Editing John Frankenheimer (section)

===''Seven Days in May'' (1964)===

{{quote box|width=30em|bgcolor=cornsilk|fontsize=100%|salign=center|quote=“Television screens, glimpsed throughout ''Seven Days in May'', are one of the most recognisable Frankenheimer trademarks...Frankenheimer became the first filmmaker to acknowledge television's roles in modern society as an intrusion upon privacy and as a tool by which the powerful manipulate others.”—Film critic Stephen Bowie in ''John Frankenheimer'' Senses of Cinema (2006)<ref name="Bowie, 2006">Bowie, 2006</ref>}}

''[[Seven Days in May]]'' (1964), based closely on [[Fletcher Knebel]] and [[Charles W. Bailey II]]'s [[Seven Days in May (novel)|best-selling novel]] and a screenplay by [[Rod Serling]], dramatizes an attempted military coup d’état in the United States, set in 1974.<ref>Safford, 2007 TCM: “political conspiracy thriller...based on the popular novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II.”</ref> The perpetrators are led by General James M. Scott ([[Burt Lancaster]]), chairman of the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] (JCS)  a virulently anti-Communist authoritarian. When US President Jordan Lyman ([[Fredric March]]) negotiates a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union—an act that Scott considers treasonable—Scott mobilizes his military cabal. Operating at a remote base in [[West Texas]], they prepare to commandeer the nation's communication networks and seize control of Congress. When Scott's JCS aide Colonel Martin “Jiggs” Casey ([[Kirk Douglas]]) discovers the planned coup he is appalled, and convinces President Lyman as to the gravity of the threat. Lyman mobilizes his own governmental loyalists, and a clash over Constitutional principles between Lyman and Scott plays out in the Oval Office, with the President denouncing the General as a traitor to the US Constitution. When Scott is exposed publicly, his military supporters abandon him, and the conspiracy collapses.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 104<br>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “To a certain and important extent, the encounter between Lyman and Scott does concretize and concentrate artistically a pivotal social collision, an obligation of enduring drama.”</ref> Frankenheimer points to the topical continuity of his political thrillers:<ref>Higham, 1973 p. 295: In The Manchurian Candidate “the inspiration for the revolt lay in Russia; in ''Seven Days in May'', the seeds of destruction are seen to lie in the American military system itself.”</ref>

{{blockquote | “Seven Days in May was as important to me as ''The Manchurian Candidate''. I felt that the voice of the military was much too strong...the [[General MacArthur]] syndrome was very much in evidence...''Seven Days in May'' was the opportunity to illustrate what a tremendous force the [[military-industrial complex]] is...we did not ask the Pentagon for co-operation because we knew we wouldn't get it.”<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 113</ref>}}

The character of General Scott has been identified by film historians as a composite of two leading military and political figures: [[Curtis LeMay]] and [[Edwin Walker]].<ref>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “Scott is generally taken to be a fictional version or composite of...Curtis LeMay, appointed by Kennedy to be Air Force Chief of Staff, and Edwin Walker…”<br>Pratley, 1969 p. 108: “The war-like pronouncements of many American military men place this film right on the line between fantasy and fact; it would take only the slightest push to move it over into truth.”<br>Higham, 1973 p. 295: “...expertly tackles a political theme...Once again Frankenheimer deals with an attempt to obtain supreme power by a fascist clique.”<br>Safford, 2007 TCM: “...a chilling scenario of the dangers of misplaced power in the military-industrial complex... it remains a hot topic today.”</ref> The film places great emphasis on the sanctity of US Constitutional norms as a bulwark against encroachments by anti-democratic elements in the United States.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 108: “...it plausibly and intelligently projects a warning that this could happen in the near future, and we should be on our guard.”</ref> Biographer Gerald Pratley writes:

{{blockquote| “An aspect to admire is Frankenheimer's use of speeches given by President Lyman. Scoffed by some critics as [reflecting] ‘respectable, liberal lines’, they are delivered by March with complete naturalism at times where they are logically called for, and with great honesty and conviction. They restate familiar [Constitutional] principles...Frankenheimer handles them pointedly but never in a propagandistic way…”<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 107-108</ref>}}

Film critic Joanne Laurier adds that “screenwriter Rod Serling and Frankenheimer's major theme is the need for the military to be subordinated to elected civilian rule.” As visual emphasis “the opening credits of ''Seven Days in May'' roll over an image of the original 1787 draft of the [[Constitution of the United States]].<ref name="Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS">Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS</ref>

''Seven Days in May'' has been widely praised for the high caliber of the performances by the cast.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 107: “There are splendid performances from the entire cast...”</ref> Biographer [[Charles Higham (biographer)|Charles Higham]] writes that “the film is played with extraordinary skill, proving that Frankenheimer's intensity communicated itself successfully to his actors.”<ref>Higham, 1973 p. 295:<br>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “Douglas, Lancaster and March clearly threw themselves into the production. They are thoroughly believable as these human beings.”</ref>

Frankenheimer, a former Air Force officer who worked briefly in the Pentagon,<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 18, p. 114: Frankenheimer: “...it gave me a sense of satisfaction to make a picture about a place I worked as a mail boy.”</ref> anticipated hostility from the military establishment to the premise of ''Seven Days in May''.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 114: Frankenheimer: “...I'm sure the Pentagon weren't happy when they heard we were going to make it…”<br>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “...Seven Days in May angered the Pentagon, the FBI and the extreme right.”<br>Safford, 2007 TCM: “the filmmakers knew it was futile to ask any Pentagon officials if they could shoot any sequences at their headquarters.”</ref> Indeed, internal memos circulated in the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) registering alarm that ''Seven Days in May'' could potentially damage the bureau's reputation.<ref>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “A March 20, 1964 memo details communications between retired Admiral [[Arleigh Burke]] and Assistant Director [[William C. Sullivan|William Sullivan]] of the FBI in regard to the film and its potential damage.</ref> Film critics Joanne Laurier and David Walsh report that “The military and FBI took a very definite note of Seven Days in May, revealing their intense sensitivity to such criticism. A memo uncovered in [[Ronald Reagan]]'s FBI file reveals that the bureau was concerned the film would be used as Communist propaganda and was therefore ‘harmful to our Armed Forces and Nation.’”<ref name="ReferenceA">Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS:</ref> President Kennedy personally expressed approval for the film adaption, and his Press Secretary [[Pierre Salinger]] permitted Frankenheimer to view the [[Oval Office]] so as to sketch its interior.<ref>Pratley, 1969 p. 114: “President Kennedy indirectly...said he very much wanted the film made.”</ref><ref name="Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS"/>

''Seven Days in May'', filmed in the summer of 1963, was scheduled for release in December that year, but was delayed due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November. The release of director [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s satire [[Dr. Strangelove]] (1964) was similarly postponed.<ref>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “...theatrical release scheduled for December. That release was held up by the murder of Kennedy in Dallas on November 22. (The appearance of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove in theaters was delayed for the same reason.)”</ref>
Frankenheimer recognized the “prophetic” aspects of his ''The Manchurian Candidate'' (1962), a film that examines conspiratorial political assassinations.<ref name="Pratley, 1969 p. 98"/> The historical context in which ''Seven Days in May'' appeared inevitably links it to the 1963 Kennedy assassination.<ref>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: The painful irony is that the real-life models for the fanatical right-wing elements in the military and intelligence apparatus fictionalized...in Frankenheimer's film were no doubt linked to the cabal that carried out the [Kennedy] assassination.”</ref> Film critic David Walsh makes the connection explicit: “By the time ''Seven Days in May'' reached movie theaters, Kennedy had been assassinated, in an operation widely believed to have been organized by those with CIA or military connections.”<ref>Walsh, 2002 WSWS:</ref>

''Seven Days in May'' was well received by critics and movie-goers.<ref>Safford, 2007 TCM: “When Seven Days in May opened theatrically, it fared well with critics and audiences alike…”<br>Laurier and Walsh, 2020 WSWS: “Received warmly by both critics and audiences...On the whole, ''Seven Days in May'' stands up, 56 years later.”<br>Higham, 1973 p. 295: “Frankenheimer's great virtues - his sense of realism, attack, pacing, and electrifying creative energy” were evident in ''Seven Days in May''.</ref>