Seven Days in May | Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas

Seven Days in May | Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas | best of the cold war thrillers

DVDs:

Mulan (Disney's Ma... The Chalk Garden (... UP BEAT BROADWAY Yellow Pills, Vol. 4 Seven Days in May

	Seven Days in May Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas Warner Home Video, 2000 average customer review:based on 81 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The story of an attempt to overthrow the United States government by military coup.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 13-MAY-2003
Media Type: DVD

Fanatic vs Patriot

This is one of my once a year movies. I watch this and a few others once every year because they are that good. The finest performance Kirk Douglas ever gave, and Lancaster, in real life an avid political liberal, portrays a fanatic military officer planning treason. Buy it, watch it and when your kids are old enough to understand it, have them watch it. The best scene? The confrontation at the pentagon hallway between Lancaster and Douglas near the end of the movie.

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best of the cold war thrillers

I love many of the movies made about the cold war but this one has always been my favorite, even nudging out the Manchurian Candidate and Fail Safe. Well acted and a thoughtful look at attitudes common in that era.

Great story, brilliant actors

Simply put, Lancaster's and Douglas's acting are enough to give this movie excellent ratings. The story line of course is very relevant to today's events where a pacifist President is in the office and the military is more hawkish. So, it is one of those few movies that will never age and will never get old or irrelevant. Basic story line is wonderfully directed and presented. I wish they had developed more on the Marine Colonel (Douglas) relationship with Ava (the woman in the scandalous relation with Gen. Scott). That'd have been better. And the abrupt ending was not what I expected. Sort of unrealistic and leaves the viewer in limbo. All in all, this movie is worth it. 4/5

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Timely today

If ever there was a time to view this movie it is now, in todays poisoned political climate of distrust and near civil disobedience, re: Tea Party movement.
The plot is simple. A once popular USA President is now on a path that is both protested by the general public to the point of mass protests, and reviled by a cadre of his top military leaders in the Pentagon. They decide to attempt a coup d'etat.
Not only is this another top notch and suspenseful directing effort by John Frankenheimer, who stunned with "The Manchurian Candidate" two years previous, but it is another tour de force performance by the vastly underrated Burt Lancaster, in the starring role, which propels this beyond ordinary melodrama.
Written by Rod Serling, yes that Rod Serling, (Twilight Zone, Requiem for a Heavyweight), and released in the year that the Viet Nam war was really beginning to ramp up, 1964, forty five years later it is still a relevant cautionary tale of political intrigue.
Lancaster, as an immensely popular general with Presidential aspirations, is at odds with his President (Frederick March somewhat channeling his William Jennings Bryant characterization from "Inherit the Wind"), over a disarmament treaty, and is planning, with other top military staff, to depose him. Kirk Douglas turns in another competent journeyman effort as his top aide who stumbles across the conspiracy and agonizes over the rapidly unraveling realization that his trusted boss is the leader of this plot.
While the plot begins to unfold, Edmond O'Brien, as the crusty Senator, and Martin Balsam, as a trusted Presidential aide, add character to the story. Only Ava Gardner seems wasted as a necessary plot device needed only to propel the story forward when needed, and then forgotten.
Generally speaking the acting is top notch, the pace brisk and never boring, even at almost 2 hours, and the dialogue crisp and terse. My problem with the movie is that even though it has an underlying tension, caused mostly by the interplay between characters, the conclusion is foregone and inevitable. It seemed forced and anticlimatic. But the final, brief confrontation between the General and his once trusted aide about the nature of betrayal, more than made up for the flacid ending.
I give it 4 out of 5 stars as an entertaining and thought provoking diversion, something that seems to be missing in most of todays overindulget theatrical releases. Do you hear that Oliver Stone?

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Almost 50 years later, still an exciting movie

It was pure fiction in 1963. Imagine, a hard-line general(Burt Lancaster)trying to overthrow the constitutional government of the United States. Almost science fiction, as a matter of fact. But after so many political and military crises, in American soil and abroad, dictatorship sprouting all over the world, "Seven Days in May" is as new today as ever. Even with the good guys (Kirk Douglas, Fredric March)fighting it à la Hollywood.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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