The Americanization of Emily [Blu-ray]

Overview

The lively but somehow slightly distasteful The Americanization of Emily stars James Garner as a WWII naval officer who happens to be a craven coward. While his comrades sail off to their deaths, Garner makes himself scarce, generally hiding out in the London flat of his lothario navy buddy James Coburn. Garner falls in love with virtuous war widow Julie Andrews (the "Emily" of the title), but she can't abide his yellow streak. Meanwhile, crack-brained admiral Melvyn Douglas decides that he needs a hero--the first man to die on Omaha Beach during the D-Day Invasion. Coburn is at first elected for this sacrifice, but it is the quivering Garner who ends up hitting the beach. He survives to become a hero in spite of himself, winning Andrews in the process. Paddy Chayefsky's script, based on the novel by William Bradford Huie, attempts to extract humor out of the horrors of war by using broad, vulgar comedy instead of the light satirical touch that would seem to be called for. Americanization of Emily was Julie Andrews' second film; it should have led to a steady stream of adult-oriented roles, but the box-office clout of Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music consigned her to "wholesome family entertainment."

Product Details

Release Date:	11/03/2014
UPC:	0883316987322
Original Release:	1964
Source:	Warner Brothers
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:55:00
Sales rank:	21,137

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

James Garner	Lt. Cmdr. Charles Edward Madison
Julie Andrews	Emily Barham
James Coburn	Lt. Cmdr. Paul "Bus" Cummings
Melvyn Douglas	Adm. William Jessup
Joyce Grenfell	Mrs. Barham
Edward Binns	Adm. Thomas Healy
Liz Fraser	Sheila,Port Commander
Keenan Wynn	Old Sailor
William Windom	Capt. Harry Spaulding
John Crawford	CPO Paul Adams
Douglas Henderson	Capt. Marvin Ellender
Edmon Ryan	Adm. Hoyle
Steve Franken	Young Sailor
Paul 'Tiny' Newlan	Gen. William Hallerton,Gen. William Hallerton
Gary Cockrell	Lt. Victor Wade
Alan Sues	Enright
Lou Byrne	Nurse Captain
Alan Howard	Port Ensign
Linda Marlowe	Pat
Janine Gray	1st "Nameless Broad"
Judy Carne	2nd "Nameless Broad"
Kathy Kersh	3rd "Nameless Broad"

Technical Credits

Paddy Chayefsky

Arthur Hiller	Director
Paddy Chayefsky	Screenwriter
Martin Ransohoff	Producer
J. McMillan Johnson	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

Paddy Chayefsky's cutting black comedy was the first film to wring laughs from the notion that perhaps not all American troops had a completely gung-ho attitude toward their WWII service. James Garner stars as Charley Madison, a wheeler-dealer officer who prides himself on avoiding combat while he romances strait-laced Englishwoman Emily Barham (Julie Andrews) in the countryside. When she refuses to marry him due to his reluctance to pick up a rifle, he's forced to reconsider his position. Emily is a coruscating piece of work by the legendary Chayefsky, who fashioned one of the most thoughtfully hilarious films ever written on military service and marriage in a series of brilliant one-liners. Although Garner is assailed as a coward by his girlfriend, few commentators have noted that his pragmatic code of values is identical with that of Casablanca's (1942) Rick Blaine ("I stick my neck out for nobody"). When Charley says he would die to defend what is his -- his wife, his house, and his family -- he expresses a sentiment that runs deep in American life. Conversely, Emily's mantra of God, honor, and country expresses the spirit of self-sacrifice in wartime for which the British are famed. One of the film's great strengths is that the iconography of each of these two performers expresses perfectly, without a word being spoken, something essential and opposed about their native cultures, and at the same time they have terrific sexual chemistry. Yet, this may be even more a film about marriage than about war. When Emily questions the value of Charley's live-for-today creed, asking in effect, "Are you going to get rid of me when I'm not fun any more," she's spoken the key line of the film. If Charley would slide out of his military duties, why wouldn't he eventually slide out on her? That the film never answers these questions is one of its beauties, and as Charley reminds her, marriage is always a gamble. James Coburn as Charley's cunning buddy, Melvyn Douglas as a wavering admiral, and Joyce Grenfell as Emily's mother are all perfectly cast. The film's only drawbacks are Arthur Hiller's shaky direction and a low-budget D-Day scene, in which Garner is not just the first, but seemingly the only man charging the beach.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello