AND SO IT GOES…:
Kurt Vonnegut, 1922-2007

When outspoken humanist author Kurt Vonnegut passed away on April 11th at the age of 84, he left not only a prolific amount of short stories, novels and essays behind, but also some films based on his works, such as they are:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE [1971]
Of Vonnegut’s skills as an adapter of his own work, Roger Ebert wrote that “he is his own worst friend” in this claustrophobic tale of abuse starring Rod Steiger and Susannah York.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE [1972]
The 1969 novel that gave the lazy press reason to label Vonnegut a sci-fi writer may have had fantastical elements — like a main character who takes quantum leaps around his own life — but the story, adapted by George Roy Hill, is partially autobiographical, especially the elements relating to the tragic bombing of Dresden, Germany in World War II.

SLAPSTICK (OF ANOTHER KIND) [1982]
Perhaps one of the worst movies ever made, this alleged comedy starring Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn about retarded twins who become geniuses when they put their heads together barely resembles Vonnegut’s book, and was made to dupe audiences into thinking it was a Mel Brooks parody of Close Encounters.

MOTHER NIGHT [1996]
The best adaptation of Vonnegut’s work came from Keith Gordon, who played Rodney Dangerfield’s son in Back To School, the 1986 comedy in which Vonnegut had a hilarious cameo as himself. Nick Nolte stars as an American propagandist who appears to be working for the Nazis, but is unable to reveal to anyone his true role as a spy for Uncle Sam. Like the adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five, it is imperfect, but with enough of an understanding of the man and his work.

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS [1999]
The fact that the novel about a town of eccentrics was practically unfilmable did not stop arthouse darling Alan Rudolph from trying…and failing miserably.

CAT’S CRADLE [possibly 2009]
Leonardo DiCaprio is developing Vonnegut’s novel about a substance called Ice-Nine, which threatens all life on Earth.