SEVEN DAYS IN MAY (1964)

On the big screen, 1964 was the year of political paranoia & nuclear endgame.  Hipsters got scary/comic brilliance in Stanley Kubrick’s DR. STRANGELOVE; squares had Sidney Lumet’s earnest & dutiful FAIL-SAFE.  The difference in tone matched by two other Presidential thrillers of the period: John Frankenheimer’s THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE/’62 and John Frankenheimer’s SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, the first outlandish & subversive, the second, with scripter Rod Serling’s ‘well-made play’ vibe, dropping obvious clues to underline every story beat.  But if CANDIDATE is more daring, sophisticated, wacky & original, SEVEN, unlike the self-important FAIL-SAFE, is an impressive achievement in its own straightforward way, and a real nail-biter.  Coup-hungry General Burt Lancaster and suspicious Col. Kirk Douglas are both at their best, helped by having an equal third-party, President Fredric March, between them.  It turns their competitive streak away from them as stars, and toward character.  But everyone’s dandy in this one; and there’s extra fun substituting current politicos in most of the roles.  Imagining modern candidates being so articulate even gives the speechifying final showdown between Lancaster & March an extra frightening kick.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/LINK:  *At times, it really is a ‘well-made’ play, specifically, Gore Vidal’s 1960 B’way smash THE BEST MAN which it steals a significant plot point from.  BEST MAN also a 1964 movie, and with FAIL-SAFE’s Henry Fonda in it.  https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-best-man-1964.html

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  Look for producer John Houseman making his acting debut at 62.