“Forgotten Hollywood”- Seven Days in May…
Manny P. here…
“`Art imitating life… Truth is stranger than fiction. Dateline: 05/11/2017
“`A Pentagon insider, working with intelligence, initiates surveillance on the President of the United States. The result is an attempted coup by the military at the highest levels, because the Executive Branch is cozy with the Soviet Union. The head of the Joint Chief of Staff fails, and is forced to resign; in essence, he is dispatched. I’m not referring to any shenanigans of the 2017 presidential administration. It is a literary narrative written in 1962.
“`Seven Days in May was loosely based on actual facts, and reflected the political climate of the day. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy had accepted the resignation of vociferous anti-Communist, General Edwin Walker, who was indoctrinating troops under his watch with his radical views; and described former President Harry Truman, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, former Secretary of State Dean Acheson, and other public figures, as Russian sympathizers.
“`The production was directed by John Frankenheimer; and it starred Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Edmond O’Brien, and Ava Gardner. The screenplay was adroitly adapted by Rod Serling, based on the book by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II.
“`President Kennedy had read Seven Days in May shortly after its publication, and believed the described scenario could actually occur in the United States. According to Frankenheimer, he received encouragement and assistance from JFK, through Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, who conveyed the president’s desire that it be produced. The exterior of the White House was even made available. But, the Pentagon was vehemently against the completion of this movie.
“`The motion picture was released three months after the assassination of President Kennedy, in February, 1964, and opened to wonderful reviews. Critics called it a thrilling piece of fiction.
“`In the final analysis, the visionary aspects of a smartly-written screenplay is consequential. Consider Citizen Kane, A Face in the Crowd, Network, and now, Seven Days in May.
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Thursday, May 11th, 2017 at 12:03 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.