Seven Days in May -- tonight on TCM

[Octafish]

Seven Days In May (1964) -- An American military officer discovers his superiors are planning a military coup. Dir: John Frankenheimer Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner.



President John F. Kennedy liked the book so much he let Hollywood use the White House to make the film.

[theHandpuppet]

1. Excellent film, and chilling

Just as relevant today as it was years ago. A must see!

[Octafish]

2. From 'Mark My Words'...

Seems like a nice Blog:

EXCERPT...

What did the United States government think of Seven Days in May? It was released in February, 1964, just three months after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Predictably, the military hated it, and had wanted Frankenheimer to submit a script for Pentagon approval. Frankenheimer refused. Kennedy himself, however, had read the novel and strongly encouraged the movie to be made. When Kennedy ran into Kirk Douglas at a party before filming began, he asked Douglas if he planned to make the movie. “When Douglas replied yes, the President proceeded to tell him why and how it would make an excellent movie.” (Burt Lancaster: An American Life, by Kate Buford, p. 230) For the opening scene of the movie, Frankenheimer wanted to film a mock protest outside of the White House between pro and anti-disarmament treaty protestors. Kennedy arranged his schedule so that he and the First Family would be in Hyannisport for a weekend, thus giving Frankenheimer the opportunity to capture the scene.

http://mark-markmywords.blogspot.com/2011/12/jfk-and-seven-days-in-may-starring-burt.html

[madrchsod]

3. i saw this film during my high school prom....

one of our prom`s tradition was going to the movies. although 99% of the guys and gals in the theatre had other things on their minds i enjoyed the movie. my girlfriend was a bit put off but she forgave me later.

a very good movie that should be seen again.

[Adsos Letter]

4. "Yes, I know who Judas was."

"He was a man I worked for and admired until he disgraced the four stars on his uniform."

...

One of my absolute all-time favorite movies.


Edit: spelling.

[pacalo]

5. Highly recommended!

This is one of the best suspenseful movies about the dangers of the military/industrial complex. The movie's plot is outstanding & so is the cast -- Kirk Douglas, in particular.

[JackRiddler]

6. Yes, JFK himself took it seriously.

But we're supposed to bleat and say anything other than Oswald alone is unthinkable!

[Blue_In_AK]

7. It's been years since I watched this.

Looks like DVR time.

[MinM]

8. Rod Serling's "A Carol for Another Christmas" is on TCM

Thursday December, 19 2013 at 02:15 AM

"When you think of Christmas, the name "Rod Serling" doesn't normally come to mind, yet Serling wrote one of the most unusual versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol ever shown on television. Carol for Another Christmas (1964) was conceived at a time when the threat of nuclear annihilation was still very much a part of the American psyche, as was the assassination of President John Kennedy. It was hard to be an optimist in 1964.

Peter Sellers, recently recovered from a near-fatal heart attack, was reunited with his Dr. Strangelove (1964) co-star, Sterling Hayden for the film. Hayden played the "Scrooge" character (here, called "Daniel Grudge&quot , a tycoon who has held a grudge for twenty years over the death of his son, Marley, killed in action on Christmas Eve, 1944. Peter Fonda played the son, but his scenes were cut out of the finished film, although he can be seen in photographs on the set.


“It certainly didn’t get the attention it should have,” Serling’s widow, Carol, said in an interview. “I haven’t seen it in so long.”

"Carol for Another Christmas" is a cautionary plea for peace, global cooperation and humanitarian intervention. As such, it echoes many of the socially conscious themes Serling plumbed in “The Twilight Zone,” as well as earlier anthology shows like “Playhouse 90” and “Studio One,” and the film “Planet of the Apes.” In Serling’s hands, Ebenezer Scrooge becomes Daniel Grudge (played by Sterling Hayden), a wealthy industrialist whose son had been killed in battle on Christmas Eve 1944. The loss has transformed him into a man whose idea of international relations is bombing other countries into submission...

http://twilightzonewor.fr.yuku.com/topic/4130/Carol-for-Another-Christmas#.Uq9ojoV0m3o

[Octafish]

9. Thank you, MinM! Fantastic cast...

Never would have known, were it not for you taking the time. Thank you!

[MinM]

10. Sterling Hayden and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy

Posted 27 December 2012 - 07:45 PM

The actor Sterling Hayden, was one of the first famous people to come out as a critic of the Warren Commission. Hayden supported Mark Lane in his attempts to reopen the case and joined the Citizens Committee of Inquiry. Lane pointed out in Plausible Denial: Was the CIA Involved in the Assassination of JFK (1991): "Having almost exhausted the available traditional resources, I turned toward an informal network that had been established years before... I formed an organization... the Citizens Committee of Inquiry. Its purpose, from the time it was founded in 1964, was to bring together people interested in securing the facts about the death of the president. It was clear that an extraordinary response was required to meet the effort of the police and spy organizations to offer a sanitized solution to the murder and to discourage serious inquiry."

Interestingly, Hayden had worked with several future members of the CIA when he was a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during the Second World War. Hayden also acted in the conspiracy film, Winter Kills (1979), that is based loosely on the JFK assassination.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=19826

[Octafish]

11. ''I'd rather be wrong on my own than be right on somebody else's say-so.''

Goll-ee. I knew he'd been hauled before the HUAC, but I had no idea of the rest of his story. Old Ripper was a true war hero:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhaydenST.htm

And he recognized what "playing the game" cost him.

Not often does a man find himself eulogized for having behaved in a manner that he himself despises. I subscribed to a press-clipping service. They sent me two thousand clips from papers east and west, large and small, and from dozens of magazines. Most had nothing but praise for my one-shot stoolie show. Only a handful - led by The New York Times - denounced this abrogation of constitutional freedoms whereby the stoolie could gain status in a land of frightened people.