1941

I have a sneaking suspicion that Steven Spielberg must have seen and loved It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World as a sixteen year old kid and resolved that if he became as big a movie name as Stanley Kramer he'd do a film just like it. In 1979 Spielberg succeeded admirably creating a chaotic classic about a very serious time.

I doubt we're ever going to be ready for decades for a film like this about the days following the Twin Towers. Those were pretty scary days, especially on the Pacific coast where our fleet with the remarkable exception of the carriers was at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and who really knew where and how many the Japanese were following the attack in Hawaii.

It should give you cold chills to think that if it was more than Toshiro Mifune lost submarine with German observer Christopher Lee on it that they would have been met with what we see in 1941. At the time our home defense on the Pacific Coast was commanded by Major General Joseph L. Stillwell known to all as Vinegar Joe. But he could be moved as we see as he takes in a screening of Dumbo which did come out around that time.

Like It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World the cast it populated with some of the great comedians and comic players of the time. At some point or other they all intersect in their comic defense of California under attack from the Japanese as surely as the world was under attack from Orson Welles's broadcast of War Of The Worlds.

There are a lot of memorable performances where some serious players got to show a comic side and really get unrestrained. One example would be crazy National Guard colonel Warren Oates meeting up with equally crazy would be air ace John Belushi. Slim Pickens saves California by his Faux constipation, he really goes unrestrained. Tim Matheson as Stilwell's aide is as horny as he was in Animal House as he maps out a campaign to nail aviation buff Nancy Allen and winds up midair in a plane he knows not how to fly.

Robert Stack plays Vinegar Joe Stilwell the only true character in 1941 and he plays it straight as a string. If he survived this bunch of lunatics, how come he couldn't get Chiang Kai-Shek off his duff and fight those Japanese who were really invading his country? Maybe duty in the Far East was a welcome relief for Stilwell, but not for long.

Be eternally grateful that this was NOT the way it was in 1941 and sit back and enjoy.

There comes a time in every new filmmaker's career when a few initial successes makes them feel invulnerable and leads them to believe that they can do anything and get away with it, only for their hubris to be mercilessly destroyed when their next project turns out to be an absolute disaster.

1941 is an end product of Steven Spielberg's hubris that presents the now revered filmmaker tackling the genre of comedy after finding astonishing success with Jaws & Close Encounters, but this time he spectacularly fails at it. Arguably the worst film of his career, 1941 is nothing less than an eyesore.

Set during the Second World War, the story of 1941 follows the hysteria that grips the Californians in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbour. As paranoia sets in & chaos erupts all over the state, civilians & soldiers prepare for the Japanese invasion, while a lost Japanese submarine sends its crew to scout out the madness.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1941 finds the director trying way too hard in an effort to make the audience laugh but he only ends up making a mess of everything in the process. It appears as if Spielberg simply wanted to blow everything up and had his wish fulfilled with this big budget, big cast comedy that isn't even remotely funny.

The film is an exaggeration of everything. All the set pieces are either destroyed or blown up by the end. People keep falling here n there throughout the movie. All the characters are hyperactive. Performances are equally crazy, and not in a good way. Still, its energetic camerawork, extravagant special effects & John Williams' score is a plus.

On an overall scale, 1941 is a poorly conceived, awfully written & terribly executed example of blockbuster filmmaking and is a rare failure from a filmmaker who would later go on to become one of the greatest storytellers of all time. In retrospect, it's a bitter medicine that Spielberg needed, for 1941 didn't just knock some sense back into him and sober him up but also made him savour his future successes and not take his reputation for granted. A necessary dud.

Why is it, in our society, that a movie's success is rated on monetary value?As with "Always", another Spielberg flop, I love "1941".It's a shame when a movie's success can be judged on box office revenue only.It's a great deal of fun, and it's what movies should be about, a chance to laugh,to smile, and if done correctly, a chance to leave our lives for a couple of hours."1941" may not be at the top of all time movie favorites, they're saving that space for the BIG money makers,But it belongs at top of true movie lovers lists everywhere!And to Stash,It's seems that "Close Encounters of a Third Kind"was another Spielberg Film, before "1941", that some might consider as BIG!

i can't believe some of the comments on this movie. did someone really think this was supposed to be an accurate portrayal of wwii california? IT'S A COMEDY! and a good one. i agree that the christmas tree scene shouldn't have been cut, but then again maybe spielberg didn't want to undermine the gritty realism that some reviewers were looking for. p.s. - by far it's mickey rourke's best role.

1941 is a unique movie. 1 part of it is animal house-esque lowbrow humor, 1 part is B-movie love story, and 1 part stoic war movie, and 2 parts insane hilarity.

It is a weird mix to say the least.

First, the problems: 1. The first half of the movie is slow. It grinds on making you wonder why you're watching this movie.

2. The "Love story" subplot is poorly executed for what this movie is trying to do.

3. many of the actors are not used to their fullest potential (especially Dan Akroyd and John Candy) while others receive excessive screen time. (see: The slow moving love story sub-plot) But then there are the good aspects: 1. John Belushi is hilarious. He would have been funnier had he interacted with more characters rather than appearing in many solo shots, but he was funny.

2. The "Epic Battle" was great. It had me laughing as my sides hurt.

3. Slim Pickens: His appearance in the movie was truly where the movie stopped being slow, and the fun really started. He was great in his scenes and between the dialogue and his visual scenes, you can't help but laugh.

There's more, but in short, if you don't mind sitting through a slow build up, the payoff is worth the wait.

It's not the best movie ever, but in the barren entertainment landscape that is Weekend Television: Finding this movie can be like an oasis in the desert. It's solid Saturday afternoon fun.