Seven Days in May (1964)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

Fletcher Knebel (novel) &
Charles W. Bailey II (novel) ...
(more)

Release Date:

12 February 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

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

Plot:

US military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.

Plot Keywords:

General | U.S. President | Colonel | Cold War | Coup

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	Gen. James Mattoon Scott
Kirk Douglas	...	Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey
Fredric March	...	President Jordan Lyman
Ava Gardner	...	Eleanor 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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Malcolm Atterbury	...	Horace, the president's physician (uncredited)
Victor Buono	...	Bit (uncredited)
William Challee	...	(uncredited)
Thom Conroy	...	(uncredited)
Walter Coy	...	(uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	(uncredited)
Mimi Dillard	...	Mother at Dulles Airport (uncredited)
Joel Fluellen	...	White House elevator operator (uncredited)
Kevin Gregor	...	(uncredited)
Tom Harris	...	(uncredited)
Douglas Henderson	...	(uncredited)
Stuart Holmes	...	(uncredited)
John Houseman	...	Vice-Adm. Farley C. Barnswell (uncredited)
Colette Jackson	...	Bar Girl (uncredited)
John Larkin	...	Col. Broderick (uncredited)
Michael Masters	...	(uncredited)
Tyler McVey	...	Gen. Hardesty (uncredited)
Charles Meredith	...	Senate Committee Member (uncredited)
Jack Mullaney	...	LTJG Dorsey Grayson (uncredited)
Leonard Nimoy	...	(uncredited)
Joyce Nizzari	...	(uncredited)
Hildy Parks	...	(uncredited)
Bill Raisch	...	(uncredited)
Irvin Richardson	...	(uncredited)
Joe Walls	...	(uncredited)
Charles Watts	...	Stewart Dillard (uncredited)
Fredd Wayne	...	Henry Whitney (uncredited)
Ferris Webster	...	Gen. Bernard 'Barney' Rutkowski (uncredited)
Mike West	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
John Frankenheimer

Writing credits
Fletcher Knebel		(novel) &
Charles W. Bailey II		(novel)
Rod Serling		(screenplay)

Produced by
Edward Lewis	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Ellsworth Fredericks		(director of photography) (as Ellsworth Fredricks)

Film Editing by
Ferris Webster

Production Design by
Cary Odell

Set Decoration by
Edward G. Boyle		(as Edward Boyle)

Makeup Department
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist (as David Grayson)
Sydney Guilaroff	....	hair stylist: Miss Gardner

Production Management
Hal W. Polaire	....	production manager (as Hal Polaire)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Hal W. Polaire	....	assistant director (as Hal Polaire)

Art Department
Frank Agnone	....	property master
Gene Lauritzen	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Joe Edmondson	....	sound mixer

Stunts
Bill Catching	....	stunts (uncredited)
Robert 'Buzz' Henry	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Richard Borland	....	key grip
John Mehl	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Wesley Jeffries	....	costumer (as Wes Jefferies)

Editorial Department
Bill Brame	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Jerry Goldsmith	....	conductor

Other crew
Thom Conroy	....	dialogue coach (as Tom Conroy)
John Franco	....	script supervisor
Patrick J. Palmer	....	location manager

Production Companies

• Seven Arts Productions
• Joel Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1964) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1969) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Paramount (1964) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (USA) (cable television)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:12 (1964) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | USA:Approved (certificate #20565) | Canada:PG (video rating) | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-8 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Seven Arts Productions

Trivia:

During a briefing between Col. "Jiggs" Casey and Gen. Scott in Scott's Pentagon office, the second shot on the video screen, allegedly of B-47s taxiing at Wright Field during the January alert, is footage from the film Strategic Air Command (1955).

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Jiggs and Senator Clark are at Dulles Airport in Virginia. Jiggs leaves the airport and there are palm trees outside. It looks like the outside of LAX, not Dulles. In the next scene, they are in downtown Washington, D.C. with the Capitol Dome clearly visible.

Quotes:

Senator Frederick Prentice: You make me think that fruit salad on your chest is for neutrality, evasiveness, and fence-straddling.
Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey: On the contrary, Senator, they're standard awards for cocktail courage and dinner-table heroism. I thought you'd invented them.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Spare the Rod

A fascinating movie. I have it on tape and watch it regularly. I'm not sure why. The story is a primitive one. "There is a plot to take over these United States." (Even the tag line is incorrect. Douglas says "the" United States.) The script, by Rod Serling, is full of his trouvees. Ava Gardner says to Douglas: "I'll give you two things. A steak, rare, and the truth, which is very rare." (I'm laughing out loud as I write this.) Frederick March is always referring to his physician as "the good doctor." A cabinet member, played by George Macready, is a yachting freak so he's always interjecting ejaculations like, "Look out, Mister President! These are deep waters we're sailing in!" He tells Douglas that he, Douglas, gets credit for whatever taste of victory they have in their mouths, just after Kirk has been forced through an immoral act. "The taste in my mouth, Mr. Secretary, isn't exactly victory." But Rod isn't to blame for all of the script. Some is lifted from the novel, in which the president is referred to as "Jordy." The novel's prose is, let us say, clumsy and a little hard to swallow sometimes. Yet I like this film a lot. The stilted dialogue is enjoyably comic. The photography has a pleasantly washed out diluted quality, particularly noticeable in the scenes in El Paso, where the featureless desert seems almost blindingly white. The performances are about as good as they get. Lancaster has made several movies with John Frankenheimer and I suppose they get along, their interests being as much alike as they are, and it shows in Burt's performance. Kirk Douglas, who made even more movies with Burt, looks snazzy in a bird colonel's summer uniform. The rest of the cast is simply fine. Edmond O'Brian is pretty old and tubby and looks the part of an alcoholic pol with backbone. His Southern accent is neatly done. His eyes sort of bulge out and look in two slightly different directions, lending his part a comedic undertone, regardless of circumstances. George Macready -- has anyone ever played an icey standoffish cold fish as well as he? Is that what going to Brown does to you? I've always admired Martin Balsam's style. He has a gift for draping ordinary lines in a kind of sonorous tinsel -- very New Yorkish, but quirkily so. The gift is on full display in this film. His exchange with John Housmann aboard the aircraft carrier is priceless. There is nothing "dramatic" about it. It's simply done very well. Housmann has a small part, but he's very effective in it. Frederick March, a reliable actor, is reliable here. The Secret Service guy is dispensable and seems dumb compared to the other characters. The politicians, except for the president and secretary, are pretty slimy, as you'd expect in a movie about a plot to take over these United States, and Hugh Marlowe, as the ranking politician conveys that sliminess. Ava Gardner I admire as a woman but have never found her much of an actress. Andrew Duggan ditto. Richard Anderson in a small part exudes his usual class. Everyone from the Jersey shore has class. Look at Norman Mailer. Look at Jack Nicholson. Look at Abbott and Costello. I'm certain that anyone who knows the politicomilitary bureaucracy could poke so many holes in this story that it would look like the brain of a cow that had died of bovine spongiform disorder, but it doesn't matter. It's a left-wing fantasy, and an enjoyable one. The only truly disturbing scene is when March is making his victory speech at the end. Something about "marching out of the dark tunnels of ignorance into the bright sunshine of freedom." Absolutely nothing more than a collage of platitudes and clichés, totally content free. It's as if Rod had done some acid before writing it and kept getting lost along the way. But that's okay. It's an enjoyable film. Very dramatic score, with lots of CLANGS -- ominous bells. Eleventh-hour-type bells. See it if you have a chance.