Seven Days In May (1964)

 
Seven Days In May (1964) [US 113min.) directed by John Frankenheimer, written by Rod Serling.


An American general schemes with fellow officers to overthrow a president who supports nuclear disarmament, but a loyal military adviser attempts to foil the plot. Political drama, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March and Ava Gardner.

"I'm suggesting Mr President, there's a military plot to take over the Government of these United States, next Sunday..."

Burt Lancaster, if he's remembered at all these days, is usually recalled as a clean cut, square jawed leading man in any number of anodyne Hollywood place holders from the immediate post-War period. In addition to these, though, he turned in three truly astonishing performances.

The last of these was as the oil man Felix Happer in Bill Forsyth's Local Hero ( 1983), the first was as newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker in the outstanding Sweet Smell Of Success (Alexander Mackendrik 1957) and in between came General James Mattoon Scott in this John Frankenheimer parable of political will and might,released in 1964.

Amid all the Cold War paranoia films of the previous decade and following the real world tragedies of the McCarthy witchunt and the Kennedy assassination, this film asks : rather than what will happen if/when the Russians drop the bomb,what would happen if we sought peace and removed the possibility of mutually assured destruction ?

So it's a "what if ?" film ; what if in a future United States a liberal President sought peace rather than conflict, what if in the US of now a President felt sure enough of his course of action to ignore the military and the polls and declare peace ?

And who, back in early sixties America, did you bring in to imagine possible futures ? Rod Serling was your go- to- guy. He'd created the TV phenomenon that was The Twilight Zone and demonstrated that he had the sci-fi writers vision of an Ellison, Bradbury or (especially) Phillip K. Dick coupled with the control of plot and dialogue honed from writing hour upon hour of primetime TV.

Here though he doesn't look at a future of alien invasion,interstellar travel and humans driven insane by automation and being forced to wear one-piece lycra jumpsuits. He imagines a future/ now where a frail but determined President (Fredric March) sees the opportunity to leave a legacy for the future of the race by signing a treaty with Soviets ending the policy of M.A.D. and bringing to an end the nuclear arms race.

And here comes Burt... Four Star Gen. James Scott - decorated war hero and vocal opponent of his President's selling out of the country to the enemy.

Burt was an actor of limited range and in the three films highlighted above he achieves the greatness of his performance by almost not acting. He speaks through a barely opening mouth, adding menace to everything he says. His eyes are immobile yet steely determined. His body movements are small; minimal flicks and twitches.Yet throughout he is upright and brooding. He is the perfect symbolic embodiment of the inflexible attitudes of the US military toward the supposed enemy.

Ranged against Burt and his Army Of The Night are the Presidents rag-tag collection of aides and friends.They drip liberal wetness from every pore.They drink,t hey smoke, they hang out with unsuitable women, they live in the academic world (possibly the worst offence of all to the flag waving patriots we see picketing the White House in the opening shot).

And caught in the middle is Colonel Casey (Kirk Douglas). A military man who worships (maybe even loves) his commanding officer, Big Bad Burt, but who also knows enough to recognise that might can not be allowed to trample the flower of democracy under it's tank tracks.

There's a genuine tension running throughout the film - aided by a clever visual device that precludes the use of "Washington,Wednesday Morning" title cards. There's gadgetry - early teleconferencing from the POTUS - Bond villain style video screens with sliding shutters for Burt - but above all is an engaging story, visually simple yet expansive and with a fine cast of supporting actors : Martin Balsam, Andrew Duggan and Ava Gardener all add weight while Edmond O'Brien turns in a terrific performance as the drunk with a conscience Senator from Georgia.

It's two hours of " what if ? " that reaches for a different conclusion from that which was fashionable in the early sixties and, in that sense, feels more like an anti-war film from the late Vietnam period.

There's also razor sharp dialogue and (even) a few decent jokes - and there's this final scene duologue :

PRESIDENT: And that would be General James Mattoon Scott, would it? I don't know whether to laugh at that kind of megalomania, or simply cry.
GENERAL SCOTT : James Mattoon Scott, as you put it, hasn't the slightest interest in his own glorification. But he does have an abiding interest in the survival of this country.
PRESIDENT: Then, by God, run for office. You have such a fervent, passionate, evangelical faith in this country - why in the name of God don't you have any faith in the system of government you're so hell-bent to protect?

It's a morality tale that has stayed relevant.