows Us To Address The Answer To The Above Questions ... That It Does Not Matter, The Only Thing That Matters Is That We Make The Best In All Ways Of The Only Thing That Does Matter ... Now ...

I first read "Slaughterhouse Five" around 1970. There were things in there I couldn't keep to myself. I remember reading out to my father some of the amazing lines from the book such as "The gun made a ripping sound like the opening of a zipper on the fly of God Almighty." I don't think I spoilt it too much for him; he read the book straight after I did.Kurt Vonnegut paid his dues to write that book; you could sense the pain in many passages. But how could they make a film of that self-revelatory blend of eyewitness account and wildly imaginative fiction - war, social commentary and sci-fi?Well they did, and it turned out pretty good.George Roy Hill, who made "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", and "The Sting", knew how to tell a good story, and the screenplay was by Steven Geller who wrote the novel on which "Pretty Poison" was based.The whole premise of the story is that the hero, Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) is unhinged in time and drops in and out of different periods of his life without notice. Lesser filmmakers may have fallen back on narration, quoting directly from the novel. However this film doesn't do that. It explains Billy's time tripping at the beginning through a letter he is typing; it's simple and effective.Billy's episodic life with clever transitions between the sequences fits the episodic nature of film. At the core of the story are Billy's wartime experiences during the Battle of the Bulge and as a prisoner of war in Dresden. Once you get the idea, it doesn't matter where Billy ends up, whether it's on the planet Tralfamadore with Valerie Perrine in a see-through negligee, in bed in his neat suburban home or at a meeting of his Rotary club.The sequence with Howard W. Campbell Jnr. (Richard Schaal) heralds the stunning portrayal by Nick Nolte 25 years later in "Mother Night", which Vonnegut wrote before "Slaughterhouse Five". Apparently he thought both films caught the spirit of his novels.However, "Slaughterhouse Five" flopped when first released. Maybe it was feared that a brilliant book was sure to be screwed up.Not so in this case. The film is ironic, sad, insightful, funny and unique; just like the book. With its jumps in time, "Slaughterhouse Five" doesn't feel dated to the 1970's - it's really quite timeless.

George Roy Hill's screening of the novel "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut is a classic, old fashioned-style film that hilariously captures Billy Pilgrim's experiences during and after the war. The use of flashbacks and comedy movie show us the seriousness and the negative side effects of war, but does not fail to entertain us. The film is very funny throughout, which may take from the horrors and stress one may experience during war, but makes it easy for any audience to watch and enjoy.The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is played by Michael Sacks who perfectly embodies the nature of Billy Pilgrim. He is a tall and innocent looking character which excellently portrays the essence of a young boy in war. Many of my colleagues including myself, do not particularly enjoy films or books regarding war. However, due to the comedic fashion of this film, Hill's version of "Slaughterhouse Five" can be enjoyed by an audience of all ages and interests. One of the first scenes I found to be funny was when Billy was first found by a group of American troops in the snow. The troops question Billy at first, and hold him down as they survey the land for enemies. A situation that in reality must have been extremely scary, was actually quite funny as Billy lays in the snow obediently as the troops argue between each other discussing what to do with Billy. If that wasn't funny enough, the entire group then becomes captured by a group of enemy troops, which starts Billy's journey as a prisoner of war.One component of the film that I thought was very effective in capturing the essence of war, was the use of flashbacks through the eyes of Billy. Periodically throughout the film, a scene in "real time" will often change to a scene in previous times that share common sights or interactions. The switch between war times and post war times, and the future and the past, work well to embody the traumatizing effects that war zones can have on people. PTSD, also known as "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" is an ongoing disorder that many retired war veterans will experience in their lives. I often hear and see of people who drop the the ground and take cover when they hear anything that resembles the sound of a gunshot, such as a firework or the slamming shut of a book. The use of flashbacks in this film really captures what it is like to live in a society after years of war. The performance of Billy Pilgrim's children in the book also play a role in successfully embodying the spirit of the war times. Billy's kids are concerned for their father when he starts spieling of the planet Tralfamadore and his new mistress Montana Wildhack. Perry King, who plays as Robert Pilgrim, does a great job at showing his concern for his father, especially in the scene when Robert goes to Billy's house to find him laying on the bed in darkness. Billy's son sits by his bed and talks to him of his own war experiences hoping to help his father return to his old self. This intimate moment was successful because of the staged relationship between son and father, executed by well casted actors who look so natural in the film.Although I absolutely enjoyed this movie, certain aspects due however fail to truly represent the horrifying nature of war itself. The film itself is Rated R for nudity and language but I believe the main purpose is to entertain the audience using war as a plot, as opposed to truly focusing on the horrors of war. The funny scenes keep the reader from experiencing the stress and anxiety of a war zone, which I feel is very important in a war movie, especially one about "Slaughterhouse Five". The flashbacks work well to give us a sense of the traumatizing aftermath of war, but the humor of the movie restrict the audience from feeling the war deep down inside.

An elderly Billy Pilgrim sits and writes his memoirs at a rickety old typewriter. To say that he has lead a very interesting life is an understatement, to say that his life makes for an interesting movie is a little more arguable.As Billy taps away at the keys the film drifts in and out of various times in Billy's life, ranging from his childhood all the way up until he is abducted by aliens and forced to live on another planet wiling away the time banging a Hollywood star.You read that right - this is not just a WW2 film.The bulk of the time though focuses on Billy's wartime experience - Slaughterhouse-5 refers to the former abattoir that Billy and fellow POWs are imprisoned in located in supposedly peaceful Dresden - and the years following his return home where he marries and raises a family. In between there is some action, but not much. What is there includes a plane crash, combat, internment and the UFO abduction thing, but nothing is exceptionally big or "Wow", even the war scenes aren't very "war-ey"..It is all quite well edited and seamlessly moves through the eras backwards and forwards, which takes a bit of getting used to as you think where is he now, once you see Billy's gap toothed mug and gauge his age you catch up quick though. It did add one funny joke where Billy's slightly chunky and annoying wife told him in every era how she planned to lose weight to make him happy - then we progress forward and find out that she never did, more unfortunately for old Bill is that she continued to be as annoying...Slaughterhouse-5 is practically unknown nowadays - it is 30+ years old - and it is no doubt weird. Just not weird enough to make it notably weird like say Eraserhead or Dark Star even though it is far better than both. I guess at the end of the day unknown-weird is still no more than unknown.The fact of the matter is that while it is pretty interesting and well made Slaughterhouse-5 has no one scene that differentiates it from the pack. You keep waiting for it to have the big reveal and explain everything but it never does.You probably should admire that as a movie watcher, but is it enough cause to hunt down this unassuming oddity from 4 decades ago? The answer is No, not really.Final Rating - 5 / 10. Not a terrible film, but nothing really going for it enough to provide cause for recommendation.