I’ve had Frenchmen call me a savage because I only took half an hour for lunch. Hell, Ms. Barham, the only reason the French take two hours for lunch is because the service in their restaurants is lousy.
Today on the Classic Movie Review Podcast, we are taking on a wartime romance with The Americanization of Emily (1964). This movie was nominated for two Oscars, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White. However, it did not win in either category. The movie has a decent 7.3 rating on iMDB.com[1] but I feel it is a little better than that. The movie is at 100 percent on the Tomatometer and at 82 percent audience approval on rottentomatoes.com[2]
Arthur Hiller directed this comedy, love story, war movie, and it was loaded with a super cast. New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther said the screenplay included “some remarkably good writing with some slashing irreverence.”[3] The movie is based on a book of the same name, written by William Bradford Huie’s in 1959.
Actors – The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Returning
James Coburn played Lt. Commander Paul ‘Bus’ Cummings, a member of Admiral Jessup’s staff. Coburn was first covered in Hard Times (1975).
New
James Garner played ‘Dog-Robber’ Lt. Commander Charles Edward Madison. He was born in 1928 in Oklahoma. There are conflicting references to his early life. It seems he left Norman, Oklahoma, and traveled to Los Angles where his father had recently moved. He attended Hollywood High, where he began modeling[4], but soon returned to Norman. He left high school in his senior year and served in the Merchant Marines at the end of World War II[5][6]. Following that, he joined the California National Guard before seeing combat in the Korean Conflict[7]. But other places say he was the first draftee from the state of Oklahoma[8]. He did receive two Purple Hearts for wounds, one at the time, and the other was awarded 32 years later.
Garner was cast in the Broadway version of ‘The Caine Mutiny Court Martial’ in 1954. Garner began getting movie roles such as The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Darby’s Rangers (1958), and Up Periscope (1959). However, his first big break was when he was cast in televisions ‘Maverick’ 1957-1962. He became a major star in the POW escape movie The Great Escape (1963). This was followed by The Americanization of Emily (1964), Grand Prix (1966), Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969), Neo-Noir Marlowe (1969), and Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), among others. Marlowe (1969) also starred Bruce Lee, and Garner became a student of the ultimate martial artist.
Garner was cast in a great detective series ‘The Rockford Files’ 1974-1980. I have mentioned this before, but in 1977, Garner was teamed with Mariette Hartley for a long-running series of Polaroid commercials which led to people believing they were married.
Later movies include the gender-bending Victor Victoria (1982), Tank (1984), Murphy’s Romance (1985), Maverick (1994), My Fellow Americans (1996), and Space Cowboys (2000). Garner continued to work until 2010 and died in 2014.
Julie Andrews played English war-widow and military driver Emily Barham. Andrews was born in 1935 in England. Andrews’ parents were both vaudevillians. With a four-octave vocal range and perfect pitch, it was clear that she would be a performer. Her childhood was spent singing and performing on stage. By 1954, she was on Broadway.
Her first film role was none other than Disney’s Mary Poppins (1964). For this role, she won the best actress Oscar. She was a little stereotyped as Mary Poppins and later Maria. To combat this, she made films like The Americanization of Emily (1964) She continued on Broadway until her next iconic movie The Sound of Music (1965). A laundry list of her better movies includes Torn Curtain (1966), Hawaii (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Star! (1968), Darling Lili (1970), 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981) which was directed by her husband and where she bared her breast, Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), the cross-dressing Victor Victoria (1982), The Princess Diaries (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), and Tooth Fairy (2010). She was made a Dame by the Queen of Britain in 1999.
Melvyn Douglas played the temporarily insane Admiral William Jessup. Douglas was born in Georgia in 1901. I thought he was English. Although from a well-heeled family, Douglas left high school to become an actor. He began working on Broadway in 1928, and in 1931 he began working in films.
Douglas was cast in lower-quality fare such as The Vampire Bat (1933) and had many leading roles in films like Ninotchka (1939) with Greta Garbo. Other quality films include She Married Her Boss (1935) and Garbo’s last film Two-Faced Woman (1941).
Douglas was strongly anti-Nazi, anti-Communist, and pro-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As strange as will seem, he was later graylisted for this. Douglas was in The Sea of Grass (1947), which was director Elia Kazan’s first film. I first noticed him as the wisecracking friend in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948). This was when the work dried up. Douglas returned to the stage.
