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Slaughterhouse Five
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0025192354922
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Universal Studios
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), German (Original Language),
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
MPN: 61023549
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 25, 2004
Running Time: 104 minutes
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: March 15, 1972
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Editorial Review:
Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) has a problem with time: he keeps jumping about in his own life, principally between three key scenes. The "present" is a kind of glowing suburban bliss involving a dutiful wife, large house, and presidency of the local Lions; the "past" is being a prisoner of World War II and experiencing the firebombing of Dresden from the wrong side; the "future" takes place in a glass dome on the planet Tralfamadore, to which Billy has been mysteriously spirited along with the woman of his fantasies (Montana Wildhack, played by Valerie Perrine). It isn't meant to make too much sense, since the point is to represent a man (and a century) that has witnessed things too unbearable for a wholly sane person to make sense of. In fact author Kurt Vonnegut's anguished cry on the insanity of war is one of those completely unfilmable books, so director George Roy Hill gets points even for trying. The whole package is thought provoking in a wholly Vonnegutian way. All this, and Glenn Gould playing Bach as well. --Richard Farr
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Life in the Slaughterhouse
Film adaptions of novels (from Madame Bovary to Catch 22) have proved how easy failure transcends effort. However, The film version of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five proves the exception: graceful, smartly directed and beautifully acted. Rediscover a real treasure and see this film.
Rating: - Dresden POW and the Heart of Space
This movie is about the battle of the Bulge, POW life in Dresden during its firebombing, wealthy life in New England, and then eternity on a fictional planet. It is a bit Dadaesque. There are a few flashbacks and flash forwards. The tone of the film is nihilistic and irreverent, which is the style of Vonnegut's fiction. As a veteran, I liked the fact that none of the soldiers were put on a pedestal and they were far more human than stock of the trade.
Rating:  - Classis movie, classic story
One of my favorites since my teens. a forty year love-affair with a great movie!
Rating: - Better than the book...
I love Kurt Vonnegut, and own nearly everything the man has written, mostly dog earned and yellowed after far too many readings. I was at first skeptical, however after viewing this film I can say that never before have I seen a piece of prose transformed into a work of like this. The cinematography is wonderful and the transitions, when Pilgrim leaps from time to time are masterful. The acting is superb, my favorite character being Paul Lazzaro; entirely quotable in every way. This film is well ... Read More
Rating: - So It Goes
Read Vonnegut's novel whether or not you see this film, but if you do decide to see or purchase this movie you'll be grateful you read the book first. On the other hand, if seeing the film induces you to read the novel, all the better. Count the number of times Vonnegut writes, "So it goes."
As others say here, the movie is a fairly close adaptation of the novel, without much interpretive discretion on the part of the director. There are a few alterations that don't make sense in ... Read More
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