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1941 (film)
Encyclopedia
1941 is a 1979 period
comedy film
directed by Steven Spielberg
, written by Robert Zemeckis
and Bob Gale
, and featuring an ensemble cast
including John Belushi
, Ned Beatty
, John Candy
, Toshiro Mifune
, Christopher Lee
and Dan Aykroyd
. The film is about a panic in the Los Angeles
area after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
.
Although not as financially or critically successful as many of Spielberg's other films, it received belated widespread popularity after an expanded version aired on ABC, and its subsequent successful home video reissues, raising it to cult status
.
Co-writer Gale stated the plot is loosely based on what has come to be known as the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942
as well as the shelling of the Ellwood oil refinery
, near Santa Barbara
by a Japanese submarine. Many other events in the film were based on real incidents, including the Zoot Suit Riots
and an incident in which the U.S. Army placed an anti-aircraft gun in a homeowner's yard on the Maine coast.
goes swimming alone and naked only to find a Japanese submarine
surfacing beneath her. The submarine crew realizes they have arrived where they intended to be, Hollywood, and the vessel submerges while the woman swims to safety.
Later that morning, dishwasher Wally Stephens is planning to enter a dance contest with Betty Douglas, against the wishes of her father Ward. A tank crew commanded by Motor Sergeant Frank Tree, U.S. Army, 10th Armored Division, and consisting of Privates Foley, Reese and Henshaw, and Corporal Charles ("Chuck") Sitarski, are at the restaurant where Wally works. The trouble-making, egg-hating Sitarski dislikes Wally almost immediately, and trips the youngster up. A fight ensues, leading Wally to lose his job. About half an hour later, Wally takes his friend Dennis shopping to pick up some zoot suit
s and steals a suit.
Death Valley, California, high noon: deranged Army Air Corps
Captain Wild Bill Kelso lands his Curtiss P-40
fighter near a grocery store and gas station; while refueling, Kelso accidentally blows up the gasoline station.
In Los Angeles
, Major General Joseph W. Stilwell, Commander of the U.S. Army's III Corps, attempts to bring order, but Colonel "Mad Man" Maddox, the General's new secretary Donna Stratten and the General's assistant Captain Loomis Birkhead have other ideas. At one of Stilwell's press conferences at Daugherty Field in Long Beach
, the woman-chasing Birkhead is attracted to Donna, who he knows is sexually aroused when in an airborne aircraft. He lures her into a bomber to seduce her but she knocks him out. Birkhead lands on the bomb release control and sends a bomb rolling towards Stilwell's podium as the General is promising that "there will be no bombs dropped here." The bomb explodes, though Stilwell escapes.
That afternoon, at the Douglas family home in Santa Monica
, Wally is told by Betty and her friend Maxine, both USO hostesses, that he will be forbidden to enter the USO dance to be held that night because he is not a serviceman. Wally is forced to hide in the Douglas family's garage loft when Ward shows up. Soon after, Tree and his tank crew arrive to deliver an anti-aircraft defense battery; Corporal Sitarski spots Betty and is attracted to her. He is just about to ask whether Betty will go to the dance with him when Wally falls from the loft. Ward and Sitarski dump him into a garbage truck.
The Japanese submarine becomes lost trying to find Los Angeles
when the ship's compass is broken. A landing party captures a timber merchant, Hollis "Holly" Wood who will only give up his name, occupation and social security number (106432185) on board the sub. They see he has a small Cracker Jack
compass that he swallows, in a fit of patriotic pica
. Wood escapes, hoping to find the authorities.
Hollywood Boulevard
, 7:35 p.m.: Stilwell goes to see Dumbo
. By 9:05 p.m., Birkhead and Donna are headed toward the 501st Bomb Disbursement Unit at Barstow, where Maddox shows them the unit's dilapidated aircraft. Maddox, convinced the Japanese are sending parachutists into the hills near Pomona, lets Birkhead and Donna borrow his aircraft, assuming they are going on reconnaissance.
Back outside the USO dance-hall, Betty is greeted by both Sitarski and Wally. Sitarski kicks Wally in the groin and drags Betty into the dance as his unwilling date. Maxine has fallen in love with Sitarski and tags along. Wally sneaks in with a stolen Shore Patrol
uniform, steals Betty away and they win the dance contest whilst evading Sitarski, who is pursued by Maxine. Sitarski, in khaki, punches Wally, in blues, inciting an inter-service brawl. Tree arrives with his team to stop the riot just as Los Angeles goes to Red Alert with an unknown aircraft in the air, piloted by Birkhead and Donna. At the Douglas' home, Ward spots the submarine. As Birkhead and Donna fly over Los Angeles in the back of their aircraft, Army anti-aircraft batteries open fire. Kelso joins the fight and, after shooting Birkhead's aircraft into the La Brea Tar Pits
, sees the submarine, only to be shot down by two United States snipers who mistake his plane for a Japanese fighter.
