Slaughterhouse-Five (film)
Encyclopedia
Slaughterhouse-Five is a 1972 film based on Kurt Vonnegut
's novel of the same name
. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller
and the film was directed by George Roy Hill
. It stars Michael Sacks
, Ron Leibman
, and Valerie Perrine
, and features Eugene Roche
, Sharon Gans
, Holly Near
, and Perry King
. The scenes set in Dresden
were filmed in Prague
. The other scenes were filmed in Minnesota.
Vonnegut wrote about the film soon after its release, in his preface to Between Time and Timbuktu
:
from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim, who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, including a period spent on the alien planet of Tralfamadore
. Particular emphasis is placed on his experiences during World War II
, including the bombing of Dresden in World War II
, as well as time spent with fellow prisoners of war
Edgar Derby (played by Roche) and the psychopathic Paul Lazzaro (played by Leibman). His life as a husband to Valencia (played by Gans), and father to Barbara and Robert (played by Near and King respectively) are also depicted, as they live and sometimes even enjoy their life of affluence in Ilium, New York
. A "sink-or-swim" scene with Pilgrim's father is also featured. The scenes of extraterrestrial life on Trafalmadore feature Hollywood starlet Montana Wildhack (played by Perrine).
The entire prologue in which Vonnegut meets with his old war buddy and decides to name his story 'The Children's Crusade' is omitted to focus on the 'fictionalized' story of Billy Pilgrim. The opening scene, which focuses many times on Billy typing a letter to the editor of the newspaper, is actually set much later in the novel.
Several elements of the novel are missing from the film. Two characters, Kilgore Trout
and Vonnegut himself, are omitted. The sequence in the novel where Pilgrim watches a movie about a bombing mission in World War II
forward and then backward is also omitted, even though Vonnegut regretted it, because it would not work inside the time constraints of the film. The novel includes repeated references to insects in amber
, which are missing from the film. Pilgrim's abduction scene is longer in the novel, but also misses details, such as the appearance of the flying saucer
, said to be 100 feet in diameter, with purple light pulsating around the saucer's portholes along the rim.
In the film, Derby's execution happens immediately after he innocently takes a small porcelain figurine from among the ruins of Dresden. In the novel, he is put on trial first, and is executed for taking a teapot. The scene that sets up the significance of the figurine, where Derby mentions one in a letter to his wife, is also unique to the film.
The Tralfamadorian response to death and mortality, "so it goes", is not spoken once in the film despite being used one hundred and sixteen times in the novel.
At the end of the novel the bird that says "Poo-Tee-Weet" is not in the movie.
s for which Glenn Gould
supplied the music. In this case it is in the form of needle drop
s from his Bach
catalog, including Goldberg Variations
Variation 25, and a performance of the third ("Allegro") movement from Keyboard Concerto #3 in D major. Gould's soundtrack actually included so little music in elapsed time, that the soundtrack album added atmospheric excerpts from Douglas Leedy's
synthesized triple album Entropical Paradise.
at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
, as well as a Hugo Award
and Saturn Award
. Both Hill and Geller were nominated for awards by their respective guilds. Sacks was nominated for a Golden Globe.
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
's novel of the same name
Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim...
. The screenplay is by Stephen Geller
Stephen Geller
Stephen Geller is an American screenwriter and novelist. Most famous for writing the screenplay for the film adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Geller has worked in the film industry in Hollywood and Europe, and recently directed his own independent feature, Mother's Little...
and the film was directed by George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill
George Roy Hill was an American film director. He is most noted for directing such films as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting, which both starred the acting duo Paul Newman and Robert Redford...
. It stars Michael Sacks
Michael Sacks
Michael Sacks is an American actor and tech executive who played the role of Billy Pilgrim in George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, an adaptation from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut....
, Ron Leibman
Ron Leibman
-Career:Leibman was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s. He has appeared in many films such as Phar Lap; Where's Poppa?; The Hot Rock; Slaughterhouse-Five; The Super Cops; Up the Academy; Norma Rae; Romantic Comedy; Zorro, The Gay Blade; Garden State; and Rhinestone...
, and Valerie Perrine
Valerie Perrine
- Life and career :Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred , a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different...
, and features Eugene Roche
Eugene Roche
Eugene Harrison Roche was an American actor . He was the original "Ajax Man" in 1970s television commercials.-Personal life:...
, Sharon Gans
Sharon Gans
Sharon Gans is an American actress. She played the part of Valencia Merble, Billy Pilgrim's wife, in George Roy Hill's the 1972 film version of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Or--The Children's Crusade that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had published in 1969...
, Holly Near
Holly Near
Holly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist for social change.-Early years:...
, and Perry King
Perry King
Perry Firestone King is an American television and film actor. King played the role of Cody Allen on the detective series Riptide from 1983 to 1986.-Early life:...
. The scenes set in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
were filmed in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. The other scenes were filmed in Minnesota.
Vonnegut wrote about the film soon after its release, in his preface to Between Time and Timbuktu
Between Time and Timbuktu
Between Time and Timbuktu is a television film directed by Fred Barzyk and based on a number of works by Kurt Vonnegut. Produced by National Educational Television and WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, it was telecast March 13, 1972 as a NET Playhouse special.The script was primarily written by...
:
- "I love George Roy Hill and Universal Pictures, who made a flawless translation of my novel Slaughterhouse-Five to the silver screen ... I drool and cackle every time I watch that film, because it is so harmonious with what I felt when I wrote the book."
Synopsis
The film follows the novel in presenting a first-person narrativeFirst-person narrative
First-person point of view is a narrative mode where a story is narrated by one character at a time, speaking for and about themselves. First-person narrative may be singular, plural or multiple as well as being an authoritative, reliable or deceptive "voice" and represents point of view in the...
from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim, who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, including a period spent on the alien planet of Tralfamadore
Tralfamadore
The Tralfamadorians are a fictional alien race mentioned in several novels by Kurt Vonnegut. Tralfamadore is their home planet. Details on the inhabitants of the planet vary from novel to novel:...
. Particular emphasis is placed on his experiences during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, including the bombing of Dresden in World War II
Bombing of Dresden in World War II
The Bombing of Dresden was a military bombing by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force and as part of the Allied forces between 13 February and 15 February 1945 in the Second World War...
, as well as time spent with fellow prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
Edgar Derby (played by Roche) and the psychopathic Paul Lazzaro (played by Leibman). His life as a husband to Valencia (played by Gans), and father to Barbara and Robert (played by Near and King respectively) are also depicted, as they live and sometimes even enjoy their life of affluence in Ilium, New York
Ilium (Kurt Vonnegut)
Ilium is a fictitious town in eastern New York state, used as a setting for many of Kurt Vonnegut's novels.The name most likely refers to Troy, New York , although Troy is mentioned as a separate city in Player Piano. In all other respects, Ilium very closely resembles Schenectady, New York, with...
. A "sink-or-swim" scene with Pilgrim's father is also featured. The scenes of extraterrestrial life on Trafalmadore feature Hollywood starlet Montana Wildhack (played by Perrine).
Cast
- Michael SacksMichael SacksMichael Sacks is an American actor and tech executive who played the role of Billy Pilgrim in George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse Five, an adaptation from the novel by Kurt Vonnegut....
as Billy Pilgrim - Ron LeibmanRon Leibman-Career:Leibman was a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s. He has appeared in many films such as Phar Lap; Where's Poppa?; The Hot Rock; Slaughterhouse-Five; The Super Cops; Up the Academy; Norma Rae; Romantic Comedy; Zorro, The Gay Blade; Garden State; and Rhinestone...
as Paul Lazzaro - Eugene RocheEugene RocheEugene Harrison Roche was an American actor . He was the original "Ajax Man" in 1970s television commercials.-Personal life:...
as Edgar Derby - Sharon GansSharon GansSharon Gans is an American actress. She played the part of Valencia Merble, Billy Pilgrim's wife, in George Roy Hill's the 1972 film version of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Or--The Children's Crusade that Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had published in 1969...
as Valencia Merble Pilgrim - Valerie PerrineValerie Perrine- Life and career :Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred , a dancer who appeared in Earl Carroll's Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine, a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. Owing to her father's career, Perrine lived in many locations as the family moved to different...
as Montana Wildhack - Holly NearHolly NearHolly Near is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist for social change.-Early years:...
as Barbara Pilgrim - Perry KingPerry KingPerry Firestone King is an American television and film actor. King played the role of Cody Allen on the detective series Riptide from 1983 to 1986.-Early life:...
as Robert Pilgrim - Kevin Conway as Roland Weary
- Friedrich von LedeburFriedrich von LedeburGraf Friedrich Anton Maria Hubertus Bonifacius von Ledebur-Wicheln was an actor who was known for Moby Dick , Alexander the Great and Slaughterhouse-Five .Ledebur was born in Austria-Hungary in 1900...
as German Leader - Ekkehardt BelleEkkehardt BelleEkkehardt Belle is a German television actor, best known for his role as David Balfour in the 1979 HTV production of Kidnapped opposite David McCallum....
as Young German Guard - Sorrell BookeSorrell BookeSorrell Booke was an American actor who performed on stage, screen, and television. He is best known for his role as the heavyset, corrupt politician "Boss" Hogg in the television show The Dukes of Hazzard....
as Lionel Merble - Roberts BlossomRoberts BlossomRoberts Scott Blossom was an American theater, film and television actor and poet. He is best known for his roles as Old Man Marley in Home Alone and as Ezra Cobb in the horror film Deranged...
