The Americanization of Emily

The Americanization of Emily
Directed by	Arthur Hiller Al Shenberg (A'sst)
Written by	William Bradford Huie (novel) Paddy Chayefsky (screenplay)
Produced by	Martin Ransohoff
Starring	James Garner Julie Andrews Melvyn Douglas James Coburn
Cinematography	Philip H. Lathrop Christopher Challis
Edited by	Tom McAdoo
Music by	Johnny Mandel
Distributed by	MGM
Release dates	October 27, 1964
Running time	115 min.
Language	English

The Americanization of Emily is a 1964 American motion picture drama/comedy by Paddy Chayefsky, loosely adapted for the screen from the novel by William Bradford Huie. Set during World War II in 1944 in London during the weeks leading up to D-Day, it was filmed in black-and-white, starred James Garner and Julie Andrews, and was directed by Arthur Hiller. This is Garner's favorite among his films.

Plot

Lieutenant Commander Charles Madison (James Garner) is a "dog-robber" - the conniving personal assistant to American Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas). His job is to keep his boss and other high ranking officers well supplied with luxuries and willing English women.

Jessup cracks up and begins worrying about the imminent D-Day invasion, but not for the usual reasons. He is afraid that the Navy will be overshadowed by the Army, so he comes up with the idea to film the Omaha Beach landing and show that the first American casualty is a sailor.

Meanwhile, Madison falls in love with his assigned driver, war widow Emily Barham (Julie Andrews). She has lost her husband, brother and father in the war, so she finds the self-admitted coward irresistible.

Despite his best efforts, Madison and his unexpectedly gung-ho friend, Lieutenant Commander 'Bus' Cummings (James Coburn) find themselves and a film crew with the combat engineers hitting the beach in the first wave. When he tries to retreat back to safety, Madison is chased forward by a disgusted Cummings brandishing a pistol. Madison is killed by a German shell, making him the first American killed on Omaha Beach, all while being filmed by a cameraman. The photograph of Madison rushing up the beach amid exploding artillery shells is then plastered across hundreds of newspapers and Look magazine.

emily is hottttttt man =]]

The reactions of his friends is mixed. Jessup, recovered after a stay in the hospital, sincerely regrets his part in Madison's demise, but is ready to use it in support of the Navy before a Senate committee in Washington. Emily is devastated, but pulls herself together.

Then they get unexpected news: Madison isn't dead; he was only knocked out. Ironically, the only wound he received was from Cummings' pistol. Madison is so furious that he threatens to tell the reporters the unvarnished truth, but Emily convinces him otherwise.

Cast

• James Garner as Lieutenant Commander Charles E. Madison
• Julie Andrews as Emily Barham
• Melvyn Douglas as Admiral William Jessup
• James Coburn as Lieutenant Commander 'Bus' Cummings
• Joyce Grenfell as Mrs. Barham
• Edward Binns as Admiral Thomas Healy
• Liz Fraser as Sheila
• Keenan Wynn as Old Sailor
• William Windom as Captain Harry Spaulding
• John Crawford as Chief Petty Officer Paul Adams

Sharon Tate had an uncredited role as Beautiful girl.

Award nominations

• Academy Award for Best Art Direction - (George W. Davis, Hans Peters, Elliot Scott, Henry Grace, Robert R. Benton)
• Academy Award for Best Cinematography – (Philip H. Lathrop)
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress – (Julie Andrews)

Comparison with Huie's novel

The movie is based on William Bradford Huie's 1959 book of the same name.

The New York Times ran a brief news item mention of William Bradford Huie's novel prior to its publication, but never reviewed the novel, although in 1963 Paddy Chayefsky's development of the novel into a screenplay was found worthy of note.

Chayefsky's adaptation, while retaining the title, characters, situation, background and many specific plot incidents, nevertheless told a very different story. "I found the book, which is serious in tone, essentially a funny satire, and that's how I'm treating it."

The screenplay's theme of cowardice as a virtue has no parallel in the novel; in fact, the novel does not mention cowardice at all.

Book jacket, William Bradford Huie, "The Americanization of Emily" (1959)

The screenplay never really explains what is meant by the term "Americanization." The novel uses "Americanized" to refer to a woman who accepts, as a normal condition of wartime, the exchange of her sexual favors for gifts of rare wartime commodities. Thus, in reply to the question "has Pat been Americanized," a character answers:

"Thoroughly. She carries a diaphragm in her kitbag. She has seen the ceilings of half the rooms in the Dorchester [hotel]. She asks that it be after dinner: she doesn't like it on an empty stomach. She admits she's better after steak than after fish. She requires that it be in a bed, and that the bed be in Claridge's, the Savoy, or the Dorchester."

This theme runs throughout the novel. Another character says "We operate just like a whorehouse... except we don't sell it for cash. We swap it for Camels and nylons and steak and eggs and lipstick... this dress... came from Saks Fifth Avenue in the diplomatic pouch." Emily asks Jimmy "am I behaving like a whore?" Jimmy's reply is: "Whoring is a peacetime activity."

The screenplay uses Hershey bars to symbolize the luxuries enjoyed by Americans and their "Americanized' companions; the novel uses strawberries rather than chocolate bars, in a parallel way. In his first dinner with Emily, he orders the waiter to bring strawberries. "She protested that they were too forbidden, too expensive." Jimmy convinces her to accept them by arguing that "If you don't eat them, they'll be eaten by one of these expense-account correspondents." Later, she asks Jimmy, "If I fall in love with you, how can I know whether I love you for yourself or for the strawberries?"

The novel briefly mentions that Emily's mother, Mrs. Barham, has been mentally affected by wartime stress, but she is not a major character. There is no mention of her self-deception or pretense that her husband and son are still alive. The movie contains a long scene between Charlie and Mrs. Barham, full of eloquent antiwar rhetoric, in which Charlie breaks down Mrs. Barham's denial and reduces her to tears while nevertheless insisting that he has performed an act of kindness. The novel has no parallel to this scene.

In the movie, Charlie is comically unprepared to make the documentary movie demanded by Admiral Jessup, and is assisted only a bumbling and drunken serviceman played by Keenan Wynn. In the book, Charlie has, in fact, been a PR professional in civilian life, takes the assignment seriously, and leads a team of competent cinematographers.

External links

• The Americanization of Emily at IMDb
• James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show
• James Garner interview at Archive of American Television