THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY

Kudos to my buddy Kelly Greene for recommending THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY (1964) to me. I remember when this film was released (I was nine years old at the time) and, due to the leads, James Garner and Julie Andrews, the title and the way the film was marketed, I naturally assumed that it was just another romantic comedy and of no interest to me at the time (or perhaps ever).

Boy, was I wrong.

I can only imagine how audiences at the time reacted to this deeply cynical anti-war film. Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay gets a little bit preachy at times but that's not enough to undercut this magnificent black comedy. Garner stars as Lt. Commander Charlie Madison, a "dog boss" for Rear Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas). A "dog boss", as explained in the film, is an aide who can get anything his commanding officer wants and needs: food, booze, clothes, and women. Especially women. Charlie, a self-avowed coward who froze in combat and pulled strings to get posted to his current assignment, is basically a pimp. He supplies his buddy Lt. Commander Paul Cummings (James Coburn), with a steady stream of beauties from the motor pool, English women assigned as drivers for various officers. Among the women is future LAUGH-IN star Judy Carnes.

Another driver in the pool is Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), a war widow who is desperate to find some meaning in the insanity of war even if means sleeping with a succession of men in order to be fulfilled. Emily and Charlie clash at first but eventually fall in love. Emily knows that Charlie is a shit heel but he's at least an honest shit heel, a man who knows exactly what he is and isn't afraid to admit it.

But things take a wild turn when Admiral Jessup (who is more than slightly mentally impaired), comes up with the wild idea that the first American to die on Omaha Beach on D-Day must be a Navy man. And what's more, his death must be filmed and documented so that the dead man can be used for propaganda purposes. It's a wild scheme and Charlie wants nothing to do with it, but through a series of plot turns, Charlie finds himself on his way to Omaha Beach and a rendezvous with destiny.

SPOILER: Charlie dies on the beach, making him the fabled first sailor to die on D-Day. He's turned into an international hero which shocks Jessup back to his senses while Emily is left to mourn yet another man taken from her by war. But Charlie isn't dead and when he returns to the base he's full of courage and ready to go public and reveal the truth about the whole scheme. Charlie is ready to risk it all before Emily reminds him of his innate cowardice and that it's the coward that she loves, not the fake hero.

EMILY features a great supporting cast including Keenan Wynn, Edward Binns, William Windom, Steve Franken, Alan Sues (another future LAUGH-IN star) and Sharon Tate (unbilled). Chayefsky's screenplay, based on a novel by William Bradford Hie, is first rate and director Arthur Hiller displays a sure hand moving the narrative from war time romantic comedy to a searing indictment of war and the men who wage it.

However, I do have a quibble with the last act. We see Charlie "die" on the beach and he's immediately proclaimed a dead hero. Didn't anyone bother to check his body to see if he was really dead or not? After all, for Jessup's insane scheme to succeed, didn't the kill need to be confirmed?

All that aside, THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY is a first rate film with Garner and Andrews both delivering outstanding performances, among the best in their respective careers. It's nothing like I expected it would be from all those years ago and it was a pleasant surprise to discover this brilliant gem of a film.

Highly recommended.