Seven Days in May is a 1964 American political thriller film, directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Rod Serling, who adapted Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II's 1962 novel. It is about a military–political cabal's planned takeover of the U.S. government after the president negotiates a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The film stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner.

Seven Days in May was released in theaters by Paramount Pictures on February 12, 1964. The film received two nominations at the 37th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (for Edmond O'Brien) and Best Art Direction.

Plot

On Monday, May 12, 1970, during the Cold War, unpopular U.S. President Jordan Lyman has signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. This produces a wave of dissatisfaction among the opposition and the military, who believe the Soviets cannot be trusted. As the president's ratings plummet, violent protests erupt right outside the White House. The presidential physician warns him of a dangerous cardiac condition which he blithely disregards, too busy to take a prescribed two-week vacation.

Meanwhile, Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey, the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learns that his superior, the highly decorated Air Force general James Mattoon Scott, is planning a coup d'etat with the Joint Chiefs. Disguised as a training exercise, the plan involves a secret army unit known as ECOMCON training at a secret Texas base, which will take control of the country's telephone, radio, and television networks and seize the president while he participates in a staged "alert". Scott, advancing his charismatic public persona through nationally televised anti-treaty rallies, will replace the president as head of a military junta. Although personally opposed to Lyman's policies, Casey is appalled by the plot and alerts Lyman.

A skeptical Lyman gathers a circle of trusted advisors to investigate. Casey deduces the heads of all military branches but the Navy support Scott's coup, and Vice Admiral Barnswell, aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, is apparently the only invited officer to decline. Lyman rescinds his commitment to participate in Scott's alert, pretending he will be away for a fishing weekend, then dispatches his Chief of Staff Paul Girard to Gibraltar to obtain Barnswell's confession. The alcoholic Senator Raymond Clark, Lyman's close friend of 21 years, goes to Texas to locate the secret base, and tasks Casey to gather dirt on the general's private life. The Secret Service surreptitiously films evidence of an attempt to kidnap the president during the phony fishing trip, removing all doubts about the existence of a plot.

Girard successfully secures Barnswell's written confession, which is lost when he's killed in a plane crash in Spain. Clark is taken captive when he reaches the secret base and held incommunicado. Exploiting their longtime friendship, Clark convinces the base's deputy commander Colonel Henderson of the actual intent of the impending "alert". Henderson frees Clark and leads an escape back to Washington but is abducted and confined in a military stockade. In a radiophone conference call with the president, Barnswell denies knowledge of any conspiracy.

Knowing he can't prove Scott's guilt, Lyman calls him to the White House to demand the conspirators resign. Scott refuses, denying the existence of a plot. Lyman argues that a coup would prompt the Soviets to launch a preemptive nuclear strike and Scott maintains the American people are behind him. Lyman challenges him to resign and run for office in order to seek power legitimately, but Scott is unmoved. Lyman restrains himself from confronting Scott with damning letters that Casey had obtained from Scott's former mistress Eleanor Holbrook. Casey, who has his own romantic interest in Holbrook, eventually returns them to her.

Scott meets the other three Joint Chiefs, reasserts his intention to execute the coup, and plans a nighttime network broadcast, but Lyman plans an afternoon press conference to announce the firing of the four men. As the presser begins, Barnswell's confession, recovered from the plane crash, is handed to him and he pauses the proceeding to give time for copies of the confession to be delivered to Scott and the plotters. Scott, devastated, abandons the plan and returns home as Lyman announces the resignation of the other three conspirators on live air.

Lyman delivers a speech on the state of the nation and its values, declaring that the nation gains strength through peace rather than by conflict. The press corps applauds.

Cast

Production

Background

thumb|upright|President [[John F. Kennedy believed the events of the novel Seven Days in May could happen in real life, and wished for it to be adapted as a film.]]

Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II wrote the novel Seven Days in May in late 1961 and into early 1962 during the first year of the Kennedy administration; it reflected some of the events of that era. In November 1961, President John F. Kennedy accepted the resignation of vociferously anti-communist general Edwin Walker, who had been indoctrinating the troops under his command with radical right-wing ideas and personal political opinions, including describing Harry S. Truman, Dean Acheson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and other active public figures as communist sympathizers. Although no longer in uniform, Walker continued to make headlines as he ran for governor of Texas and made speeches promoting strongly right-wing views. In the film, President Jordan Lyman mentions General Walker as one of the "false prophets" who were offering themselves to the public as leaders.

As Knebel and Bailey, primarily political journalists, collaborated on the novel, they also conducted interviews with another highly controversial military commander, the newly appointed Air Force chief of staff General Curtis LeMay, who was angry with Kennedy for refusing to provide air support for the Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The character of General James Mattoon Scott was believed to have been inspired by both LeMay and Walker.

President Kennedy had read Seven Days in May shortly after its publication and believed that the scenario could actually occur. He told Paul B. Fay that the premise of the novel was "possible, but the conditions would have to be just right". According to director John Frankenheimer, the project received encouragement and assistance from Kennedy through White House press secretary Pierre Salinger, who conveyed Kennedy's wish that the film be produced. In spite of Defense Department opposition, Kennedy arranged to visit the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House. Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. said that he wanted the film made as a "warning to the nation".

Development

Kirk Douglas and Frankenheimer were the moving forces behind the filming of Seven Days in May, which was produced by Edward Lewis through Douglas's company Joel Productions and Seven Arts Productions. Frankenheimer recruited screenwriter Rod Serling. Douglas intended to star along with his frequent costar Burt Lancaster. Douglas offered Lancaster the General Scott role, and agreed to play Scott's assistant. Frankenheimer commissioned Nedrick Young to rewrite the scene in which Casey visits Holbrook at her apartment. Lancaster and Frankenheimer were at peace during the filming, but Douglas and Frankenheimer sparred with one another. Frankenheimer was very happy with Lancaster's performance, especially the long scene toward the end between Lancaster and March, saying that Lancaster was "perfect" in his delivery. which put a "nail in the coffin of McCarthy."

thumb|Supercarrier Kitty Hawk in 2002

In an early example of guerrilla filmmaking, Frankenheimer photographed Balsam ferrying to the supercarrier in San Diego without prior permission. Another example occurred when Frankenheimer wanted a shot of Douglas entering the Pentagon, but unable to receive permission, he rigged a camera in a parked car. Frankenheimer recruited well-known producer and friend John Houseman to play Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell in his uncredited acting debut. Houseman agreed in return for a bottle of fine wine (seen during the telephone scene).

Frankenheimer considered the scene in which Douglas's character visits the president to be a masterful bit of acting which would have been very difficult for most actors to sustain. In 2013, Intrada Records released Goldsmith's music for the film on a limited-edition CD—paired with Maurice Jarre's score for The Mackintosh Man, although that film was produced by Warner Bros. while Seven Days in May was theatrically released by Paramount. The entire Seven Arts Productions library had been acquired by Warner Bros. back in 1967.

Reception

Seven Days in May premiered on February 12, 1964, in Washington, D.C., to good critical notices and audience response.

The Chicago Tribune was very positive: “a suspense thriller, a patriotic cheer, and a shocker, all at the same time. It is a taut melodrama of a battle of wits fought for the highest stakes….Its plot may seem preposterous at first glance, but as it unreels, it is with a chilling indication that such coup really could be possible. Most viewers will find themselves inwardly shaken….There’s precious little humor in ‘Seven Days in May.’ There is a great absence of love scenes. The grim tale is told in old-fashioned black and white. But there is more merit in this movie than in 98 out of 100.”

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 92% approval rating based on 25 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "John Frankenheimer's striking direction and a first-rate cast conspire to make Seven Days in May a stark, riveting tale of political intrigue."

