1941 (1979)

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:

Christmas Tree | Year In Title | Sidecar | 1941 | Motorcycle

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 - anteeksi, missä on Hollywood? (Finland) [fi]
1941: allarme a Hollywood (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

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

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:Livre | 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:

Major stars such has Charlton Heston and John Wayne turned down the role of Maj. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell. Wayne phoned director Steven Spielberg, who had given him the script, and not only turned it down due to ill health, but tried to get Spielberg to drop the project. Wayne felt it was unpatriotic and a slap in the face to WWII vets. Heston is thought to have turned it down for the same reasons. The role was taken by Robert Stack who, once in costume and make-up, actually bore a striking resemblance to the real General Stilwell.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Kelso fires his machine guns while on the ground, the canopy on his plane is open, then closed, then we see him close it again.

Quotes:

Captain Loomis Birkhead: [Donna has his uniform open and is trying to tear off his T-shirt; he is *still* too focused on actually flying the plane] Donna - Donna would you lay off? I'm trying to steer!
Donna Stratton: [upset and frustrated] What's wrong, Loomis? You're not airborne yet!
Captain Loomis Birkhead: What are you talking about? Look out the window, of course we're airborne!
Donna Stratton: We are, but -
[looks down at his pants then straight in the eye]
Donna Stratton: but you're not.
[kisses him passionately]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Soundtrack:

Swing, Swing, Swing

It's gonna be a long war....

You can't have lofty aspirations all the time.

Even the director of such powerful films as "Jaws", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "ET" and "Schindler's List" has to take a break from all the serious issues in his films and play dumb at least once.

Just look at "1941".

With a plotline straight out of The Three Stooges and special effects befitting a WWII epic, "1941" abandons all pretense by parodying the opening of "Jaws" right off the bat and hitting every slapstick point from there on in. Spielberg knew that even if this turned out be a flop, it would be a good-natured one.

Just look at this cast! Not only are Aykroyd and Belushi at the helm, but there's talent like Matheson, Allen, Oates, Williams, Beatty, Gary (Roy Scheider's wife from the "Jaws" films), Candy, Flaherty, Stack (in his first comedic turn before "Airplane!"), Lee, Pickens, Deezen (a comic genius if ever there was one), Sperber and a whole herd of other I probably missed. All of them in the midst of the hugest battlefield of comic carnage ever seen.

And no wonder. "1941" was co-written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, Spielberg protogees who went on to further success with the "Back to the Future" films, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "Used Cars", (all with climaxes as wild as the entire running time of "1941") and the vastly under-appreciated "Death Becomes Her". Even John Milius (director/co-writer of "Conan the Barbarian") lends his pen hand.

In the end, you'll be dazzled, breathless, stunned and amazed, but by no means bored. And, with any luck, amused.

"1941" - it was a very good year.

Nine stars. And don't worry: it's all for the good of the war effort.