"Seven Days in May" (1964 - John Frankenheimer | Paramount)
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- Опубликовано: 30 окт 2024
- The president of the United States confronts a rogue general with evidence that he is planning a military overthrow of the government. This scene features Burt Lancaster and Fredric March. Screenplay by Rod Serling. Directed by John Frankenheimer.
Has Frederick March EVER not given 110% to any role he has ever played? Good God, the man is flawless. 💯
One of the greatest actors of all time with a powerful voice and steadfast acting abilities not seen by most actors anymore!!!!!
He's in the top 15 as the greatest male actor ever of all time Period!!!!!
March is one of my all time favs...
He really should have cast as "Doc" in Come Back, Little Sheba. Lancaster did well but he couldn't overcome the fact that he was far too young and built like an Olympic athlete.
See "The Best Years Of Our Lives" Dana Andrews, is also phenomenal in that.
I don't know of any actors today that could pull this off so well, Burt Lancaster's smug superiority and Fredric March's righteous outrage. Maybe it's generational, two men were needed who lived through the maturing effect of world wars, Fredric March in WW1 and Burt Lancaster in WW2, to say nothing of screenwriter Rod Serling, a WW2 paratrooper. I don't know, but these men certainly had the goods.
100%
" Yes, I know who Judas was. He's a man I worked for and admired, until he disgraced the four stars on his uniform. " A great line!
If Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio had been the actors in this scene it would be laughable and I would leave the theater guffawing. Fredric March and Burt Lancaster were born for these roles.
March and Lancaster just have a gravitas which is sorely missing today. While I also cannot see Pitt and DiCaprio in these roles, I have to give both of them credit for their work in "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood", which I've enjoyed several times over the past few weeks.
@@WidescreenJunkie i agree to both yours and tanya's comments all of those actors are good but from different times i would like to see a updated version of this i know there was one similar to this with sam waterson and forrest whittaker and jason robards
Tanya, you are wise way beyond your years
Agreed. The scene requires two strong actors with a strong presence. Pitt and Leo have very weak voices (Brad seems to either mumble or whisper) and, not to insult anyone, are just not very masculine in the old fashioned sense.
@@mariogiresi6792 i'd watch March paint the side of a bldg...
Holy cow that is one of the most powerful exchanges of actors in motion picture history, Seven Days in May was a very underrated fantastic film that has a moving and powerful message with superb acting and directing by everyone!!!!!
Yes, it is a great confrontation. Also, I honestly think President Lyman is the best movie President of all time!
@@ricardocantoral7672 Couldn't agree more! Frederic March was a fabulous actor and his delivery is spot on!!!!!
I never realized what a superb actor Frederick March was... This one, and The Desperate Hours... Awesome...
Well he only has Two Academy Awards .... And Three other Nominations! Check out his Films, especially "Inherit the Wind" and 'The Best Years of Our Lives".
The old preacher guy in ‘Inherit The Wind across from Spencer Tracy
A bit from March's Wiki page:
"March's special ability was to suggest genuine mental pain. As a portrayer of tortured and distressed men, he has no equal. The complete physical control which allows him convincingly to sag, stoop and collapse is assisted by a face suggesting at the same time both intelligence and sensitivity"-Australian-born film historian John Baxter
That's so, so true of March's performance here. He's fighting to the death to fulfill his oath to the constitution. The weight of the office on him is palpable. The bit at the start of his duel with Scott where he's summoning the will to look treason in the face and then locks eyes for the rest of the scene is razor sharp. At the end, where he holds the blackmail letters, he sags as he thinks about having to have his
presidency use that tactic, realizing it was a weak hand as well as possibly his best. Up there with Bruce Greenwood's JFK from Thirteen Days.
How about he and Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind when they exchange loud vocal opinions on Religion, it's incredible!!!!!
"Man In The Gray Flannel Suit"
Any time I see this will be on TV I make a point to watch it. NEVER gets old. Wonderful cast and a story that today is more real then NOT!!!
Which channel shows such old yet nice movies?
