CinemaVIEW• RWU SPRING 2021: George Roy Hill's Visualization of "Slaughterhouse-Five"

Slaughterhouse-Five is a 1972 science fiction film based on Kurt Vonnegut's novel of the same name about a writer who tells a story in random order of how he was a soldier in World War II and was abducted by aliens. 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.[1] The other scenes were filmed in Minnesota.

Vonnegut wrote about the film soon after its release, in his preface to Between Time and Timbuktu:

"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."

Plot The film follows the novel in presenting a first-person narrative from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim (Sacks), 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. Emphasis is placed on his experiences during World War II, including the firebombing of Dresden, as well as time spent with fellow prisoners of war Edgar Derby (Roche) and the psychopathic Paul Lazzaro (Leibman). His life as a husband to Valencia (Gans) and father to Barbara (Near) and Robert (King) 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 Tralfamadore feature Hollywood starlet Montana Wildhack (Perrine).

Cast

Michael Sacks as Billy Pilgrim
Ron Leibman as Paul Lazzaro
Eugene Roche as Edgar Derby
Sharon Gans as Valencia Merble Pilgrim
Valerie Perrine as Montana Wildhack
Holly Near as Barbara Pilgrim
Perry King as Robert Pilgrim
Kevin Conway as Roland Weary
Friedrich von Ledebur as German Leader
Ekkehardt Belle as Young German Guard
Sorrell Booke as Lionel Merble
Roberts Blossom as Wild Bob Cody
John Dehner as Professor Rumfoord
Gary Waynesmith as Stanley
Richard Schaal as Howard W. Campbell Jr.
Gilmer McCormick as Lily Rumfoord
Stan Gottlieb as Hobo
Karl-Otto Alberty as German Guard - Group Two
Henry Bumstead as Eliot Rosewater
Lucille Benson as Billy's Mother
John Wood as English Officer, credited as Tom Wood

Music
Slaughterhouse-Five is the first of two feature films for which Glenn Gould supplied the music; Bach Concerto #5 in F Minor, BWV 1056, and Concerto #3 in D Major, BWV 1054 were recorded at Columbia Studios with the Columbia Symphony orchestra; some selections came from existing recordings, and two featured other artists, including Rudolph Serkin, piano, with Casals conducting Brandenburg Concerto #4 in G Major, BWV 1049, III Presto. The film used such a small amount of music that the soundtrack album added atmospheric excerpts from Douglas Leedy's synthesized triple album Entropical Paradise.

The prolonged rendition of the final movement of Bach's fourth Brandenburg concerto accompanies a cinematic montage as the main character first encounters the city of Dresden.

Awards The film won the Prix du Jury at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival,[2] 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.

See also