Posted on 02/10/2024 7:48:59 PM PST by hardspunned
U.S. President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March) hopes to bring an end to the Cold War by signing a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviets, much to the displeasure of the hawkish General James Scott (Burt Lancaster), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Scott's aide, Martin "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas) stumbles on shattering evidence that the General is plotting a coup to overthrow Lyman in seven days, "Jiggs" alerts the President, setting off a dangerous race to thwart the takeover.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtu.be ...
Remade for cable TV as "The Enemy Within."
ECOMCON
President Kennedy had read the novel Seven Days in May shortly after its publication and believed that the scenario could actually occur in the United States. According to director John Frankenheimer, the project received encouragement and assistance from Kennedy through White House press secretary Pierre Salinger, who conveyed to Frankenheimer 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.
...
In an early example of guerrilla filmmaking, Frankenheimer photographed Martin Balsam ferrying to the supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk 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.
It’s devolved to ECOMMIECON.
That Kennedy was playing with fire, big time.
I am too young to remember, but maybe Boomer FReepers can describe the times back then, as so much of what our nation was first began to crumble - JFK’s murder, bookended by two Frankenheimer films, Manchurian Candidate - released in October 1962, and 7DIM, released in February 1964.
Yep. Here's a sign from the first 10 seconds of the film...as an astroturf group protests Lyman's nuclear treaty - JFK himself struck a nuclear deal with the Soviet Union, the Test Ban Treaty – the first arms control agreement of the Cold War era, during the film's production. He would not live to see the film.
I think people honestly assumed a war with the Soviets would be fought and odds were good we’d “win” up until the Cuban Missile Crisis. Once our noses were rubbed in the reality that we could be completely destroyed, “winning” became the stuff of dark comedies.
Seven Days in May could have been a story how Trump was removed as President.
The MSM, Military and Key Senators were involved on both the movie and real life.
I’ll explain some things about this movie and book.
First, the most common comment about this movie at the time was that the roles were miscast.
Kirk Douglas should have played the treasonous villain, and Burt Lancaster the hero.
Next, toward the end of the book it’s revealed that the Russians are in fact cheating on the disarmament treaty.
And certainly the president would be the liberal Democrat and the general the right wing republican.
As for the times? my main comment would be we still live in them now. Lots of nuclear missiles pointed at us from Russia and China. In fact many more. But the media doesn’t play it up.
We had the Russians outgunned 10 to 1 during the missile crisis.
The “missile gap” of course had been a Democrat lie.
Excellent Movie.
If you have a LOT of time and you like continuing stories, you could start reading the Allen Drury series:
Advise and Consent (1959)
A Shade of Difference (1962)
Capable of Honor (1966)
Preserve & Protect (1968)
Come Nineveh, Come Tyre (1973)
The Promise of Joy (1975)
But keep in mind that ultimately, that is also one person's take on what the political structure was like.
I agree.
I have read that the producers considered this a movie about the future, so wanted to use futuristic firearms in it. They armed the “guards” with the new M-16s when the standard firearm was still the M-1 Garand and M-14.
Manchurian Candidate more details:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Manchurian_Candidate_(1962_film)
While it was never officially banned those who had control over the distribution were careful not to publicize the film post JFK assassination.
They did not want to spook the herd.
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