Seven Days in May

Seven Days in May
original film poster
Directed by	John Frankenheimer
Produced by	John Frankenheimer Edward Lewis
Written by	Novel: Fletcher Knebel Charles W. Bailey II Screenplay: Rod Serling
Starring	Burt Lancaster Kirk Douglas Fredric March Ava Gardner Edmond O'Brien
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Ellsworth Fredericks
Editing by	Ferris Webster
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (original release) Warner Bros. (current rights holders)
Release date(s)	February 12, 1964 (Washington, D.C. premiere)
Running time	118 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.2 million (est.)

Seven Days in May is an American political thriller novel written by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II and published in 1962. It was made into a motion picture and released in February 1964, with a screenplay by Rod Serling, directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner.

The story is said to have been influenced by the right-wing anti-Communist political activities of General Edwin A. Walker after he resigned from the military. An additional inspiration was provided by the 1961 interview by Knebel, who was also a political journalist and columnist, conducted with the newly-appointed Air Force Chief of Staff, Curtis LeMay, an advocate of preventive first-strike nuclear option.

President John F. Kennedy had read the novel and believed the scenario as described could actually occur in the United States. According to Frankenheimer in his director's commentary, production of the film received encouragement and assistance from Kennedy through White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, who conveyed to Frankenheimer Kennedy's wish that the film be produced and that, although the Pentagon did not want the film made, the President would conveniently arrange to visit Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House.

Plot

The story is set several years into the continued cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, not long after a stalemated conflict in Iran similar to the Korean War (the novel gives the date of May 1974, while the film only refers to an alignment of dates that would occur 1969, 1975, or 1980 and an electronic map of active military bases displaying the date of May 9, 1970). With the ever-present possibility of nuclear war and mutually assured destruction, U.S. President Jordan Lyman signs a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, with both nations simultaneously destroying their nuclear weapons under mutual international inspection. The ratification produces a wave of public dissatisfaction, especially among the President's opposition and the military, who believe the Soviets cannot be trusted.

As the debate rages, a Pentagon insider, United States Marine Corps Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey, becomes aware of a conspiracy among the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) led by his own superior officer, the charismatic Air Force General James Mattoon Scott. He uncovers a shocking secret: Scott and his JCS cohorts, along with allies in the United States Congress, led by Senator Frederick Prentice and influential media personality Harold McPherson, are plotting to stage a coup d'etat to remove President Lyman and his cabinet seven days hence. Under a procedure known as ECOMCON (Emergency COMmunications CONtrol), the nation's telephone, radio and television network infrastructure is to be seized by a secret United States Army combat unit secretly created by Scott and based near Fort Bliss, Texas. From their headquarters within a vast underground nuclear shelter called "Mount Thunder" (based on the actual continuity of government facility maintained by the U.S. at Mount Weather in Berryville, Virginia), the general will use the power of the media and the military to prevent the implementation of the treaty.

Although personally opposed to President Lyman's position, Casey is appalled by the unconstitutional cabal. He alerts Lyman and his inner circle: Secret Service Director Art Corwin, Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Todd, presidential adviser Paul Girard, and United States Senator Raymond Clark of Georgia, a political and personal ally of the president. Lyman sends Casey to New York City to ferret out secrets that can be used against Scott, which forces Casey to cruelly deceive the general's former mistress, the vulnerable Ellie Holbrook. He leaves in possession of letters between her and General Scott which would compromise his moral credibility with the public. The president also sends the aging, alcoholic Clark to El Paso, Texas to see if he can locate the base (covertly known as "Site Y"). Girard leaves for the Mediterranean to obtain a confession from Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell, the 6th Fleet commander stationed on the USS Kitty Hawk, who knows of the plot but decides not to actively support or oppose it (responding through a code involving the Preakness Stakes horse race). Girard gains the admiral's written confession, and telephones the President before boarding a plane from Madrid back to Washington.

Girard is killed when the passenger airliner he is on crashes into a mountain in Spain. Clark finds the secret base, but is taken captive by conspirator Colonel Broderick and held incommunicado. Clark is visited by the base's deputy commander, Colonel Mutt Henderson, a friend of Jiggs, and who knows nothing of the plot. The senator persuades Henderson to help him escape, but at the airport, while Clark makes a call to the president, Henderson is arrested by Scott's men.

