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“Emily” stars James Garner and Julie Andrews, this being Miss Andrews first non-musical role. Set in London, in 1944, the film tells the same story as the novel, though it takes a different direction from its original source. While many of the characters and incidents remain the same, screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, takes a more satirical twist turning the film into a dark comedic attack on the folly and glorification of war long before Mike Nichols film version of Joseph Heller’s classic, “Catch-22” and Robert Altman’s “MASH.” Of course, earlier in 1964, Kubrick had released his dark satiric apocalyptic vision of a military General gone crazed and willing to end the world. That same year and only weeks before “Emily” was released Sidney Lumet’s more serious version of a nuclear apocalypse was also released.
The similarity between “Emily” and Dr. Strangelove” is that both used crazed military leaders as the basis for the disastrous consequences to follow. In Dr. Strangelove, it’s the lunatic General Jack D. Ripper who decides to nuke Russia. In “Emily”, it is the unbalanced, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Admiral Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) who decides that the first dead man on Omaha Beach on D-Day is going to be a sailor!
Lieutenant Commander Charlie Madison (James Garner) is a “dog robber” the top aide to Admiral Jessup. His job is to keep Jessup and other high-ranking officers supplied with the good things in life, wine, food and party girls (the term Americanization in the title refers to English women who accept scarce wartime merchandise like Hershey chocolates, silk stockings, eggs etc. in exchange for having sexual relations with the American high command, thus becoming Americanized).
Jessup under stress since the recent death of his wife is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He has become fixated on the notion that the Army is getting all the glory in the war and the Navy is getting is getting none. Jessup becomes determined that the Navy is going to get some glory and decides that the first dead man on Omaha Beach will be a sailor.
Charlie, a self-proclaimed coward, falls in love with Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), his British motor pool driver who lost her husband, father and brother in the war and does not want to fall in love with another potential wartime casualty. Though she suffered these losses she has remained a staunch believer in the war and disagrees with Charlie’s cowardly stance. To her own dismay, Emily is falling in love with Charlie.
Admiral Jessup orders Charlie to head up the film crew along with his buddy Lt. Commander “Bus” Cummings (James Coburn) that will land on Omaha Beach on D Day. On the day of the invasion, Charlie finds himself the first man on the beach. Facing German bullets and artillery shells exploding all around him, Charlie decides the best course of action is to retreat, only to be shot in the butt by his now gung-ho friend and fellow officer “Bus” Cummings forcing him back toward the beach. Retreating from “Bus” and back toward the Germans, Charlie is caught on film as he is blown up by an artillery shell, becoming the first sailor to be killed during the invasion. His death and “heroic” act is soon plastered in hundreds of newspapers and Life magazine. Charlie Madison, the coward has been turned into a hero.
Admiral Jessup recovering from his nervous breakdown soon regrets that he caused Charlie’s death; still he will use the event to glorify Charlie’s death and get praise, and funds, for the Navy from Washington. Then the unexpected happens. Charlie did not die on Omaha Beach. The only wound he incurred was from the bullet from Bus’ pistol. Charlie was sent to a hospital in France and eventually transferred to a hospital in London. Furious that the Navy still wants to make him a hero, alive or dead, Charlie wants to go to the press and expose the entire charade even though he may end up in jail himself. Emily, happy that Charlie is alive does want him to be any kind of hero morally or otherwise. Let the Navy have there false glory, she tells him. Happy that that Emily loves him and wants to get married, he agrees.
Director Arthur Hiller in his commentary accompanying the DVD states that the movie is not so much anti-war as anti-glorification of war, which if you pay attention to Chayefsky’s dialogue is accurate. Chayefsky paints a constant attack on the glorification of war and the cynicism of its willing participants. The sardonic antihero Charlie Madison was a perfect role for James Garner who only a few years earlier was playing the cowardly Bret Maverick on the hit TV series “Maverick.” Garner has stated that this was his favorite role. Julie Andrews drops the sugary roles of “Mary Poppins” and the dreadful “The Sound of Music” and acts here for the first time in an adult role. She does an excellent job coming across as a real, smart, sensitive and sexy woman.
If there is an auteur in this film, and there is, it is not director Hiller whose direction is sharp, though lacking any sort of personal vision. The title goes to writer Paddy Chayefsky whose brainchild it was to turn Huie’s serious minded novel into a biting cynical satire. Chayefsky is one of the great writers of theater, film and television. He began his writing career in radio moving on to television in the late 1940’s and reached acclaimed with the TV version of “Marty” in 1953 starring Rod Steiger in the title role and Nancy Marchand as The Girl. Marchand is better known to today’s audience as Livia Soprano, Tony’s mother. Chayefsky was soon the center of gravity in what became known as The Golden Age of Television. In 1955, a movie version of “Marty” was released with Ernest Borgnine in the lead role. Both versions were directed by Delbert Mann. Other TV scripts included “A Catered Affair”, “Middle of the Night”, which Chayefsky turned into his first Broadway play with Edward G. Robinson and Gena Rowlands in the leads. Other Chayefsky plays include “Gideon”, “The Tenth Man” and “The Passion of Joseph D.” In 1957, Chayefsky wrote his first original screenplay, “The Bachelor Party.” That was followed by “The Goddess” in 1958, and a film adaptation of his play “Middle of the Night” in 1959 with Fredric March and Kim Novak. “The Americanization of Emily” followed in 1964. Chayefsky continued to write for film producing works like “The Hospital”, “Network” and “Altered States.” The last script was based on his own novel though after a dispute with director Ken Russell, he used a different name. According to Wikipedia, Chayefsky had a unique clause in his contract when he wrote the script for the TV version of “Marty” which stated that if the show was made into a movie, he was the only one who could write the screenplay. Later on, in a rare example of the power of the screenwriter over the director, Chayefsky, according to Joe Eszterhas in his book “Hollywood Animal” writes William Wyler, the original director for “Emily”, was fired when he started to make changes in Chayefsky’s script. Arthur Hiller, obviously a more amiable director than Wyler replaced him. Hiller also directed Chayefsky’s 1971 screenplay “The Hospital.” Again, Hiller in his commentary on the DVD mentions that when Wyler was scheduled to direct, the lead role had gone to William Holden and Garner was scheduled to do the James Coburn role. After Wyler left, Holden backed out and Hiller moved Garner into the lead role and brought on James Coburn. The “Americanization of Emily” was nominated for two Oscars, Best Cinematography-B&W and Best Art Direction.
The closest modern equivalent today is David O’Russell’s 1999 film “Three Kings.” While both films touch on similar topics, greed, corruption and hypocrisy, “Emily” admits that war is sometimes unfortunately necessary, as it was in World War II. Its target is the hypocrites who elevate war to a glorified stature that makes young men idolize the myth of war that going into battle is filled with glory and patriotism.
Overall, the public does not seem to have the stomach for films dealing with the current Iraq war, for or against, serious or satirical. Current films like “Stop-Loss”, “In the Valley of Elah”, “The Lucky Ones” and “Redacted” to name a few, have all died at the box office, no matter what the quality of the film. Maybe the war is still too close to deal with. We of course do deal with it every day in the news and TV and maybe that’s enough.
- John Greco (0 comments)