Joseph Heller's novel, with its myriad characters and situations, presented a challenge that would have confounded a less disciplined screenwriter than Buck Henry, again teaming with Mike Nichols. "The innocent in this film is Yossarian (Alan Arkin), a bombardier in World War II, who perceives war and his military life as insane. The film becomes Yossarian's dream (actually a series of dream sequences) during which, as in psychoanalysis, more and more is revealed. Yossarian eventually gains insight and is able to make a decision about what to do. The lines are wonderfully funny, yet behind the humor is also the revelation of the horror of war itself. The circular construction of the script is brilliant" (H. W. Schuth). Filmed while America was living the nightmare of Vietnam, where soldiers like Yossarian were being given orders to drop napalm bombs, Henry's screenplay about one such soldier who draws the line took on particular resonance, as it was clearly meant to do.