A showdown with Scott is scheduled in the Oval Office. The president confronts him and demands his resignation "along with the other members of the Joint Chiefs involved with this treason." Scott initially denies any guilt, claiming that the president had verbally approved the secret base in Texas. When Scott fails to convince the president of his innocence, he begins to talk freely and launches into a debate with Lyman, arguing that approval of the treaty would weaken the U.S. and lead to an attack by the Soviets. Lyman tries to reason with Scott, explaining that a military coup would send a signal that could result in a preemptive strike by Moscow. Scott is unmoved, stating that he feels the American people are behind him and his position. Lyman considers using the blackmail letters, but decides against it. Scott is allowed to leave.

Shortly thereafter, Scott briefs the other three members of the JCS, who are close to panicking. He demands everyone stay in line, pointing out that the president does not seem to have the evidence he would need to bring charges of treason successfully. Somewhat reassured, the others agree to stick to the plan to appear on all television and radio networks simultaneously on Sunday to denounce the president. However, Lyman first holds a press conference where he demands the resignation of Scott and all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The conference is interrupted when an attaché from the U.S. Embassy in Spain arrives. He has brought the handwritten confession that Girard obtained from Vice Admiral Barnswell, which survived the crash in Girard's cigarette case. A copy is given to Scott and the other officers in on the plot, who have no choice but to resign and call off the coup. The ending has Lyman addressing the American people on the country's future.

Cast

• Burt Lancaster as General James Mattoon Scott
• Kirk Douglas as Colonel Jiggs Casey
• Fredric March as President Jordan Lyman
• Ava Gardner as Eleanor Holbrook
• Edmond O'Brien as Senator Ray Clark
• Martin Balsam as Presidential aide Paul Girard
• Andrew Duggan as Colonel Mutt Henderson
• Hugh Marlowe as Harold McPherson, TV commentator
• Whit Bissell as Senator Fred Prentice
• Helen Kleeb as Presidential secretary Esther Townsend
• George Macready as Secretary Chris Todd
• Richard Anderson as Colonel Ben Murdock
• Bart Burns as Art, head of the White House Secret Service

Unbilled speaking roles

• Malcolm Atterbury (Horace, president's physician: "Why, in God's name, do we elect a man president and then try to see how fast we can kill him?")
• Jack Mullaney ("All properly decoded in 4.0 fashion and respectfully submitted by yours truly, Lieutenant junior grade, Dorsey Grayson.")
• Charles Watts (Stu Dillard, Washington insider: "Oh, Senator, pardon me, come along, I want you to meet the wife of the Indian ambassador.")
• John Larkin (Colonel John Broderick: "Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite jarhead himself, Jiggs Casey.")
• Colette Jackson (Girl in Charlie's Bar, near secret base in Texas: "You wonder what the country's comin' to. All those boys sittin' up in the desert never seein' no girls. Why, they might as well be in stir.")
• John Houseman (Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell: "I'm sorry, sir. I can only recount to you the situation as it occurred. I signed no paper. He took nothing with him.")
• Rodolfo Hoyos (Captain Ortega, commander at airplane crash site in Spain: "There were only two American nationals on board — a Mrs. Agnes Buchanan from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a Mr. Paul Girard. His destination was Washington.")
• Fredd Wayne (Henry Whitney, official from American embassy in Spain: "You find any effects of the Americans? Anything at all?")
• Tyler McVey (General Hardesty: "Barney Rutkowski, Air Defense. He's screaming bloody murder about those twelve troop carriers dispatched to El Paso")
• Ferris Webster [editor of Seven Days in May] (General Barney Rutkowski: "There's some kind of a secret base out there, Mr. President, and I think I should have been notified of it.")

Cast members deleted from final print or unconfirmed

• Although he cannot be discerned in the final version of Seven Days in May, Victor Buono is indicated as having participated in the production.
• One-armed bit player Bill Raisch, who also appears in the listings of unbilled cast members, was cast at the time in the iconic, non-speaking, intermittent role of the killer in the TV series, The Fugitive.
• Minor supporting actor Leonard Nimoy, who gained stardom in 1966 as Star Trek's Mr. Spock, likewise appears among the unbilled actors listed as having been cast in this film.

