1941

With all the stars in this movie, it's bound to be full of laughs. In one of the greatest comedies ever made (in my mind), a group of American Army soldiers, a lunatic pilot (Belusi), and local citizens take on each other and a submarine full of incompetent Japanese sailors with victory in their eyes. With an unbelievable collection of actors, and probably a film that Spielberg would like to forget he made, 1941 ranks up there with Caddyshack and other classic comedies.

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.

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.

Steven Speilberg once asked a friend of mine, "Why didn't anyone like this movie?" Well, I think that I can answer that - "1941" is a gigantic in-joke. The people who are in on the joke are people who, like myself, have an oversized love and knowledge of the city of Los Angeles and it's history. I think that in the vast, world-wide movie-going public, this group probably comprises 1%. For that group, "1941" has a wonderful nostalgia value. And for the people in that 1% that have a twisted sense of humor and enjoy seeing nostalgic L.A. blown to bits, this movie really delivers. By the way, the folks with that twisted sense of humor probably account for about 1% of the original 1%.

I don't know why, but having grown up in L.A. and being an aficionado of it's history, I find it funny to see planes in a dogfight over Hollywood Blvd, the ferris wheel rolling off the end of Santa Monica Pier, and aircraft crashing into the La Brea Tarpits. But for non-locals and people unfamiliar with the paranoia that gripped Southern California in the wake of Pearl Harbor, this movie will likely seem confusing and silly. To the history buff with a twisted sense of humor (like me, proud member of the 1% of the 1%), the movie is not only amusing, but sometimes surprisingly accurate, historically. Robert Stack plays General Joseph Stillwell - a very real historical figure in L.A. history. Stack even bears a striking resemblance to the real General Stillwell. The whole movie is based upon a few real-life incidents of panicky anti-aircraft fire that occurred over L.A. in 1941/1942, as well as a Japanese sub that actually shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara. Like "Chinatown" (a film mistakenly thought to be an accurate account of L.A. water politics in the 1930s), "1941" borrows from real-life history and distorts it into pure fabrication. The difference is that while "Chinatown" is a noir drama, "1941" is an over-the-top comedy. Both films appeal to the historian, but as it is often said, comedy is much harder to pull off than drama. You either love "1941", or sit though it, saying, "huh?".

Any movie that features the following....:

1. The Geek from "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" torturing The Mayor from "Jaws" 2. A bunch of Japanese soldiers disguised as walking Christmas Trees 3. A hilarious USO dance sequence that boils over into an inter-service street fight 4. the film debut of Mickey Rourke and the big film debut of John Candy

and last but not least

5. Tough guy Robert Stack crying and singing along to songs from the Disney classic "Dumbo".....

CANNOT BE ALL BAD!!!!!