Douglas came back stronger when he returned and won the best supporting actor Oscar for Hud (1963). He played the crazy admiral in The Americanization of Emily (1964), he was nominated for the best actor Oscar for I Never Sang for My Father (1970), and he played Robert Redford’s father in The Candidate (1972). Other later films include The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), Being There (1979) for which he won a best-supporting actor Oscar, and Ghost Story (1981). Douglas at age 80 in 1981.
Keenan Wynn was amazing as an old drunken Sailor. Wynn was born in 1916 in New York City. He had the amazing name of Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn. It’s no wonder he got a name like that because his father was Ed Wynn, the famous burlesque actor, and television funny man. His mother was also an actress. The family was well off, and Keenan attended St. John’s Military Academy.
Kennan began working on stage and was on Broadway by 1937. He also started working on the radio during this period. He eventually signed with MGM and became a major character actor. His first film was Somewhere I’ll Find You (1942). Other early films include Northwest Rangers (1942), and Since You Went Away (1944).
Following World War II, Kennan left MGM. Movies during this period ranged from Film-Noir to comedy and include Song of the Thin Man (1947), The Hucksters (1947), The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), the very funny Angels in the Outfield (1951), Phone Call from a Stranger (1952), Kiss Me Kate (1953), Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), Don’t Go Near the Water (1957), and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957). I don’t know what that last one is about, but I intend to find out.
Kennan was an uncredited bartender in the great Film-Noir classic Touch of Evil (1958). However, I think he was best in comedies in general and Disney comedies specifically. Films like The Absent Minded Professor (1961), Operation Mermaid (1963), Son of Flubber (1963), wartime comedy The Americanization of Emily (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), wartime spoof Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Finian’s Rainbow (1968), which featured Kennan as being turned black by a leprechaun, Herbie Rides Again (1974), and The Shaggy D.A. (1976).
He played real serious roles as well in films like Point Blank (1967) with Lee Marvin, The War Wagon (1967), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Mackenna’s Gold (1969), The Mechanic (1972), with Charles Bronson, Nashville (1975), Orca (1977), a Jaws (1975) knockoff, and his last film Hyper Sapien: People from Another Star (1986). Kennan died at the age of 70 in 1986.
Three other actors deserve mention. Comedian Steve Franken was very funny as a drunken young sailor. Future “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” 1967-1971 comedian Judy Carne was in as the 2nd ‘Nameless Broad.’ Their words, not mine, and Sharon Tate, who has recently been rediscovered by the public as a result of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) was uncredited as a Beautiful Girl.
Story – The Americanization of Emily 1964
At the height of World War II, a US Naval plane lands at Hendon Airport, England. The date is May 4, 1944. Lines of cars, driven by English women are waiting to transport the passengers on the plane. Since a large number of English men were in uniform, women were used as drivers and messengers. This includes the current Queen of England, who was a Jeep driver.
Rear Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) and his staff get off the plane. Lieutenant Commander Charlie Madison (James Garner) is the guy taking care of all the details. He even pats one of the female drivers on the butt to which she responds, “Hiya, Charlie.” Charlie’s driver is Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), and she seems highly offended by the butt slapping.
When they arrive at the hotel, Charlie is still managing every detail. When the cargo arrives from the plane, it is not military. It is dresses, fresh fruit, booze, stocking, Hershey bars, and anything else that can be traded in the war-depleted country. As she starts to leave, Charlie smacks Emily on the butt. She slaps his face.
A crawl on the screen explains that Charlie is a Dog-Robber. This is a job where a person trades, steals, bribes, and finagles to get his commanding officer’s needs taken care of, including being well-loved. It goes on to say that every Army and Navy in the world has Dog-Robbers, but the American’s are the best.
US Army soldiers have long been called “dog faces,” probably from the times when local establishments displayed signs saying, ‘no dogs or GIs.’ The term Dog-Robber is an obsolete insult used on someone that is a “contemptible person, especially one who steals scraps of food.”[9] In military usage, a Dog-Robber is “the U.S. Army equivalent of the British slang term, ‘batman,’ which refers to an officer’s personal valet or orderly, one step removed from the butler.”[10] I have heard the term batman in English movies such as Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), and I just assumed it was about playing Cricket. Oh well, live and learn.