Production

Kirk Douglas and director John Frankenheimer were the moving forces behind the filming of Seven Days in May; the film was produced through Douglas's Joel Productions. Douglas agreed to star in it, but he also wanted his frequent co-star Burt Lancaster to star in the film as well. This almost caused Frankenheimer to back out, since he and Lancaster had butted heads on The Birdman of Alcatraz several years before. Only Douglas's assurances that Lancaster would behave kept the director on the project. Ironically, Lancaster and Frankenheimer became close friends during the filming, while Douglas and the director had a falling out.

Some of the other actors had problems with Frankenheimer. Ava Gardner thought he favored the other actors over her, and Martin Balsam objected to his habit of shooting off pistols behind him during important scenes.

Interiors for Seven Days in May were shot at the Paramount studios in Hollywood, and on location in Paris, France, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Arizona and in California's Imperial Valley. In an early example of guerrilla filmmaking, Frankenheimer photographed Martin Balsam being ferried out to the now-decommissioned supercarrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63, redesignated CV-63 in the mid-1970s), berthed at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego without prior Defense Department permission. He also wanted a shot of Kirk Douglas entering the Pentagon, but could not get permission because of security considerations, so he rigged a movie camera in a parked station wagon to photograph Douglas walking up to the Pentagon. Douglas actually received salutes from military personnel inasmuch as he was wearing the uniform of a U.S. Marine Corps colonel.

Getting permission near the White House was easier. Frankenheimer said that Pierre Salinger conveyed to him President Kennedy's wish that the film be made, "these were the days of General Walker" and, though the Pentagon did not want the film made, the president would conveniently arrange to visit Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House. Kirk Douglas recalled President Kennedy approving of the making of the film.

Some efforts were made in the film to have the film appear to take place in the near future, for instance the use of the then-futuristic technology of video teleconferencing. The film also featured the then recently issued M16 rifle.

Deleted scene

According to Douglas, an alternate ending was shot, but discarded:

General Scott, the treacherous Burt Lancaster character, goes off in his sports car, and dies in a wreck. Was it an accident or suicide? Coming up out of the wreckage over the car radio is President Jordan Lyman's speech about the sanctity of the Constitution. Instead, the last time we see Burt is in his confrontation with me. He regards me as a traitor to him; I know he has been a traitor to the country. He says to me, "Do you know who Judas was?" I answer, "Yes. He's a man I used to work for and respect, until he disgraced the four stars on his uniform."

Reception

Seven Days in May premiered on 12 February 1964, appropriately in Washington, D.C. It opened to good critical notices and audience response.

The film was nominated for two 1965 Academy Awards, for Edmond O'Brien for "Best Actor in a Supporting Role", and for "Best Art Direction-Set Decoration/Black-and-White" for Cary Odell and Edward G. Boyle. In that year's Golden Globe Awards, O'Brien won for "Best Supporting Actor", while Frederic March, John Frankenheimer and composer Jerry Goldsmith received nominations.

Frankenheimer won a Danish Bodil Award for directing the "Best Non-European Film" and Rod Serling was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Written American Drama".

Remake

The film was remade in 1994 by HBO as The Enemy Within with Sam Waterston as "President William Foster", Jason Robards as "General R. Pendleton Lloyd", and Forest Whitaker as "Colonel MacKenzie 'Mac' Casey". This version followed many parts of the original plot closely, while updating it for the post-Cold War world, omitting certain incidents, and changing the ending.

See also

• Politics in fiction
• List of fictional revolutions and coups
• Twilight's Last Gleaming, 1977 film in which Burt Lancaster again plays a renegade member of the U.S. military who attempts to stage a coup
• A Very British Coup, 1988 3-episode miniseries, based on Chris Mullin's novel about an attempted right-wing overthrow of a left-wing British government

External links

• Seven Days in May at the Internet Movie Database
• Seven Days in May at the TCM Movie Database
• Seven Days in May at AllRovi