Watch The Americanization of Emily For Free

Instant Favorite.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

NOTES: William Holden, originally scheduled to play the lead, was replaced at the last minute. The director, William Wyler, was fired by producer Ransohoff after ten days of shooting.COMMENT: If the role played by Julie Andrews were drastically curtailed - most of it is totally irrelevant to the main plot which we were dying to get back to - and if the leading man were replaced by someone more convincing than glum-faced, furrow-browed, glassy eyed James Garner (the role seems tailor-made for Gregory Peck) and a director with more verve and imaginative flair than Arthur Hiller was engaged (how about John H. Auer?), this would have had the makings of an entertaining film. Even now, some judicious cutting of the Garner-Andrews scenes would considerably improve it. (The U.K. version is certainly a step in the right direction, but at least another ten minutes could come out.) As it is, the fascinating behind-the-scenes story is all but suffocated by the surrounding romantic tedium. Melvyn Douglas and James Coburn make the most of their opportunities in support roles, but the rest of the large cast hardly gets a look-in, thanks to the relentless concentration on the Garner-Andrews story. One exception is Joyce Grenfell, who uses her comedy mannerisms to ill advantage in what seems to have been intended as a dramatic role. Production values are pretty ordinary, with stock footage helping out for the D-Day scenes. Incidentally, the plot gambit of the day's delay is too well-known to stand up to the extended footage with which director Hiller tries to milk these scenes. The black-and-white photography is mediocre, the sets have obviously made little strain on the producer's pocket and the music score is as often as not atmospherically inappropriate.

In a modern world filled with films featuring actors pretending to be intelligent people saying simpleton lines of seven words or less, what a joy it is to see a film with intelligent people (played by great actors) saying intelligent, complex sentences (written by a great screenwriter).And what acting! I have always respected James Garner and Julie Andrews, but here they shine, as though they have embodied the very essence of their characters and projected it onto the screen. This is a love story set in wartime. It is the cultural differences and conflicts in values between the American and British leads that makes it interesting. The evolution of these characters drives the story. Despite their differences and initial dislike for one another, they fall in love. Yet, in spite of the seeming implausibility of the relationship, Andrews and Garner make it believable, without being saccharine or simplistic. None of the secondary roles come across as stereotyped or caricatures, a credit to Paddy Chayefsky's script, Arthur Hiller's direction, and fine acting. Well, almost none. Steve Franken does a fine drunk, a role he would reprise four years later in The Party, and Keenan Wynn adds to the well-placed (and plausible) comic relief during the invasion.We encounter the central essence of the film early on in Garner's scorching little speech: "We crass Americans didn't introduce war into your little island. This war, Ms. Barham, to which we Americans are so insensitive, is the result of 2,000 years of European greed, barbarism, superstition, and stupidity. Don't blame it on our Coca-Cola bottles. Europe was a going brothel long before we came to town." Far from being a "Sixties movie," those words still ring true today, as they would have in 1944. Yet, somehow, the British have turned gratitude for saving their butt to resentment. This movie provides the long lost clue, the grudge that Brits dare not speak of openly: The Americans were seducing their women with stockings and chocolate bars, while they were away at war. Some of the more beautiful even, gasp!, moved to America with them.The novel confronts this more directly, and makes this the meaning of "Americanization" of women, while the movie makes Americanization a more abstract change in values of Emily and her mother - a shift from patriotism to cynicism, to oversimplify it. And even that would engender resentment from the British today. Though this movie was released in 1964, it would not be entirely correct to call it a Sixties movie; it has more in common with Mr. Roberts - 1955, than more surrealistic antiwar works like MASH. Planning would have begun in 1963, probably before the death of JFK, and before the escalation of the Vietnam War with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. So there was no antiwar movement when this film was made. That side of the Sixties was yet to come, and might never have, had JFK not been assassinated.This is not an antiwar movie, as the actors' lines make clear, but it is highly skeptical. It is about the anomie and louche values that can occur between the cracks of command during wartime. On the other hand, it followed Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove in 1964, also with a general anti-war theme, suggesting the American public was not in the mood to get into another war. No one actually said, Hey, let's go to war in Vietnam! President Johnson just backed us in.I'm glad this movie didn't adopt the more comic tone of Dr. Strangelove or MASH. I'm almost tempted to say it is not a comedy, except the opening scenes have a clear comic overtone. There are several layers to the movie, one being humorous - perhaps it could be describe as light black humor. The advantage of Hiller's style is it retains more realism. There are also shifts in that realism as we see Garner and Andrews in different situations, such as on a country pond, far from the war. Hiller does a fine job of presenting contrasting moods in wartime England. There is a strong feeling of ambiance, and fine presentation of the subtle interactions of the characters, thanks to the slower pace.So William Wyler was booted for tinkering with Chayefsky's script (why??). I love Wyler, but he was nearing the end of his career, while Hiller was a younger director with almost no movie experience, but tons of work on many fine American televisions series where he evidently honed his craft. The directing was fine, with one exception: The scenes of the actual landing of Garner at Normandy are hokey, though probably due to budget (and not having CGI, yet).They say this is the favorite movie of Garner and Andrews. Actors don't always like to watch their own movies. Andrews was not happy being stereotyped as Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp (with a script she viewed as "treacle"), though they are highly-respected works. Much of Garner's work was solid, though sometimes a bit light. My favorite is Support Your Local Sheriff, which I can't recommend too highly. But here we (and they) see acting with subtlety and depth in a setting that is not embarrassing for them to watch.Spoiler alert:Garner presumably marries Andrews in the end, an unhappy ending from the British perspective. I suspect that if you are British you will probably like this movie even less than the much despised U-571 (please see my review, headed: "Bangers and mash aren't fish and chips"). Yes, not all Brits hate Yanks.