In the morning, Charlie goes to the office. He is informed by Commander “Bus” Cummings (James Coburn) that Admiral Jessup is having a bridge and dinner party. In addition to the meal, Charlie has to rustle up bridge partners for the high brass, with specifications down to hair color. Bus tells him that they will be staying in London until the “balloon goes up,” which is military slang for the beginning of a war. Charlie asks what balloon and Bus has to explain that he means D-Day, the invasion of Europe. The meaning of the term D-Day has been debated with meanings from doomsday, destruction, demarcation day, and others. According to the National World War II Museum, it simply means ‘day.”[11] So that could talk about events in terms of D-Day +7 for one week after the invasion without knowing or using real dates. This is used in Patton (1970) where the General complains about Monty not being able to take Caen by D-Day +10.
Charlie goes to the motor pool so he can recruit the correct partners for the brass. Emily gives him a stink face when he enters. Regardless, he pats Shelia (Liz Fraser) on the butt and asks if she can be a redhead by the evening. She is very enthusiastic. Charlie needs a driver to go to the airport, and only Emily is available. She has her stink face on the whole time. Charlie gives the MP at the gate some nylons. The MP tells him that the new supply officer is from Alabama. Charlie becomes a southerner when he talks to the supply officer and promises him 3 bottles of I.W. Harper bourbon as long as his admiral gets the best of everything. He also leaves him with a threat.
Emily brings the car around and is enraged by all the fruit and meat being loaded inside while most English families are a little underfed. She chews on Charlie about the way Americans approach this war.
Back at Charlie’s hotel room, Shelia is selecting an evening gown as she stands among champagne, cigarettes, and perfume. Charlie tells Shelia he needs a girl that is sufficiently posh and can play bridge like a shark. Captain Harry Spaulding (William Windom) comes into Charlie’s room and says the balloon is going up soon. Again, Charlie asks what balloon. He is totally obsessed with his current task. He borrows a cane and goes to talk to Emily.
He tells her he was wounded flying for the RAF in 1940. She is unimpressed. He asks her if she plays Bridge and invites her to dinner and cards. She declines. Charlie says she is a prig. When she goes back to the driver’s barracks, she asks Shelia if she is a prig. Shelia says, yes you are and that she acts like a virgin goddess. Emily says she is not a prig, and she falls in love at the drop of a hat. She says after she lost her husband in the war, she fell for lots of wounded men that were being sent back. Shelia sells the party pretty hard and shows Emily some of the dresses that she has gotten from Charlie. Emily asks about the required sex and is told it is not required. Emily goes on to explain that she has also lost her father and brother in the war and she doesn’t want any more military men.
Emily goes to Charlie’s room, where the party is being hosted. She notices right away that he is not limping. She is overwhelmed by the supplies in the back room. She can’t understand how he got French perfume while the damn Nazis were in Paris. He gives a great pro-American speech saying we haven’t managed a Hitler or Mussolini. YET! Right now, Charlie and Emily don’t seem to like each other.
The party goes into full swing with lots of brass and young ladies. Emily comes in with a swanky little black dress. Charlie has to work moving ladies around for the right pairing. After dinner, Charlie, Emily, Admiral Jessup, and a General play bridge. Admiral Jessup wants more of a Navy presence during the invasion of Europe. The General talks about the balloon going up, and Charlie says what balloon?
Shelia leaves with a General. Emily leaves and says she would like to be invited again. Charlie takes care of Admiral Jessup as he gets ready for bed. Admiral Jessup thinks Congress wants to scrap the Navy in favor of the Air Corps. Admiral Jessup is looking for a gimmick. He is having severe headaches. He starts mumbling to himself and acting crazy.
Charlie goes to his room, and much to his surprise, Emily is sitting on the bed looking very sexy. And she can sing. So, kissing and stuff ensues. Charlie admits he is yellow, and Emily likes that Charlie will never be near the shooting. Admiral Jessup breaks in and says the first dead man on Omaha beach must be a sailor before leaving. When Charlie goes to check on Admiral Jessup, he repeats the first dead man line and orders a staff meeting for 9 AM.
Charlie busts in on Bus who is with a woman. He complains but he finally leaves them alone.
In the morning, Admiral Jessup orders his staff to make a movie about the Navy’s part of the invasion. He says the first people to die will be Navy demolition teams, and he wants a camera team with them. He assigns Bus to take care of it even though there are already 6 photo teams assigned. Captain Marvin Ellender (Douglas Henderson) says Admiral Jessup has been having strange ideas since his wife died the previous year.
