| | Seven Days In May DVD (2 Customer Reviews)
| Category | War DVDs, Dramas Movies, Thriller Videos, Mystery, Suspense, Recommended, Military, Politics | | Starring | Burt Lancaster, Edmond O'Brien, Kirk Douglas, Martin Balsam, Fredric March, Whit Bissell, Ava Gardner, George Macready | | Director | John Frankenheimer | | Art Director | Cary Odell | | Composer | Jerry Goldsmith | | Director of Photography | Ellsworth Fredricks | | Editor | Ferris Webster | | Producer | Edward Lewis | | Screenwriter | Rod Serling |
Black & White; Soundtrack English; English Subtitles; Director's Comments Burt Lancaster stars as General James Scott in Frankenheimer's film of Rod Serling's adaptation of Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey's bestselling novel set in the early 1960s. Like much of the American public, Gen. Scott, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff is unhappy with a nuclear arms pact with the Soviet Union recently signed by President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March). But the extent of Scott's displeasure is not fully understood until his aide, Col. Martin "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas), finds some messages suggesting that the general and the Joint Chiefs have been planning a military takeover of the government at a top-secret air base in Texas. The plan is scheduled to go into effect in seven days, while the president is in sequestration during a military drill. Duly informed, the President sends Senator Raymond Clark (Edmond O'Brien), to investigate the base, and the Senator is held there against his will. In Gibraltar, presidential aide Paul Girard (Martin Balsam) obtains evidence of the coup from Admiral Paul Barnswell (John Houseman), but after the aide is killed in the crash of his return flight, the admiral denies any knowledge of an imminent military takeover. Although dialogue-heavy for a thriller, it remains an effective slice of cold war paranoia, with echoes of the Cuban missile standoff that may have been absorbed from Frankenheimer's friend, Robert F. Kennedy. Acting debut for writer, director, and producer John Houseman.
Co-produced by Joel Productions, Inc., another Kirk Douglas vanity production company (along with Bryna); this one named after his second son, Joel.
Additional cast: Helen Kleeb and Richard Anderson.
Additional credits: John Mehl (camera operator), David Grayson (makeup artist), and Joe Edmondson (sound mixer).
Remade in 1994 as "The Enemy Within."
Copyright 1963 Joel Productions Inc., renewed 1991 Warner Bros. Seven Days In May Reviews: "...Lancaster and March are super."-- Mike Clark, USA Today "...Frankenheimer at his expressionistic best." -- Rating: A-
-- David Everitt, Entertainment Weekly "...Engrossing....Frankenheimer lays bare the treacherous world of Washington power politics and Cold War paranoia..."-- Geoffrey Macnab, Sight and Sound Seven Days In May | List Price | $19.98 (You save $4.33) | | Studio | Warner Home Video | | Orig Year | 1964 | | DVD Encoding | Region 1 | | All Time Sales Rank |  2819  | | CD Universe Part number | 1262561 | | Catalog number | 15243 | | Discs | 1 | | Release Date | May 16, 2000 | | Rating | Not Rated | | Running Time | 118 Minutes | | Additional Info | Widescreen | | Movie Details | B&W; Mono Sound; Digital Sound; Letter Boxed; Widescreen |
Seven Days In May Movie Review Average Rating: (4.5 out of 5 stars)   Political thriller with a razor's edge.
This movie really suprised me, it is made on a shoestring, but the writing, direction and music (Goldsmith) is top flight.
All the main players pull out the stops in milking their roles for maximum effect. As the plot (pardon the pun) unfolds, March is a masterly President and you can really see "the wheels turning" in Kirk Douglas as he is slowly putting the pieces together.
Lancaster shows his class with a slightly understated villan only Lana Turner seems a little "distant" and somewhat disinterested in it all, as the female lead.
Still a worthy movie overall, one that shows that all those years ago a good old fashioned military coup is an excellent vehicle for a thriller.
Buy it, you will look over and over to get all the nuances of the action.
Submitted by mrudduck (Melbourne, Australia) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
 Excellent...highly recommended
I just watched this again last night and was once again impressed by the cast, the plot and the directing. For me, the only negative is the casting of a middle age Ava Gardner as the love interest. Hardly a "babe" at this stage of her career, I could never figure out why they used her. But that is a relatively minor point. Frederic March is at the top of his game as the President. I was studying him as he is debating with Burt Lancaster (General Scott) and I swear I've never seen more natural or convincing acting (rivaled only by his performance in Inherit the Wind). The black and white cinematography really gives it that 60s cold war feel. Dramas don't get much better than this.
Submitted by brianp (Fremont, CA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No
| Have you seen this movie? |  |
Seven Days In May DVD Region 1
Snap Case
Single Side - Dual Layer
Letterbox -
1.85
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: John Frankenheimer - Director
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Purchase Seven Days In May Movie To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Best Of Ernest Ashworth CD (1991)
Seven Days In May film
 $6.79  
| | Invasion Of The Body Snatchers DVD (1956)
Seven Days In May review
 $10.29
Don Siegel's cult masterpiece, interpreted as an allegory of both McCarthyism and Communism, is undoubtedly one of the screen's most disturbing evocations of paranoia. It stars Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles Binnell, a physician whose traumatized arrival in the emergency room of a San Francisco hospital leads the staff to believe he's lost his mind. In a series of flashbacks, he unwinds a bizarre account of his last few days. After his return from a trip to rural Santa Mira, his nurse, Sally (Jean Willes), explains that his office has been flooded with patients who have made appointments yet never appeared. Former girlfriend Becky Driscoll (Dana Wynter) tells him that she's unable to rid herself of the belief that the man claiming to be her uncle is an impostor. A hysterical young boy refuses to return home, claiming that his mother is not his mother. Miles's concern over this ...
| | Train DVD (1965) Widescreen ;Black & White
Seven Days In May DVD
$10.55 
The duo of director John Frankenheimer and actor Burt Lancaster again join forces with the latter starring as French railway inspector Labiche. With Allied forces closing ...
| | Black Caesar DVD (1973) Widescreen
Seven Days In May movie DVD
$10.49
| | Fail-Safe DVD (1964) Widescreen; Special Edition
Seven Days In May video
$10.35
Following closely on the heels of Stanley Kubrik's DR. STRANGELOVE (all too closely for Kubrick and company, who quickly filed a lawsuit alleging plagiarism), Sidney Lumet's FAIL-SAFE employs a similarly stylized ...
| | Face In The Crowd DVD (1957) Widescreen
Seven Days In May film
$14.49
| | Pennsylvania Miners' Story DVD (2003) Spanish Subtitles; French Subtitles
Seven Days In May review
$15.15
| | Meatrack/ Sticks And Stones - Double Feature DVD (1970)
Seven Days In May DVD
$8.35
| | Million Dollar Duck DVD (1971)
Seven Days In May movie DVD
$10.49
| | Magic Sword DVD (1961) Widescreen
Seven Days In May video
$9.79
| | Shadowboxer DVD (2006) Widescreen
Seven Days In May film
$9.59 
Hardboiled and at times incongruous, Lee Daniels's (MONSTER'S BALL) directorial debut sets out to smash stereotypes with a noirish crime thriller about loyalty, loss, love, and guilt. Cuba Gooding Jr. (MEN OF HONOR) and Helen Mirren (CALENDAR GIRLS) star as Mikey ...
| | NFL Chicago Bears NFC Champions DVD (2007)
Seven Days In May review
$16.09
| | Team Baby: Red Sox Baby DVD (2007) 2007 World Series Edition
Seven Days In May DVD
$7.89
Standard Screen; Soundtrack English
|
|
|
Email a Friend