as Wild Bob Cody - John DehnerJohn DehnerJohn Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
as Professor Rumfoord - Gary Waynesmith as Stanley
- Richard SchaalRichard SchaalRichard Schaal is an American television actor.He was married to actress Valerie Harper from 1964 to 1978. His daughter is actress Wendy Schaal by his first marriage to Lois née Treacy....
as Howard W. Campbell Jr. - Gilmer McCormickGilmer McCormickGilmer McCormick is an American actress and singer best known for her performance in the stage and film versions of Godspell in the early 1970s and for her role in the 1984 horror film Silent Night, Deadly Night....
as Lily Rumfoord - Stan Gottlieb as Hobo
- Karl-Otto AlbertyKarl-Otto AlbertyKarl-Otto Alberty is a German actor.He started out as an amateur boxer before discovering a talent for acting, making his début at the City Theatre in Konstanz in 1959. He then began to take supporting roles in films...
as German Guard - Group Two - Henry Bumstead as Eliot Rosewater
- Lucille BensonLucille BensonLucille Benson was an American actress known for her roles in commercials, television, and movies in the 1970s and 1980s.-Personal life:...
as Billy's Mother - John WoodJohn Wood (English actor)John Wood, CBE was an English actor.-Biography:Wood was born in Derbyshire and studied law at Jesus College, Oxford where he was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society. Changing to drama, Wood became known as a stage actor, appearing in numerous West End productions as well as on...
as English Officer, credited as Tom Wood
Differences from the novel
In addition to the condensation, there are a number of differences between the novel and the film, including the following:The entire prologue in which Vonnegut meets with his old war buddy and decides to name his story 'The Children's Crusade' is omitted to focus on the 'fictionalized' story of Billy Pilgrim. The opening scene, which focuses many times on Billy typing a letter to the editor of the newspaper, is actually set much later in the novel.
Several elements of the novel are missing from the film. Two characters, Kilgore Trout
Kilgore Trout
Kilgore Trout is a fictional character created by author Kurt Vonnegut. He was originally created as a fictionalized version of author Theodore Sturgeon , although Trout's consistent presence in Vonnegut's works has also led critics to view him as the author's own alter ego...
and Vonnegut himself, are omitted. The sequence in the novel where Pilgrim watches a movie about a bombing mission in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
forward and then backward is also omitted, even though Vonnegut regretted it, because it would not work inside the time constraints of the film. The novel includes repeated references to insects in amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
, which are missing from the film. Pilgrim's abduction scene is longer in the novel, but also misses details, such as the appearance of the flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
, said to be 100 feet in diameter, with purple light pulsating around the saucer's portholes along the rim.
In the film, Derby's execution happens immediately after he innocently takes a small porcelain figurine from among the ruins of Dresden. In the novel, he is put on trial first, and is executed for taking a teapot. The scene that sets up the significance of the figurine, where Derby mentions one in a letter to his wife, is also unique to the film.
The Tralfamadorian response to death and mortality, "so it goes", is not spoken once in the film despite being used one hundred and sixteen times in the novel.
At the end of the novel the bird that says "Poo-Tee-Weet" is not in the movie.
Music
Slaughterhouse-Five is the first of two feature filmFeature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
s for which Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...
supplied the music. In this case it is in the form of needle drop
Needle drop (audio)
A needle drop is a common term used to describe a version of a music album that has been transferred from a vinyl record to digital audio or other formats...
s from his Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
catalog, including Goldberg Variations
Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
Variation 25, and a performance of the third ("Allegro") movement from Keyboard Concerto #3 in D major. Gould's soundtrack actually included so little music in elapsed time, that the soundtrack album added atmospheric excerpts from Douglas Leedy's
Douglas Leedy
Douglas Leedy is an American composer, performer and music scholar.-Biography:Born in Portland, Oregon, Leedy studied with Karl Kohn at Pomona College and at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was in a composition seminar with membership including La Monte Young and Terry Riley...
synthesized triple album Entropical Paradise.
Awards
The film won the Prix du JuryJury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)
The Jury Prize is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival. It is considered the third most prestigious prize at the film festival, after the Palme d'Or and the Grand Prix....
at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival
1972 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Joseph Losey *Bibi Andersson *Georges Auric *Erskine Caldwell *Mark Donskoi *Miloš Forman *Giorgio Papi *Jean Rochereau *Alain Tanner...
, as well as a Hugo Award
Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation
The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...
and Saturn Award
Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film
The Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film is a Saturn Award given to the best film in the science fiction genre by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.-Winners:-External links:*...
. Both Hill and Geller were nominated for awards by their respective guilds. Sacks was nominated for a Golden Globe.
External links
- Review of the film by Vincent CanbyVincent CanbyVincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
- Glenn Gould at the Movies, a Sony ClassicalSony BMG Music EntertainmentSony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...
recording with music from the film (including this 46-second clip in WAVWAVWaveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
format)