 | |
List Price: $19.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 1058
Released: May 16, 2000 |
| Our Price: $5.79 |
| Used Price: $5.75 |
|
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
The story of an attempt to overthrow the United States government by military coup.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 13-MAY-2003
Media Type: DVD
Description of Seven Days in May:
John Frankenheimer's follow-up to The Manchurian Candidate is as intimate and subdued as its predecessor is flamboyant and energetic. Burt Lancaster is calm and calculating as the steely-eyed military hawk General Scott, who opposes the president's (Fredric March) plan to end the cold war with a bold nuclear disarmament plan. Lancaster's longtime friend and frequent costar Kirk Douglas is his smiling, joking right-hand man, Colonel "Jiggs" Casey, whose easygoing manner is jolted by evidence of a possible plot to overthrow the American government. Scripted by Rod Serling from the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, the film plays much like a classic live TV drama (the medium that spawned both Frankenheimer and Serling), with the drama arising from conversations and confrontations and the action largely limited to scenes within the Pentagon and the White House. An ominous undercurrent of danger seeps through the realistic (and often real) settings of the film, conveyed chiefly through the intensity of the excellent ensemble performances. Notable among the supporting cast are Ava Gardner as a lonely Washington socialite who was once the general's mistress, Edmond O'Brien as an amiable alcoholic senator, Martin Balsam as the president's shrewd but skeptical secretary, and underrated character actor George Macready as the wily presidential advisor. --Sean Axmaker
Seven Days in May Reviews:
Real life mirrored events: 1991 Russian coup 
2009-12-25 - I was saving newpaper accounts of the August 1991 coup over Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev as it was occuring and thought it had an eerie similarity to the events in "Seven days in May" in that a major world leader is kept hostage by his military at a remote location.
Historical hindsight has shown that most details don't match, but at the time if one had seen the film it was hard to deny a strange sense of Déjà vu.
As an aside, it was truly inspiring at the time to watch Boris Yeltsin standing defiantly on the tank (?) with a megaphone demanding the release of Gorbachev.
Creepy film, by the way, and well worth less than six dollars!
Fanatic vs Patriot
2009-12-23 - This is one of my once a year movies. I watch this and a few others once every year because they are that good. The finest performance Kirk Douglas ever gave, and Lancaster, in real life an avid political liberal, portrays a fanatic military officer planning treason. Buy it, watch it and when your kids are old enough to understand it, have them watch it. The best scene? The confrontation at the pentagon hallway between Lancaster and Douglas near the end of the movie.
Seven Days In May (VHS movie 1964) 
2009-12-23 - Seven Days In May is one of my favorite films. I found the VHS tape purchased through Amazon to be of excellent, almost new condition. The price was right and delivery was on time without problems. If a similar need arises in the future, I would very likely purchase using Amazon. "Seven Days In May," (1964,) is a politcal thriller about an attempted military takeover of the US Government. It is somewhat dated, but very entertaining nevertheless. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, who often worked together are at their very best.
Roy C Thomas
Good Film
2009-12-14 - Good plot; original at the time.
The casting was excellent with one exception: Ava Gardner. She was way past her prime, and the years of smoking and alcohol show on her face. It was not believable that Burt (and later Kirk) would think she was one fabulous babe and be in love with her. (See Ava in One Touch Of Venus -- buy this film!)
Her role is vital in stopping Lancaster, therefore this part should have been given to someone with the looks of Grace Kelly.
Other than that, the story does stand the test of time -- with minor changes to the script, today we might be rooting for Lancaster.
A Timeless Thriller
2009-11-08 - From John Frankenheimer and Rod Serling comes an edge of your seat political thriller from the height of the Cold War. Great performances by Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eva Gardner, Frederic March, Edmond O'Brien, Martin Balsam and Andrew Duggan. A classic struggle between patriotism and duty. Douglas find his Col. Casey in the middle. No special features, ws, b&w.