@@jm-je4tl TCM
Thanks. I'll look for it
It needs to be shown to young people 35 and under who don't care about America or the world anymore and see how people used to be and start giving a damn about each other! The acting in this underrated epic film is over the top and these actors and actresses made this picture plus the directing, Sensational!!!!!
One of the best exchanges that I've ever seen in any film. That confrontation alone is what makes this film so great. I can't think of two actors who could pull off that scene with such force and conviction than Burt Lancaster and Fredric March.
Joe Flores: If you have not seen “ Spoiler” from Patterns (1956) “ check it out. An inflamed exchange on the corporate level between Van Heflin and Everett Sloan. It’s only 5 min, with older film quality but the sparks fly when they go head-to-head.
You're right both these icons are academy award worthy in this scene but in 1964 nothing was going to beat My Fair Lady and Rex Harrison!!!!!
There are three other superb exchanges besides this one if anyone remembers: Frederic March and Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, Burl Ives rant at the wedding party in The Big Country and Dana Andrews in the episode from The Twilight Zone, No Time like the Past! How about those, pretty incredible stuff hum!!!!!
@@scottmiller6495
If you're talking about other films, then you are missing the point of this movie. We all like other films, that is not what this one is about. It's strange how a person can watch a movie, and miss it!
@@cacatr4495 I'm sorry I didn't miss anything just simply saying that Seven Days in May in my opinion is a very good film and the others I mentioned are noteworthy as well.
This movie, particularly this scene is about the question of our time -- will security crowd out freedom in the nuclear age?
I discovered 7 Days in May in the mid-1990s and loved it immediately. Glad to see it being rediscovered today.
Frederick March's role in "The Best Days of Our Lives" was mesmerizing and nuanced acting.
Two of my favorite actors...Unreal talent and an excellent director in John Frankenheimer.
Rod Serling occasionally wrote (and wrote) dialogue that read and very likely sounded quite stilted. No fault of his, for the man was a born teacher who still yearned to entertain at the same time, and far more often than not, did. Now watch fine actors work with that dialogue. View the entire film, perhaps read the source novel, and consider their respective characters, motivations and aims. On occasion March stops himself just short of lunging at Lancaster (watch his left hand), while Burt plays the scariest megalomaniac of them all, the one who is convinced beyond any rational evidence to the contrary that he's RIGHT (watch his eyes). I'll bet the cast and crew had to take a lengthy break after this scene wrapped.
You sound like a actor yourself
@@theman2017inc I met Rod, a few years before he passed on, at a college lecture in an overstuffed auditorium. He spent time-and-a-half more answering "the kids'" questions than lecturing on television and breaking into the field. We also learned he could smile and laugh. He left an indelible impression.
This movie had one of the best dialogues ive ever heard
Two great actors working so well together. Excellent supporting cast as well.
I love his reaction later when the other conspirators resign and he realizes its over.
“Take me home.”
Burt Lancaster was an outstanding actor.
Always enjoyed his style. He performance in Elmer Gantry won him his only Oscar, but it was so on point. He could be very grand in a theatrical way, but even his swagger was always entertaining. Televangelists today use some of Gantry's tricks and style, although Burt showed the hypocrisy and lies that taint the "salvation show" that so many of the TV preachers are guilty of. Now that I think of it, Burt may have also been nominated for Birdman of Alcatraz, but I don't believe he won, which is ridiculous, but that Oscar for ya. Just an all-time legendary actor!!
Tremendous Acting from two incredible Icons from a time that we will never ever see again Period!!!!!
As close to perfection that we will ever see.
Thanks! SUCH a great film in SUCH a great time of them, including "Manchurian Candidate," "Failsafe," and "Dr. Strangelove." And, as timely as it gets---
I lived through this period in our country and my parents watched the Cuba missile crisis unfold on television. We were afraid of fallout but not of nuclear destruction even though we lived within five miles of a SAC base. I’ve watched this movie several times through my 68 years but never envisioned a military takeover of our country. But I had greater faith in the people then than I do now and feel much less secure today.
