Catch-22.

First edition of Heller’s classic first book. Octavo, original blue cloth. Boldly signed by Joseph Heller and the actors of the film Richard Benjamin and Paula Prentiss. The 1970 film adaptation of Catch-22, directed by Mike Nichols from a screenplay by Buck Henry, stands as one of the most ambitiously cast Hollywood productions, assembling an extraordinary constellation of comic and dramatic talent to bring Joseph Heller's sprawling satirical novel to the screen. At the center of the ensemble was Alan Arkin as Captain John Yossarian, the bombardier antihero whose desperate attempts to escape the machinery of military madness drive the narrative — a performance of controlled, slow-burning exasperation that drew on Arkin's considerable stage and screen pedigree and earned widespread critical admiration. Bob Newhart, whose deadpan comedic persona had already made him one of the most distinctive voices in American entertainment, brought his trademark understated bewilderment to the role of Major Major Major Major, the hapless officer promoted to squadron commander against his will — a character tailor-made for Newhart's ability to find absurdist comedy in bureaucratic helplessness. Richard Benjamin, fresh from his breakthrough in Goodbye, Columbus (1969), lent the film sharp intelligence and a certain wry urbanity, while Paula Prentiss — criminally underutilized by Hollywood throughout her career despite possessing exceptional comic instincts and considerable dramatic range — delivered one of the film's most memorable supporting turns. Rounding out the cast were Jon Voight, Art Garfunkel in his screen acting debut, Charles Grodin, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen, and Orson Welles, the latter cast against type as the imperious General Dreedle. Though the film was commercially overshadowed by Robert Altman's M*A*S*H in the same year, Vincent Canby of the New York Times called it the best American film he had seen that year, and it has since retained a devoted following as a serious and ambitious work of antiwar cinema. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. Housed in a custom half morocco slipcase. An exceptional example.