Seven Days In May (1964)
An American military officer discovers his superiors are planning a military coup.
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner Dir: John Frankenheimer BW-118 mins, TV-14. 6:00 PM EST. TCM.
Yeah I know its politics suck (but hell I thought the POTUS in this film was a weakling too) but what bad paranoid politics! Frankenheimer’s second paranoid home run in the early 1960s. Burt Lancaster is great… and Ava Gardner plays the aging mistress a little too well and nobody does righteous anger better than Kirk Douglas — especially since he shares General Scott’s disdain for his CinC’s policies. This is part of a four-set — along with Manchurian Candidate, Dr. Strangelove, and LBJ’s Daisy Ad — of early ’60s media that seem to foretell the poison in politics to come.
Later in the day is Sophie’s Choice and earlier is Now, Voyager, Mr. Smith (which for me one viewing is sufficient — and I’ve seen it 4 times) and The Devil and Daniel Webster.
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Supposedly, GW’s grandfather worked with a group of other politically connected individuals to engineer of coup of FDR during the Great Depression. I’m not sure how accurate the story is, however.
Ahhh.. that would good ole’ Gen. Smedley Butler. An interesting character. Reitred after over 30 year Marine career and a shitload of medals and then promptly turned pacifist and that the USMC was a criminal thug racket for big business. He accused a bunch of business guys of approaching him to depose FDR and install a Fascist gov’t. Everyone pretty much laughed him off… probably because more than a few New Dealers favored Mussolini anyway. I can only think that Lancaster’s General Scott was in some way inspired by Smedley Butler.
Yeah, I’ve seen that happen before. There was a Ranger and SF vet who apparently went off the deep end and became something of a known personality in conspiracy theorist community, publishing a newsletter and using his military background to make the tinfoil hat club think he knew all about what “really went on.” Sometimes good men just go sideways and lose it.
One of my favorite movies.
This is a new film to me and hope I can catch it this evening. Sadly, The College Widow and Mr. TCW do not have a DVR so we’re limited to watching stuff ‘live’. Looks like a great cast though.
“Now Voyager” is a nice melodrama with the always wonderful Claude Raines in the cast. If you’re not a Bette Davis fan I recommend it because she goes from frumpy old-maid to sophisticated lady with the help of her analyst Claude Raines. The movie is also worth a look if only because it is a cultural touchstone. Anyone who has seen their share of Warner Bros. cartoons will recognize the musical themes that run throughout the movie.
The last scene has also become one of those scenes that would be lampooned and referenced for many years to come. Here’s a brief clip from the last scene from Now Voyager:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-KGiwGn1d8
Smedley Butler..great name!Almost as good as Gen. Tasker Bliss.
Devil & Dan’l Webster – love dat movie!
Oh yeah! It IS great. I really enjoy Edward Arnold. He was great at playing villains and heavies but it’s good to see him play a good guy for a change. And of course, Walter Huston as Mr. Scratch. Yep, it’s all good.
Brand new DirecTV DVR set for Devil and… Now if they’d only run a Friday Night Lights Season 4 marathon (probably will after the season finale this week, when they start airing on NBC anyway — such is my luck).
Great, great masterpiece of a film. It’s so good, with such a great plot and such magnificent actors bringing the story to life, that its politics are rendered irrelevant as far as I’m concerned.
Floyd, you picked a great screen shot to post. In that opening scene, Gen. Scott is sitting before the Senate Committee, listening to the pro and con arguments regarding the arms treaty, and he keeps his face immobile and emotionless. But his drumming fingers, the only thing that moves in the whole shot, give away his contempt for the whole lot of them, politicians all, whether they support him or not.