Ditto 😢
great scene between two great veteran actors
If you grew up in that era, you realize how plausible the premise of this movie actually is. The Joint Chiefs at the time, such as General Maxwell Taylor, were bloodthirsty cold warriors of the most extreme type. For example during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when news first came in, the Joint Chiefs pressured JFK to immediately bomb the missile sites in Cuba. The Joint Chiefs made no secret of it that the military absolutely HATED President Kennedy. Thinking him too soft and pacifistic. When it was announced that the Russians had decided to step down and remove the missiles, Gen. Taylor and the other Chiefs were angry. Taylor remarked that he had missed the opportunity to "bomb Cuba and turn it into a wasteland".
Why is RFK's youngest son named, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy?
thinking of Curtis LeMay?
The only issue is that the military was conscript based so not so easy to convince 2 year conscripts to do this especially in the US system in which respect for POTUS is drilled into them quite well.
That's so horrible that JFK had that reputation since he was an actual decorated Naval officer. Served in WW2, even though his father could have easily gotten him out of any real service. And Kennedy's older brother was actually killed in the war while carrying out a mission for the Air Force. So Jack was well aware of the needs of the military, but he wouldn't simply rubber-stamp what the generals or the CIA proposed to him. He asked for answers from the military and from the intelligence guys about what we were doing around the world. He asked those folks to justify what they were up to. And his questions may have contributed to his death
That's not being a conspiracy nut. That's just an educated statement of fact, from what we know now. Sixty years after the killing, and the American people still don't have access to all the facts about that dark day. On some levels, we've never fully recovered from that. But if you were alive then, we know in our hearts and minds what occurred. Really a shame, but that's the costs of empire-building.
Burt Lancaster was too modest in his opinion of his own acting. His performance in this film is marvelous. Nearly on a level with the great Fredric March. Easily top ten on a list of Hollywood's greatest actors. Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde and Les Miserables are but a small sample of this legends works. With the giant run of Les Mis on tour, could you imagine paired with it Fredric March in its stage version? The two running concurrently. Were he alive now, he would burn up the stage. Just as he set the big screen aflame as a consummate actor.
Lancaster is great here. I especially loved him in The Swimmer in which he gave the performance of his career.
2 of the greatest of the greatest actors....
Actors at the zenith of their careers! The defining dialogue for me was the exchange between Douglas and Lancaster when he asks about Judas. Douglas's reply is perfect. A great film. A country in the grip of the Cold War, fearful of Communism and nuclear war. What a time it was!
BEST SCENE IN THE MOVIE.
Both actors were in a class of their own together with Kirk Douglas, lots of kudos to Rod Serling as well. One film I watch to conclusion whenever it is broadcast.
I've read that in order to get Lancaster, Kirk Douglas agreed to switch roles to Colonel Casey (from General Scott). It's quite easy to imagine Douglas in the General Scott role. I think the basic difference is that Lancaster plays it with sincerity, but there's definitely self-glorification behind that (maybe even delusion). I think Douglas would have played it relatively more intense and with sharper arrogance than Lancaster. It would have made an interesting contrast with Douglas' character in 'Paths Of Glory'. Anyway, both actors did fine work in the film.
douglas can be very "humble" (watch the list of adrian messenger from 1963). i think burt's towering presence made him better for the role.
Douglas offered him either role of the Colonel he wound up playing or the General and Lancaster chose the General. Same thing happened in reverse with "The Devil's Disciple" that Lancaster produced.
Love watching a character who thinks he's won and totally underestimates their target.
One of the greatest scenes in movie history.
Great movie with an exceptional group of actor and actress legends……and legend has it that President Kennedy wanted this movie to be made….but obviously did not live to see it made…..I have a DVD copy of this movie and probably watched it 100 times…..
I also have the DVD and have watched it 200 times. Maybe more.
@@tanyasimon595 if liked Seven Days ….then you’ll love (FAIL SAFE)….the original 1964 version….again many great actors and a plot that still scares me today…!
Great movie! Underrated.
Lancaster is one cool cucumber.