Charlie goes to Emily’s house carrying two large boxes of Hersey Bars. Emily gets a little hot because of the candy and doesn’t want to be Americanized. Then they look at the photographs of all the military men from the family. It reminds me of a Billy Bragg line, “…adjusts a photograph of the unknown soldier, in this holy of holies, the home” from the song ‘The Homefront.’ Charlie meets Emily’s mother, Mrs. Barham (Joyce Grenfell). She is a little crazy, and Charlie says his religion is that of a practicing coward. Charlie tells about working in a diplomatic hotel arranging things for diplomats. He turned down his first Dog-Robber job and enlisted in the Marines. His wife supported his decision. After the attack on Guadalcanal, he realized a man could be killed and that he was a coward. He wrote Admiral Jessup and got out of combat, and his wife left him. Emily’s mother really likes him. Charlie blames the people not the politicians, for war. Charlie tells that his brother was killed at Anzio and died a regular death. His mother pretends he died a hero, and now his younger brother wants to join as soon as he comes of age. Mrs. Barham finally admits her son and husband are dead.
Admiral Jessup is briefed by Admiral Thomas Healy (Edward Binns) and is told that because of tidal conditions, D-Day must be June 5th or 6th. The brass decides to get really drunk that night. Admiral Jessup starts raging about the Navy, and then he asks Bus about the movie before going into another spell. Admiral Jessup then asks Charlie to make the movie.
Charlie begins making a movie from training films. Admiral Jessup sees the footage, but he wants Charlie to go in with the demolition teams to make the movie. Admiral Jessup orders Charlie to complete the project. Bus says he will use orders to move Charlie around until he gets out of the assignment because there are no unattached photographic crews.
Charlie and Emily go away for a week in Sussex. They have a fine time. Charlie asks her to marry him. Emily is not sure because of his lack of principles and cowardice. When they get back, Emily agrees to marry him.
Charlie goes back to his room and finds orders assigning him to a demolition team. He busts in Bus’s room and intercepts Bus and a woman (Judy Crane). Bus says Admiral Jessup insisted, but Bus says he will run out of time before being assigned because the balloon is going up. The next day is June 4th. He tells Bus he is marrying Emily.
The next morning at the office, Admiral Jessup is catatonic. When Bus tells the higher-ups, they refuse to believe him. Then Admiral Jessup is suddenly fine. They then get the word that Admiral Jessup has flipped again. Admiral Healy comes in and says the president is interested in Admiral Jessup’s film and the tomb for the unknown sailor. He orders Bus to get the movie made. The Annapolis men get excited about the movie. Bus says he and Charlie are going to make the movie. Charlie’s cowardly side is showing. Bus says they are flying to Portsmouth, England, at 9 PM. The two men are ordered to go to the hotel. The more cowardly Charlie becomes the more Bus digs in.
Bus strips off Charlie’s insignia and challenges him to a duel. Charlie respects Admiral Jessup too much to have him made a fool of by exposing the scheme. Admiral Jessup tells Charlie that the invasion will begin that night, with the first boats leaving at 9:30 PM. Charlie has found his way out. Charlie walks into Bus’s room. Bus happens to be with another woman. Charlie apologizes for his behavior and asks for another chance. Bus is very proud of his friend.
It is raining hard that night when Emily drives Bus and Charlie to the airport. Charlie thinks he will be back in the morning and not be part of the invasion. She does bust his chops for being a caviler about the invasion. She says she can’t marry him and doesn’t want to see him again. His cowardice is against everything she stands for. Charlie thinks she is just getting scared of the commitment. He says some pretty mean things about her falling for men on their way to die. She slaps his face twice and finishes with I don’t love you.
They check in at Portsmouth and find that the demolition teams have sailed two hours prior to their arrival. They house them in a supply room because they are of no use to the invasion. A sailor comes in and says the entire fleet turned around in mid-channel because of the rain. The invasion is on for that night. Charlie goes outside, and the entire area is buzzing with troops and activity from the returned men. Bus comes back with a camera, and he is gung-ho. The invasion was not actually called back on June 5th. I will talk more about this later.
Charlie is drinking in the supply room when Old Sailor (Keenan Wynn) and Young Sailor (Steve Franken) report in. Bus has sent them because the Old Sailor has some experience making movies. They are both stinking drunk. They start drinking, and Charlie brings out another bottle. He tells them the plan that includes them going in with the engineers into the minefield. The movie he says he wants is engineers being killed and the first body to wash up on Omaha Beach. The Old Sailor doesn’t know how to use the camera, and there is no film. The Old Sailor says he has been stoned (drunk) for two days but not so stoned as to make a movie without film. Bus comes in with gear and loads the drunks on the ship using a cargo net. Ike’s speech is read to the men on board the ship.
