Seven Days in May

John Frankenheimer: Seven Days in May (US 1964) avec Burt Lancaster (Gen. James Mattoon Scott) et Kirk Douglas (Col. Martin "Jiggs" Casey). The square-jawed stars loved to hate each other in seven films.

Sept jours en mai / Toukokuun 7 päivää / 7 dagar i maj.

    US © 1964 Joel Productions. A Paramount Release.

Générique : La Cinémathèque française :

    Réalisateur : John Frankenheimer

Assistants réalisateurs : Hal W. Polaire, Dale Hutchinson, Robert J. Anderson

Scénariste : Rod Serling

Auteur de l'oeuvre originale : Fletcher Knebel d'après le roman "Seven Days in May", Charles Waldo d'après le roman "Seven Days in May"

Sociétés de production : Seven Arts Productions, Joel Productions

Producteurs : John Frankenheimer, Edward Lewis

Directeur de production : Hal W. Polaire

Distributeur d'origine : Paramount Films

Directeur de la photographie : Ellsworth Fredricks – b&w – 1,85:1

Cadreur : John Mehl

Ingénieurs du son : Joe Edmondson, R. D. Cook

Compositeur de la musique originale : Jerry Goldsmith

Directeur artistique : Cary Odell

Décorateur : Edward G. Boyle

Costumiers : Wes Jeffries, Sid Mintz, Angela Alexander

Maquilleur : Dave Grayson

Coiffeur : Sydney Guilaroff pour Ava Gardner

Monteur : Ferris Webster

Script : John Franco

Photographe de plateau : Sterling Smith

    Interprètes : Burt Lancaster (le général James Mattoon Scott), Kirk Douglas (le colonel Martin Casey, dit Jiggs), Fredric March (le président Jordan Lyman), Ava Gardner (Eleanor Holbrook), Edmond O'Brien (le sénateur Raymond Clark), Martin Balsam (Paul Girard), George Macready (Christopher Todd), Whit Bissell (le sénateur Prentice), Hugh Marlowe (Harold McPherson), Bart Burns (Arthur Corwin), Richard Anderson (le colonel Murdock), Jack Mullaney (le lieutenant Hough), Andrew Duggan (le colonel Henderson), John Larkin (le colonel Broderick), Malcolm Atterbury (le médecin de la Maison Blanche), Helen Kleeb (Esther Townsend), John Houseman (l'amiral Barnswell), Colette Jackson (la fille du bar), Fredd Wayne (Whitney), Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. (l'officier espagnol), Ferris Webster (le général Barney Rutkowski), Charles Watts (l'hôte de la party), William Challee (l'officier d'état-major), Charles Meredith (un membre de la commission), Stuart Holmes (un membre de la commission), Clegg Hoyt, Mimi Dillard, Leonard Nimoy, Bill Raisch, Irving Richardson, Joe Walls, Walter Coy, Joseph Crehan, Tyler McVey, Mike Masters, Tom Harris, Douglas Henderson, Thom Conroy, Joel Fluellen, Mike West, Kevin Gregor, Joyce Nizzari, Hildy Parks

    120 min

    US premiere: 12 Feb 1964 (Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.)

    US premiere: 13 Feb 1964 (wide)

    French premiere: 25 March 1964

    Helsinki premiere: 27 March 1964 Aloha, Paramount Pictures.

    Copie 35 mm VOSTF – sous-titres français Léon Deutsch – vu lundi 24 février 2025, La Cinémathèque française, Rétrospective John Frankenheimer, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6

La Cinémathèque française: " Pendant la guerre froide, une tentative de coup d'État est étouffée dans l'œuf. Frankenheimer orchestre une politique-fiction qui interroge les valeurs de l'Amérique, avec en arrière-plan le péril rouge et la menace nucléaire. "

IMDb: " United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack. "

AA: From today's perspective, already the first shot is striking: the original 1787 draft of the Constitution of the United States behind the opening credits.

This screening of John Frankenheimer's Seven Days in May takes place in a world-historical turning-point. Truth is stranger than fiction, making a John Frankenheimer dystopia look tame. A US President turns into a Vladimir Putin puppet, complete with the oligarch system, in a reversal of the Cold War. Most incredible is the paralysis of the Grand Old Party.

In his greatest period (1961–1966) Frankenheimer excelled in Cold War thrillers (The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May) and science fiction (Seconds). Burt Lancaster became Frankenheimer's mentor, and they made five films together (The Young Savages, Birdman of Alcatraz, Seven Days in May, The Train, The Gypsy Moths).

The Manchurian Candidate (release date 24 October 1962) is about a plan to assassinate a U.S. presidential candidate, and Seven Days in May about a military conspiracy to overthrow the President. In pre-production Frankenheimer checked both projects with President John F. Kennedy who embraced them enthusiastically. The assassination of the President on 22 November 1963 shocked Frankenheimer profoundly. The premiere of Seven Days in May, scheduled for December 1963, was postponed to 12 February 1964.

Before his film career Frankenheimer served in the Air Force, both in Pentagon and Burbank, which gave him an advantage of authenticity in Seven Days in May, a major statement about the military-industrial complex, the Cold War and the Nuclear Age.

It is an excellent thriller, written by Rod Serling based on the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey. The cast is great. Burt Lancaster is cast against Kirk Douglas, his favourite adversary in seven movies. Ava Gardner is Eleanor Holbrook, a socialite friend of both. Fredric March is the President, and Edmond O'Brien and John Houseman his closest trusted men. Burt Lancaster is the general plotting the coup of the military junta, and Hugh Marlowe, Whit Bissell, and Richard Anderson are some of the conspirators.

The thriller aspect is not overdone. Seven Days in May is a film of both action and reflection. About the biggest issues: rearmament is essential for defence, but arms race can turn against itself, increasing danger instead of security. It can become an end in itself, and serve the military-industrial complex instead of world peace