Had this film been made in the mid 90's, it would have ended with a fist fight or a car chase.
They did do a remake in the 1990s…it had more bloodshed and “action” (people getting assassinated or shot in public) but the premise was far more comical and vaguely anti-military (military coup over the budget post-cold war) but it did add other factors (like the Russians trying to stop a possible rouge junta or civil war in the US). Annoyingly it ended with a Deus Ex Machina even though for all intents and purposes it felt like the coup succeeded.
Funnily, there exists a Soviet tv version of the novel from the 80s (low budget but quite good, both the president and the general are quite charismatic)
Lancaster was a master of body language. next time you watch this, watch him closely when he's talking to the congressional panel. watch his hand on the table. this was his third outing with Frankenheimer; I don't know which of them came up with this bit of business but it works beautifully.
Always a big fan of this movie and the many great performances. The one flaw that I can detect in the speech is that - unless I'm missing something - since this is supposed to be May, waiting "a year and nine months " for the next election would make it February.
c'est bien un extrait pour étudier les expressions et attitudes , le dialogue , sans avoir à ouvrir tout un grand film .
A film very much made for the times. President Kennedy was fighting against the very problem that is at the root of this story. The military industrial complex. But the real coup try ok place on the streets of Dallas. And that story has really never ended.
Brilliant movie.
After his resignation, Reilly Diefenbach went to work for GMAC.
“My patience is at an end (click).”
Watch this movie fairly regularly, as it is one of the best movies of the period in my opinion...a major clash of a hard right-winger general and the other a president of peace and change...nominated for two Academy awards.
In the real world, The Pres would never be in a room with the general alone once he started to tell him about the plan. He would have armed personal and recording devices. In addition, the general does not need to have a reason to be removed, nor see any proof; He can be fired for no reason or cause. Just his baring/disrespect when addressing POTUS would be enough to get rid of him. He's in the military; Due process is not the same when compared to non-military citizens. I know, I know.... It's a movie, but... ?
true.
That's all true but if they followed reality, this confrontation would have lost a lot of it's power.
a great movie
Great movie. Rod Serling wrote the adapter screen play.
This is theatre-level intimate and powerful, and this was filmed back in 1963! Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman would have been perfect in a remake in about 2000. In 2024, I'd go for Matt Damon and Michael Keaton.
Scott equals Caesar's Roman Senate
This is a film I'd like to see a GOOD remake of
I particularly love President Lyman's impromptu speech in the press room .
Chills !
GOOD is not in Hollywood vocabulary anymore, sadly.
There's an old 1980s Soviet version of the novel, which is quite decent
I put this film together with Fail Safe and The Manchurian Candidate as a troika of films about 1960's communist paranoia. All three are amazing and never get old.
Don’t forget Dr. Strangelove as It satirizes all of the points of your aforementioned films:
No soundtrack. No music for effect. The tension is palpable.
The footage that opens this film - of a violent protest in front of the White House - was allowed by JFK, who wanted Frankenheimer to make this film because JFK was aware of possibility of a right wing/military coup and he wanted to put the message out there - to inoculate the body politic, as it were. Unfortunately, this film didn't prevent a coup. The Pentagon, BTW, did not allow Frankenheimer to shoot in their building.
a coup attempt.....I'll never forget January 6th, 2021.....a day that made me cry for our country.
@@miamidolphinsfan stop crying over nothing or life will give you something to cry about.
Let the people decide. Run for office. Respect the Constitution and the tools it provides and let the people decide. You dont steal it in the middle of the night, when their backs are turned.
Rod Serling knew how to write great dialog.
A very prescient movie. James Mattoon Scott reminds me of a certain fool we know who doesn't know when to sit down and shut up. Sorry, I digress. Lancaster and March light the screen in this scene. It is a profound film, and Eva Gardner and Kirk Douglas were both marvelous, too. Thank you for this vid clip.
Military coup is what seditionist former general Flynn is peddling now
I don't see anything of Scott in Trump because the former's actions were dictated by genuine concern for his country. Trump is self centered.
@@ricardocantoral7672 yes. correct.
