Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writers:

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (novel)
Stephen Geller (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 March 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Drama | War

Tagline:

A Man Becomes Unstuck In Time In The Film That Became A Classic.

Plot:

A man tells his story of how he became unstuck in time and abducted by aliens.

Plot Keywords:

Alien | Future | Optometrist | Planet | Railway Station

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Michael Sacks	...	Billy Pilgrim
Ron Leibman	...	Paul Lazzaro
Eugene Roche	...	Edgar Derby
Sharon Gans	...	Valencia Merble Pilgrim
Valerie Perrine	...	Montana Wildhack
Holly Near	...	Barbara Pilgrim
Perry King	...	Robert Pilgrim
Kevin Conway	...	Roland Weary
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	German Leader (as Friedrich Ledebur)
Ekkehardt Belle	...	Young German Guard (as Nick Belle)
Sorrell Booke	...	Lionel Merble
Roberts Blossom	...	Wild Bob Cody
John Dehner	...	Prof. Rumfoord
Gary Waynesmith	...	Stanley
Richard Schaal	...	Howard W. Campbell Jr.

Runtime:

104 min | Canada:93 min (Ontario - edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:PA (Ontario - edited version) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:M | UK:X (original rating) | UK:15 (re-rating) (1988)

Filming Locations:

Downtown Airport - 2700 Airport Road, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Dirk Benedict auditioned for the part of Robert Pilgrim but director George Roy Hill preferred Perry King.

Quotes:

Tralfamadorian speaker: We know how the world ends and it has nothing to do with Earth, except that it gets wiped out too.
Billy Pilgrim: Really? How does it end?
Tralfamadorian speaker: While we're experimenting with new fuels, a Tralfamadorian test pilot panics, presses the wrong button, and the whole universe disappears.
Billy Pilgrim: But you have to stop him. If you know this, can't you keep the pilot from pressing ...
Tralfamadorian speaker: He has always pressed it, and he always will. We have always let him, and we always will let him. The moment is structured that way.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

One of the best

There is a definite 70s feel to this production of a book that does an amazing job of spanning the most fascinating period of American history -- 1945-1970. I first saw this film in 1986 as a late teen at the height of Regan America, the cold war, nuclear detente. Billy Pilgram was the beginning of that world that I was just starting to pay attention to. The movie had a really profound effect on me at the time. Reading the book afterwards and getting into his other books, didn't detract at all from my assessment of the movie adaptation. Even seeing it now many years later doesn't detract from an amazingly solid film. The transitions as Billy gets unstuck in time are some of my favorite movie images. Also beautiful is the music which totally turned me on to Glenn Gould.