When they are 5-miles from France, they are brought up to Bus’s room. Petty Officer Enright (Alan Sues), another “Rowan and Martin Laugh-In” alumni try to show them how to use the cameras. He says it makes no sense to jump into rough 4-foot waters and try and film. Bus reads the letter from Ike again.
Charlie, Bus, and the Old Sailor load into the landing craft with the demolition team. Shells crash in the water around them and supporting artillery fires over their heads, making the beach look like hell. Charlie is scared stiff. The front of the boat is hit by a shell, and Charlie is tossed on the beach. He turns around and begins heading out to sea, but Bus orders him inland and finally shoots him in the leg to get him moving forward. Charlie limps inland, throwing away his gear as he goes. Bus follows him with a drawn pistol. Petty Officer Enright films Charlie running through the wire, being racked by machine-gun fire, and be bombarded with shells. Finally, he is hit by a shell and killed. Bus is self-satisfied, and Petty Officer Enright says that Charlie is the first dead man on Omaha Beach, if that means anything.
Charlie’s picture is on the front page of every newspaper, looking like a hero running forward. Emily is broken having lost another man that she loved. It has been 8 days, and Emily tells her mother she is still pretending Charlie is alive. Bus has come by with another picture of Charlie in the newspaper. Mrs. Barham doesn’t go for this hero stuff anymore. Emily comes down for work, and Bus is shocked when she says that Charlie just died. She no longer admires death.
Admiral Jessup is well and is really upset about the death of Charlie. He realizes the idea was insane and can’t believe he is responsible for Charlie’s death. Admiral Jessup says the Joint Chiefs will not care about anything that is not in Washington, D.C.
Charlie is shown coming off a hospital ship along with other wounded men. He is limping and not happy. Charlie has seen all of the news coverage.
Emily takes Bus and Admiral Jessup to the airport. Bus is told that Charlie is alive and back in England. Now, the first dead man on Omaha Beach is alive. Admiral Jessup wants Charlie brought to Washington so he can be decorated by the President. Emily is overjoyed that Charlie is alive.
Bus drives Emily to where Charlie is located. Bus tells Emily that he chased Charlie onto the beach with a .45 pistol. Emily is more overjoyed with Charlie. At the hospital, Bus finds out that the press corps will be coming. Emily goes outside to wait for Charlie, who now uses a crutch. Emily grabs and kisses Charlie. When Bus comes out Charlie threatens him with a cane. Charlie says he is going, to tell the truth about Admiral Jessup going crazy, Bus shooting him, and him being a coward.
Charlie says it is the right thing to do, and Emily jumps on him. She makes him keep the story quiet for the good of everyone and his own happiness. She says she has not been Americanized, but Charlie has become English. Charlie decides to go along and be a hero.
I’ll be right back with conclusions and the World-Famous Short Summary following a word from our sponsors.
Summary – The Americanization of Emily (1964)
General Dwight David Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, picked June 5, 1944 as D-Day. However, bad weather began to cause delays. On the morning of the 5th, Eisenhower was informed that the weather would improve the next day.[12] The speech that was read several times in the movie goes as follows:
“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you.”
When he ordered Operation Overlord to begin Eisenhower sent a 1,200-plane airborne attack, 5,000 ships crossed the English Channel, and around 160,000 troops hit the French coast in Normandy. The location that was attacked was the same area where Viking ancestors invaded England originated in 1066, bring a load of French words to the modern English language.
The term “the balloon goes up” probably comes from World War I, as a result of observation balloons going up before an artillery barrage or an attack[13]. Some think it is related to anti-aircraft balloons used by the English during World War II, but the first origin is probably the correct one.
World-Famous Short Summary – Couple fall in and out of love with the invasion on D-Day as a backdrop
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Beware the moors
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057840/
[2] https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/americanization_of_emily
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/28/archives/the-americanization-of-emily-arrives.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garner
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garner
[6] https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/jul/21/james-garner-korean-war-purple-heart-army-marines/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garner
[8] https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001258/
[9] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dog_robber
[10] https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/military-slang-dog-robber
[11] https://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-why-its-called-d-day-story.html
[12] https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/d-day
[13] https://www.grammar-monster.com/sayings_proverbs/balloon_has_gone_up.htm
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