After 60 years, it may come to pass.
The ministry of truth approves. Fire the bum where are the great generals now.?
Is your cat walking on your keyboard, Julius? Your posts make no sense.
Odd this is in my feed now?
6:37 He described 2020.
A question for anyone who would know? At the end of this film,after I`v watched it,as Lancaster character gets into his car,his driver asked "Where to General" Is the actor portraying the driver,a young Robert De Niro?
does anybody know if the guy on the one dollar bill is leo sayer?
Something like this is probably what happened in 1963.
Burt Lancaster's role in "The Nuremberg Trials" was heartbreaking as a criminally-charged NAZI judge.
Judgement at Nuremberg
When dialogue in a movie really mattered...! I Think we had to wait for Zimmerman's "Man For All Seasons" to hear its equal...
For great dialog try "Cromwell" from 1970 starring Richard Harris and Alec Guinness. Full-blooded and damn near Shakespearian! And the actors make it work perfectly!
The first time am M16 rifle appears on film
I saw this film long time ago and I don't remember it. What I see now looking at this sequence is that it is way too long. Lancaster was not bad but his game is a little dated. When I see Fredric March, I still think of him as Dr. Jekyll's best version. I regret that he does not turn into Mr. Hyde during the conversation! 🙂 But the true originality of this film is to place March in May! 🤣
But isn't anytime a good time for March?🤔😂
Lancaster's style was always mannered and deliberate, save for "Elmer Gantry", where he was more-or-less appropriately over the top. (And, of course, that atypical performance is the one that snagged him an Oscar.) I certainly see how it may not date well, but I've always enjoyed his presence and have gravitated towards his films my entire life. As his career progressed, his stardom enabled him to be very choosy about whom he worked with. He would sometimes forego his salary to work with a certain director (as he did for Bertolucci on "1900") , and even provide funds to help complete production on smaller films which he believed in ("Go Tell The Spartans"). Nowadays, selling-out for big bucks is something many performers aspire to. I respect the fact that he was in it for the art first (the majority of the time), and he remains one of my favorite actors.
If Rod Serling had a flaw as a writer, it was his tendency towards long speeches when perhaps a more modest approach would have sufficed. Even episodes of "Night Gallery" can sometimes get very, um, florid, shall we say. But, like Lancaster, if you enjoy that approach, then you'll enjoy Serling. Paddy Chayefsky also tended to write speeches, but his dialogue, even today, does have a more contemporary feel than does Serling's. I enjoy both - speeches and all.🤓
And note that I actually cut this scene about three or four minutes early. So if you think it's too long now...😮😃
@@WidescreenJunkie Yes, March mallow time!!😂 I agree about Serling and Chayefsky. Serling, really talented guy, wrote long, long dialogues. In an area which we call the Twilight Zone! 🤣
@@WidescreenJunkie I actually enjoy this scene. It's the intensity of two great actors Frederic March and Burt Lancaster in an engaging debate of ideas with Burt Lancaster's character trying to skillfully make the president look like an incompetent buffoon only to find that he was dealing with a seasoned old salt with an immense faith in the Constitution of the United States of America who put up his right hand to uphold and protect. The first time I saw this scene watching the whole movie I was spellbound. There's a similarly long scene in the Oliver Stone movie JFK between Kevin Costner and Donald Sutherland sitting on the park bench in Washington DC when Sutherland's character talks about the security violations on the Dallas motorcade route that lead to President Kennedy's assassination among other things his character revealed. I wasn't bored for one second but spellbound.
@@WidescreenJunkie Serling wrote long speeches because he had actors who could deliver them with force and conviction. Today, not such, unless every fourth word is an f-bomb.
@@WidescreenJunkie If you have a problem with long speeches, don't read or watch Eugene O'neill
According to author Bob Woodard upcoming book this happen in 2020 doing the Trump administration.
Dominion.
I wonder if this was the type of meeting President Trump had with Milley.....
Burt should see RACHEL LEVINE.
