The Americanization of Emily (1964)

The Americanization of Emily
Directed by Arthur Hiller
Written by Paddy Chayefsky from a novel by William Bradford Hule
1964/USA
Filmways Pictures
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Emily Barham: [speaking of the war] It’s just one big Shriner convention for you Yanks.[/box]

One of the very first sardonic takes on WWII was controversial in its time.  It seems much tamer now.

Lt. Commander Charlie Madison is a so-called “dog robber” whose role in the Navy is to keep the brass supplied with luxury goods and amiable women.  His boss Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) appears to be suffering from a nervous breakdown starting with the death of his wife and is more interested in a good game of bridge than hanky panky. Charlie finds a suitable partner is his driver Emily (Julie Andrews), an idealistic British war widow.  Emily is sick of falling for doomed men and soon she and Charlie are in love.

During one of his more demented moments, the Admiral decides that the best way to ensure a leading role for the Navy after the War is for a sailor to be the first man to die on Omaha beach.  He assigns Charlie to head a camera crew that will film this moment. Charlie has a fail-safe scheme to avoid this duty but things don’t work out as planned … With Joyce Grenfell as Emily’s mother and Charles Coburn as Charlie’s womanizing superior.

The anti-war parts of this movie are pretty speechy and now are nothing new.  I preferred the romance.  Garner and Andrews have great chemistry.  Douglas is excellent as usual.  It the plot appeals, I’d go for it.

The Americanization of Emily was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Cinematography, Black-and-White and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White.

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