I saw Catch-22 (starring Alan Arkin) on video over the weekend. I first saw it when it came out in the early 70’s. My memory may be failing me, but it seems that in the screen version the climax scene when Yossarian discovers Snowden’s fatal wounds was shown in all its horrid detail – but was significantly edited in the video release I viewed.
Were other scenes cut as well which I don’t remember because it’s been 26+ years?
Now its true that I rented this video from Blockbuster. And I have heard that the owner of Blockbuster used to (still does?) limit the content in his stores to protect us from ourselves. My question is: If, how, and why was Catch-22 edited for content in the video release. (Please ignore commenting on editing for TV narrow screen format.)
Certainly, the editing of the aforementioned scene removed the essential emotional impact of the climax scene of the movie – and, because the movie was in flashback mode, the whole raison d’etre of why Yossarian was such a rebel in the movie in the first place!
a) The movie version, IIRC, did have a very graphic moment – it was quite brief, but shocking to audiences at the time, and so made an impression. It is possible that you are remembering the sequence as being longer and more graphic than it was. I find that has happened to me with several movies, where a very dramatic, impressive, or emotionally gut-wretching scene/shot looms larger in my memory than it does on the screen upon re-viewing a few years later.
So it’s possible that the version you saw wasn’t edited, just less … um… gut-wretching (heh) than you remember.*
(b) The video should have a “running time” on it, which can be checked against the original running time fairly easily. Granted, if less than one minute has been edited, that wouldn’t show up… and also granted, people nefarious enough to edit a video without telling the public are nefarious enough to mislabel. You could run the video with your VCR timer (fast forwarding, for example) to compare to the running time on the label.
Let us know the results of any experiment?
the double entendre is an homage, in the style of CATCH-22 and in memory of Joseph Heller, whose recent death saddened me immeasurably.
or…you could rent the video somewhere else besides Blockbuster and see if it is the same. I don’t recall ever watching the movie only reading the book so I am not much help there.
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
The first time I rented Catch 22 was when I was in high school (about 16 or 17). Most likely I rented it from a privately-owned video store that I used to frequent. There weren’t any Blockbusters nearby at that time. In this version, in the scene where Yossarian discovers Snowen’s wound, there is some major gut-spillage, prompting me to emit an audible “Uuggghh!”
The second time I rented it was when I was in college, (about 19 or 20) most likely from a Blockbuster. At the scene in question, the only thing shown was a major blood stain at the location of Snowden’s wound - very tame compared to the version I’d seen before.
Yes, micro user, there is a difference in the editing!
By the way, in the film version of A Clockwork Orange, was Alex ever shown vomiting, or just gagging and cringing like in the video version? Mad Magazine indicated some major pukage when they satirized the film, but I realize that it isn’t necessarily the best source for answering this question.
Wishing I had the book Catch 22 with me so I could quote the part about stewed tomatoes spilling out of Snowden’s wound and Yossarian barfing because he hates stewed tomatoes.
Yossarian ripped open the snaps of Snowden’s flak suit and heard himself scream wildly as Snowden’s insides slithered down to the floor in a soggy pile and just kept dripping out. A chunk of flak more than three inches big had shot into his other side just underneath the arm and blasted all the way through, drawing whole mottled quarts of Snowden along with it through the gigantic hole in his ribs it made as it blasted out. Yossarian screamned a second time and squeezed both hands over his eyes. His teeth were chattering in horror. He forced himself to look again. Here was God’s plenty, all right, he thought bitterly as he stared-liver, lungs, kidneys, ribs, stomach and bits of the stewed tomatoes Snowden had eaten that day for lunch. Yossarian hated stewed tomatoes and turned away dizzily and began to vomit, clutching his burning throat.
Joseph Heller, who was a real live bombadier in WWII, died last month.
I was horrified a couple of years ago when the Target retail chain brought out a “new Christmas classic” cartoon-and-plush-toy character called “Snowden the Snowman”.
I watched that chilly ball of polyster toddle across the screen, delighting gullible youngsters of all ages and all I could hear was Snowden’s voice in my head: “I’m so cold, Yossarian, I’m so very cold…”
I suppose it’s possible they figured that six-year-olds don’t read Heller, but I can’t go to Target to this day because of the stunning tastelessness of that selection of a name for a cartoon snowman.
“It ain’t no sin to be glad you’re alive”
Bruce Springsteen
Editing out the gory bits for home video release is not uncommon. The eyeball popping scene in Goodfellas was shown on HBO but isn’t in the VHS copy I purchased.
They don’t call me the colonel because I’m some dumb ass army guy.