Evaluation in film guides

Steven H. Scheuer's Movies on TV (1972–73 edition) gives Seven Days in May its highest rating of four stars, recommending it as "an exciting suspense drama concerned with politics and the problems of sanity and survival in a nuclear age", with the concluding sentences stating, "benefits from taut screenplay by Rod Serling and the direction of John Frankenheimer, which artfully builds interest leading to the finale. March is a standout in a uniformly fine cast. So many American-made films dealing with political subjects are so naive and simple-minded that the thoughtful and, in this case, the optimistic statement of the film is a welcome surprise." By the 1986–87 edition, Scheuer's rating was lowered to 3½ and the conclusion shortened to, "which artfully builds to the finale", with the final sentences deleted.

Leonard Maltin's TV Movies & Video Guide (1989 edition) gives it a still lower 3 stars (out of 4), originally describing it as an "absorbing story of military scheme to overthrow the government", with later editions (including 2014) adding one word, "absorbing, believable story..."

Videohound's Golden Movie Retriever follows Scheuer's later example, with 3½ bones (out of 4), calling it a "topical but still gripping Cold War nuclear-peril thriller" and, in the end, "highly suspenseful, with a breathtaking climax."

Mick Martin's & Marsha Porter's DVD & Video Guide also puts its rating high, at 4 stars (out of 5) finding it, as Videohound did, "a highly suspenseful account of an attempted military takeover..." and indicating that "the movie's tension snowballs toward a thrilling conclusion. This is one of those rare films that treat their audiences with respect."

Assigning the equally high rating of 4 stars (out of 5), The Motion Picture Guide begins its description with "a taut, gripping, and suspenseful political thriller which sports superb performances from the entire cast", goes to state, in the middle, that "proceeding to unravel its complicated plot at a rapid clip, SEVEN DAYS IN MAY is a surprisingly exciting film that also packs a grim warning", and ends with "Lancaster underplays the part of the slightly crazed general and makes him seem quite rational and persuasive. It is a frightening performance. Douglas is also quite good as the loyal aide who uncovers the fantastic plot that could destroy the entire country. March, Balsam, O'Brien, Bissell, and Houseman all turn in topnotch performances and it is through their conviction that the viewer becomes engrossed in this outlandish tale."

British references also show high regard for the film, with TimeOut Film Guides founding editor Tom Milne indicating that "conspiracy movies may have become more darkly complex in these post-Watergate days of Pakula and paranoia, but Frankenheimer's fascination with gadgetry (in his compositions, the ubiquitous helicopters, TV screens, hidden cameras and electronic devices literally edge the human characters into insignificance) is used to create a striking visual metaphor for control by the military machine. Highly enjoyable." In his Film Guide, Leslie Halliwell provided 3 stars (out of 4), describing it as an "absorbing political mystery drama marred only by the unnecessary introduction of a female character. Stimulating entertainment." David Shipman in his 1984 The Good Film and Video Guide gives 2 (out of 4) stars, noting that it is "a tense political thriller whose plot is plotting".

Awards and nominations

The film was nominated for two 1965 Academy Awards, for Edmond O'Brien for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, and for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration/Black-and-White for Cary Odell and Edward G. Boyle. In that year's Golden Globe Awards, O'Brien won for Best Supporting Actor, and Fredric March, John Frankenheimer, and composer Jerry Goldsmith received nominations.

Frankenheimer won a Danish Bodil Award for directing the Best Non-European Film, and Rod Serling was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Drama.

Remake

The film was remade in 1994 by HBO as The Enemy Within with Sam Waterston as President William Foster, Jason Robards as General R. Pendleton Lloyd, and Forest Whitaker as Colonel MacKenzie "Mac" Casey. This version followed many parts of the original plot closely, while updating it for the post–Cold War world, omitting certain incidents and changing the ending.

References

Bibliography

  • Covers an actual plot during the Kennedy administration and within the Joint Chiefs of Staff to start a war.
  • Seven Days in May at TV Guide (revised form of this 1987 write-up was originally published in The Motion Picture Guide)