Seven Days in May
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| Seven Days in May | |
|---|---|
| Image:Sevendays moviep.jpg original film poster | |
| Directed by | John Frankenheimer |
| Produced by | John Frankenheimer Edward Lewis |
| Written by | Fletcher Knebel (novel) Charles W. Bailey II (novel) Rod Serling |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster Kirk Douglas Fredric March Ava Gardner Edmond O'Brien |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures (original release) Warner Bros. (current rights holders) |
| Release date(s) | February 12, 1964 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 118 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Seven Days in May is a political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey and published by Harper & Row in 1962. The novel was made into a motion picture in 1964, with screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster.
Contents |
[edit] The plot
The novel and film tell the story of fictitious U.S. President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March). As the story begins, Lyman faces a wave of public dissatisfaction with his decision to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union, an agreement that will supposedly result in both nations simultaneously destroying their nuclear weapons under mutual international inspection. This is extremely unpopular with both the President's opposition and the military, who believe the Soviets cannot be trusted.
As the debate over the treaty rages on, an alert and well-positioned Pentagon insider, United States Marine Corps Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas) becomes aware of a conspiracy among the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) led by his own superior officer, the charismatic head of the JCS, Air Force General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). As he digs deeper, he uncovers the conspiracy's shocking goal: Scott and his cohorts, along with allies in the United States Congress and the news media, are plotting to stage a coup d'etat to remove President Lyman and his cabinet seven days hence.
The plot itself, called ECOMCON (for "Emergency Communications Control"), entails the seizure of the nation's telephone, radio and television network infrastructure by a secret United States Army combat unit created and controlled by Scott's conspiracy and based near Fort Bliss, Texas. Once this is done, General Scott and his conspirators will control the nation's communications assets; then, from their headquarters within a vast underground nuclear shelter called "Mount Thunder" (based on the actual Alternate Seat of Government maintained by the U.S. at Mount Weather in Berryville, Virginia), they will use the power of the media and the military to prevent the implementation of the treaty.
Although personally opposed to President Lyman and to the treaty, Casey is appalled by the unconstitutional cabal and alerts Lyman and his inner circle. As the countdown begins, both sides maneuver behind the scenes: Lyman sends Casey to New York to ferret out secrets that can be used against Scott, forcing Casey to cruelly deceive the general's former mistress, the vulnerable Ellie Holbrook (Ava Gardner).
Meanwhile, the plotters take action against Lyman's closest advisors, the aging, alcoholic Georgia Senator Raymond Clark (Edmond O'Brien) and earnest White House aide Paul Girard (Martin Balsam), as they race against time to derail ECOMCON.
As events reach their climax, Lyman confronts Scott in the Oval Office (see photo, right); Clark and Girard each find that their pursuit of the truth has led them into deadly danger; and Casey must decide between his newborn love for Ellie Holbrook and his oath to protect and preserve the United States Constitution.
[edit] Background
In the novel, the story is set in May 1974, not long after the conclusion of a stalemated war in Iran fought along conventional warfare lines similar to Korea. The motion picture is set four years earlier, in May 1970, as shown both by the day/date indicator in the Pentagon, and the reference by Jordan Lyman to "a year and nine months" before Election Day 1972.
The novel has White House aide Paul Girard meeting with Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell, USN, on board the U.S. Sixth Fleet flagship, a 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named after the late President Dwight D. Eisenhower, at anchor in the Bay of Gibraltar. The U.S. Navy's third nuclear-powered supercarrier was the Nimitz class USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), which was actually commissioned in 1977.
The scenario of the film may have been inspired by the clash between General Curtis LeMay and President John F. Kennedy. It is suspected that LeMay, furious after the Cuban missile crisis for not being allowed to use his atomic bombs, talked to some of his staff about removing the President from power. Other observers cite as the inspiration for the story a historically-ambiguous conspiracy among major industrial leaders to enlist retired Marine Gen. Smedley Butler in a plot to infiltrate Franklin Delano Roosevelt's inner circle, as reported by Butler in his testimony to the McCormack-Dickstein Congressional Committee in 1934. (See Business Plot of 1933.)