Phone Peter Strock
Medal of Honor for General Milley
Trump v. Milley kind of the reverse of March-Lancaster here.
@@telephilia Milley was an idiot.
Hohoho
Does general Matooes remind you of someone ?
General Scott is supposed to be based on a General who was controversial named Edwin Walker who was noted as an extreme right wing figure he was removed from his position due to accusations he was politically indoctrinating troops under his command. These days I feel he reminds me of former General Michael Flynn.
no. and it's matoon. and that's his middle name.
yeah General Edwin Walker
SE TE OLVIDÓ TRADUCIR AL ESPAÑOL , EL IDIOMA QUE HABLA UN TERCIO DE LA POBLACIÓN MUNDIAL.-
I am wondering now whether the General was actually the GOOD guy in this movie.
he wasn't. that's not to say lyman was a good president, but the general's way was even worse. as the president says, general scott would have brought about the end he feared much sooner with his coup d'etat.
Did the founding fathers perform a cout d'état during the revolutionary war?
@@jf8461
There were no ICBMs back then. Had a right wing coup happened, the Soviet Union would have had no choice but to strike first
@@darwinawardcommittee Actually, I think the first ICBM’s were built in the late 50’s. Isn’t this movie supposed to be in the early 60’s?
@@jf8461 It's not outright stated but this film actually takes place in the mid-1970s.
2021 REMAKE of the Film with REAL PEOPLE ( NO Actors): General Mark A. Milley as US Air Force General James Mattoon Scott ( conspirator ), Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi as US Senator Fred Prentice (another conspirator ), Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller as USMC Colonel "Jiggs" Casey ( American Hero ), White House press secretary Jen Psaki as Harold McPherson, TV commentator ( another conspirator), American Politician Herschel Walker as US Senator Ray Clark ( American Hero ), and finally President Donald Trump as US President Jordan Lyman ( American Hero ).
are you on crack?
What are you talking about? Former general Flynn is the one out there actively proposing a military coup.
@@BillYork This guy and others here are super-imposing the Conservative zeitgeist onto this scene. The playbook is to bypass the actual issue or debate and simply label 'good guys/gals' and 'bad guys and gals', determined solely by political and cultural identification.
@Lawrence DeLong You are Wrong, Cowboy. Trump is the seditious Gen. Scott.
Wow, talk about miscasting a movie. You probably equate the teabaggers from 2010 with the revolutionaries of 1776 instead of the pro-British Loyalists their ideology more accurately matches.
Trump's favorite movie
Trump was the equivalent of the seditious Gen. Scott. This was the favorite movie of pro-democracy people who hate Trump.
great movie but this and fail safe and to a lesser extent strangelove were made to keep johnson in office...
Well, Goldwater did say he would use nukes without hesitation.
@@ricardocantoral7672 true...clinton also said same thing about n.korea and biden just said it about russia...
Dr. Strangelove’s production work was entirely completed while Johnson was still vice-president.
Same for 7 Days in May.
@@brianarbenz1329 true...i think the premiere was sometime around nov 22 but was held of for some weeks...but also Goldwater was making noise and after the assassination hollywood went into overdrive to help Johnson...
You know, my parents voted for Goldwater in 1964. Their friends who were going to vote for Johnson told them "Vote for Goldwater and you're going to get a war!"
You know what? The friends were right. Mom and Dad voted for Goldwater and sure enough, we got a war.
Donald Trump sent me here.
This is what general. Milley is guilty of doing. And all the liberal media approve.
I think you completely missed the whole point of President Lyman's words. Instead, you believed the words of Lancaster's General. You didn't do anything more than swallow the the Trump routine, backed up by incoherent talking points of right wing media. What exactly did Trump rely on during his election campaign and term as President. What words did Trump keep coming back to? Whose words in this scene mirror that?
Have some more Kool-Ade, Orange Julius.
Trump saw this & his tiny pea brain came up with 7 Hours in January 2021
no, the dems staged it and your pea brain believed it.
Col Douglas McGreggor
He was right tbh
no, the president was right when he countered that russia would bomb the shit out of them in the aftermath.