1941 (1979)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Robert Zemeckis (story) &
Bob Gale (story) ...

Release Date:

14 December 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Tagline:

A Comedy Spectacular!

Plot:

Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

Plot Keywords:

California | Pearl Harbor | Submarine | Captain | Military

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars.

Cast

Dan Aykroyd	...	Sgt. Frank Tree
Ned Beatty	...	Ward Douglas
John Belushi	...	Capt. Wild Bill Kelso
Lorraine Gary	...	Joan Douglas
Bobby Di Cicco	...	Wally Stephens
Murray Hamilton	...	Claude Crumn
Christopher Lee	...	Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt
Tim Matheson	...	Capt. Loomis Birkhead
Toshirô Mifune	...	Cmdr. Akiro Mitamura
Warren Oates	...	Col. 'Madman' Maddox
Robert Stack	...	Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell
Treat Williams	...	Cpl. Chuck 'Stretch' Sitarski
Nancy Allen	...	Donna Stratton
Lucille Benson	...	Gas Mama (Eloise) (as Lucille Bensen)
Jordan Brian	...	Macey Douglas

Also Known As:

The Night the Japs Attacked (USA) (working title)
1941 (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
1941 (France) [fr]
1941 (Finland) [fi]
1941 (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
1941 - Uma Guerra Muito Louca (Brazil) [pt]
1941 - Ursäkta, var är Hollywood? (Sweden) [sv]
1941 - Wo bitte geht's nach Hollywood (West Germany) [de]
1941 - Wo, bitte, geht's nach Hollywood? (Austria) [de]
1941 - anteeksi, missä on Hollywood? (Finland) [fi]
1941: allarme a Hollywood (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

118 min | USA:146 min (director's cut) | West Germany:111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese | German

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Brazil:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Iceland:L | Netherlands:AL | Norway:12 (original rating) | Norway:15 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #25726) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

This was regarded as such a failure in the US that when the advance teaser trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was made, it listed all of Steven Spielberg's previous films except this one.

Goofs:

Continuity: Betty's costume undergoes numerous changes from dirty to clean and clean to dirty, as well as completeness. When she and Wally first get into the dance, Wally pulls her blue jacket off her and wraps it around Cpl.Sitarsky's head. For the rest of the movie, she has the jacket back on. While Betty and Sitarsky are rolling around underneath the truck, her skirt is very dirty. The next time you see her, it still dirty, but not as dirty as it was in the previous scene. When Betty is shown at her house the morning after the attack by the Japanese sub, her entire outfit is completely clean.

Quotes:

Pvt. Ogden Johnson Jones: [laughing at Foley, who is covered in black powder] Hey, hey, hey, get to the back of the tank!
[laughs maniacally]

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

Down By The Ohio

Worth watching at least once.

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.