[edit] Film production notes
Frankenheimer said that Pierre Salinger conveyed to him President Kennedy's wish that the film be made, "these were the days of General Walker" and, though the Pentagon did not want the film made, the President would conveniently arrange to visit Hyannis Port for a weekend when he needed to shoot at the White House.[1]
In an example of guerrilla filmmaking, director John Frankenheimer photographed actor Martin Balsam being ferried out to the supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk, formerly CVA-63, anchored at Naval Station San Diego without prior Defense Department permission. [2]
In another example of guerrilla filmmaking, director John Frankenheimer wanted a shot of Kirk Douglas entering the Pentagon, but could not get permission because of security considerations. Frankenheimer rigged a movie camera in a parked station wagon to photograph Douglas walking up to the Pentagon. Douglas actually received salutes from military personnel because the actor was wearing the uniform of a U.S. Marine Corps colonel. [3]
Efforts were made in the film to make the movie appear to take place in the future, e.g. the use of the then-futuristic technology of video teleconferencing.
Actor John Houseman appears, uncredited, in the role of ECOMCON conspirator Admiral Farley Barnswell. Seven Days in May was his first full-length film as an actor.
Lancaster and Douglas made several films together over the decades, including I Walk Alone (1948), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), The Devil's Disciple (1959), and Tough Guys (1986), which fixed the notion of the pair as something of a team in the public's imagination. Douglas was always second-billed under Lancaster in these films but, with the exception of I Walk Alone, in which Douglas played a villain, their roles were usually more or less the same size.
A young Richard Anderson, better known as Oscar Goldman from the 1970s ABC-TV hit series The Six Million Dollar Man, plays Pentagon aide Colonel Murdock.
[edit] Cast
Burt Lancaster ... Gen. James Mattoon Scott
Kirk Douglas ... Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey
Fredric March ... President Jordan Lyman
Ava Gardner ... Eleanor 'Ellie' Holbrook
Edmond O'Brien ... Sen. Raymond Clark
Martin Balsam ... Paul Girard
Andrew Duggan ... Col. William 'Mutt' Henderson
Hugh Marlowe ... Harold McPherson
Whit Bissell ... Sen. Frederick Prentice
Helen Kleeb ... Esther Townsend
George Macready ... Christopher Todd
Richard Anderson ... Col. Murdock
Bart Burns ... Art Corwin
John Larkin ... Col. John Broderick
Jack Mullaney ... Lt. (j.g.) Dorsey Grayson
[edit] Remakes
The movie was remade and updated in 1994 by HBO and renamed The Enemy Within with Sam Waterson as "President William Foster," Jason Robards as "General R. Pendleton Lloyd" and Forest Whitaker as "Colonel MacKenzie 'Mac' Casey." This particular version followed the plot of the original closely with some changes made for contemporary audiences and the end of the Cold War.
[edit] Awards
The film garnered several prestigious awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for O'Brien and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration/Black-and-White for Cary Odell and Edward G. Boyle. Edmond O'Brien won a Golden Globe award for his performance.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ "Robert Kennedy and his Times", Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Futura Publications, p485, 1979, ISBN 0 7088 1633 9
- ^ [1] Trivia for Seven Days in May - IMDB
- ^ [2] Trivia for Seven Days in May - IMDB
Films directed by John Frankenheimer |
|---|
The Young Stranger • The Young Savages • All Fall Down • Birdman of Alcatraz • The Manchurian Candidate • Seven Days in May • The Train • Seconds • Grand Prix • The Fixer • The Extraordinary Seaman • The Gypsy Moths • I Walk the Line • The Horsemen • The Iceman Cometh • 99 and 44/100% Dead • Story of a Love Story • French Connection II • Black Sunday • Prophecy • The Challenge • The Holcroft Covenant • 52 Pick-up • Dead-Bang • The Fourth War • Year of the Gun • The Island of Dr. Moreau • Ronin • Reindeer Games |
es:Siete días de mayo fr:Sept jours en mai it:Sette giorni a maggio