Acceptable but overlong war comedy with screenplay by prestigious Paddy Chayefsky and being based on a novel written by William Bradford . It deals with an American naval Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. Madison (the role was originally offered to William Holden, while James Garner was considered for the part of "Bus" Cummmings played by James Coburn) , he has a talent for living the good life in wartime that is challenged when he falls in love and is sent on a dangerous mission . Meanwhile , he falls in love with an enticing Brit widow (Julie Andrews' only movie in black and white). But when his Admiral (Melvyn Douglas) suffers a nervous breakdown , it leads to Charlie being sent on a senseless and risked mission dealing with a master plan to have American naval soldier first Normandy with predictable results .This cynical war comedy contains drama , humor , emotion and romance . Top-of the-range stellar cast who gives magnificent acting as James Garner who is splendid as a coward sponger who takes his life as smooth and risk-free as possible for himself ; Garner always says that this is his favorite of his movies and an attractive Julie Andrews who is frankly well . Very good support cast such as James Coburn as Lt. Cmdr. Paul 'Bus' Cummings , Edward Binns as Adm. Thomas , Keenan Wynn as Old Sailor , William Windom as Capt. Harry Spaulding and special mention to Melvyn Douglas as Adm. William Jessup . This ironic picture was financed by producer Martin Ransohoff who removed director William Wyler from the picture as Wyler wanted to change Paddy Chayefsky's script. It was a rare instance in which a producer supported a screenwriter over a director, particularly one of Wyler's caliber. As Chayefsky was known to have guarantees written into his contracts protecting his scripts, Ransohoff may have had no choice but to replace Wyler with Arthur Hiller . Nice production design and art direction from George W Davis and Hans Peters , though several war images have been taken from stock shots , some scenes of the D-Day landing scenes were filmed on Mandalay Beach in Oxnard, California . Atmospheric as well as evocative Original Music by Johnny Mandel . Excellent Cinematography in black and white by Philip H. Lathrop though also shown and available in horrible colorized version . The motion picture was well and professionally directed by Arthur Hiller . Arthur is a good craftsman who has directed all kind of genres as Romantic story : ¨Love story¨ , wartime : ¨Tobruk¨ , Drama : ¨Making love¨, ¨Author , Author¨ ; being his specialty comedy genre such as proved in ¨The out of towners¨, "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" , ¨Silver streak¨ , ¨Outrageous Fortune¨, or this ¨The Americanization of Emily¨ .

Americanization of Emily is not an anti-war or pacifist film. Its position is anti- glorification of war or heroism. Chayefsky himself was a war hero and awarded a Purple Heart. His position on war is stated clearly by the James Garner character in the amazing garden scene with Emily and her mother, who has been driven mad with grief over the loss of her husband, son-in-law, etc. in the war. Emily takes Charlie's cowardice and throws it back at him. The film was unavailable for years since the widow of the author of the book on which it is based held the copyright and would not release it for DVD. It is finally available for a new generation, and the ideas are still timely and valid. The theme song, Emily, is a jazz classic that has become better known than the film itself.