Sitarski drags Betty underneath a tank to rape her. Wally rescues Betty and knocks Sitarski out. They discover Kelso, who informs them about the sub. Wearing an army uniform, Wally commandeers Tree's tank and heads toward Pacific Ocean Amusement Park for a rendezvous with the sub. Ward begins firing at the submarine, destroying his house in the process. The submarine returns fire, hitting the ferris wheel
, which careens into the ocean. The tank sinks when the pier collapses. Kelso drives his motorbike into the ocean and swims to the submarine, where he is captured by the Japanese, who, believing their mission accomplished, return home.
Sunday morning, December 14, 1941: Stilwell arrives at the Douglas home where Ward is hanging a Christmas wreath, only to accidentally push what remains of his home into the ocean. With all the characters in front of the foundations of the destroyed home, Tree predicts to Stilwell that 1942 will be "the 'really big' year of the war." The General simply mutters: "It's gonna be a 'long' war."
, Kubrick
suggested that 1941 should have been marketed as a drama rather than a comedy. The chaos of the events following Pearl Harbor attack in 1941
is summarized by Dan Aykroyd's character, Sgt. Tree, who states "he cannot stand Americans fighting Americans."
1941 is also notable as one of the few American films featuring Toshirō Mifune
, a popular Japanese
actor. It is also the only American film in which Mifune used his own voice in speaking Japanese and English. In his previous movies, Mifune's lines were dubbed by Paul Frees
.
Susan Backlinie
reprised her role as the first victim in Spielberg's Jaws
by playing the young woman seen at the beginning of the film. Inadvertent comedic effects ensued when John Belushi in character as Captain Wild Bill Kelso slipped off the wing of his aircraft after being lifted by two soldiers. It was a real accident and was left in the movie as it fit his eccentric character. During the USO riot scene, when the naked MP is tossed into the window of the restaurant from the fire truck, John Belushi plays the patron eating spaghetti. He is in makeup to look like Marlon Brando
in The Godfather
, which he famously parodied on the sketch comedy TV series Saturday Night Live
. Belushi told Spielberg he wanted to appear in another part of the movie and the idea struck Spielberg as very humorous. At the beginning of the USO riot scene, one of the "extras" dressed as sailors, is actor James Caan; the film also featured the acting debut of Mickey Rourke
as Private First Class Reese of Sgt. Tree's tank group.
The M3 tank Lulu Belle (named after a race horse) and fashioned from a mocked-up tractor, paid homage to its forebear in Humphrey Bogart's 1943 movie Sahara
where an authentic M3 named Lulubelle was prominently featured.
Renowned modelmaker Greg Jein worked on the film, and would later use the hull number "NCC-1941" for the starship USS Bozeman in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
.
1941 is dedicated to the memory of Charlotte "Charlsie" Bryant, a longtime script supervisor at Universal Studios. She had served in that capacity on both Jaws and Close Encounters, and would have reprised those duties with this film had she not unexpectedly passed away.
There was a scene shot for the end of the film, in which Slim Pickens's Hollis Wood character caught Christopher Lee's Nazi officer. A still from this scene appeared in the September 1990 issue of Starlog magazine. Lee said: At the end of 1941, I'm the first Nazi captured in the US by Slim Pickens.
. The titular march is used throughout the film and is perhaps the most memorable piece written for it. (Spielberg has said it is his favorite Williams march.) The score also includes swing composition titled "Swing, Swing, Swing" composed by John Williams. In addition, the score includes a sound-alike version of Glenn Miller
's "In the Mood
," the soundtrack uses two songs by The Andrews Sisters
, "Daddy" and "Down by the Ohio," and the Irish song "The Rakes of Mallow
" is used during the ballroom fight. The following tracks were released on the initial Arista Records
LP (and later issued on CD by Varese Sarabande Records):
The LaserDisc and DVD versions of the film have isolated music channels with additional cues not heard on the first soundtrack album.
In 2011, La-La Land Records
, in conjunction with Sony Music and NBCUniversal, issued an expanded 2-CD soundtrack of the complete John Williams score as recorded for the film, plus never-before-heard alternate cues, source music, and a remastered version of the original album. Disc One, containing the film score, presents the music as Williams originally conceived based on early cuts of the movie.
and Universal Studios
, who both had a major financial investment in the film, felt the film was too long to be a blockbuster
. The initial theatrical release was edited down to just under two hours, against Spielberg's wishes. After the success of his 1980 "Special Edition" of Close Encounters of the Third Kind
, Spielberg was given permission to create his own "extended cut" of 1941 to represent his original director's cut
. This was done for network television
(it was only shown on ABC
one time, but it was seen years later on The Disney Channel). A similar extended version (with additional footage and a few subtle changes) was released on LaserDisc, VHS, and later on DVD.
success, but it did not turn out to be the blockbuster
film the two studios were hoping for. It was considered a flop in comparison to Spielberg's previous record on Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
. Writer Bob Gale defended it in a DVD documentary
about the film:
Spielberg joked at one point that he considered converting 1941 into a musical
halfway into production and mused that "in retrospect, that might have helped."
Parodies of 1941 have cropped up in a number of unusual ways, including one by Spielberg himself. In an episode of Spielberg's Animaniacs
, where Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
inhabit a giant video store
, a video copy of 1941 is used as a weapon, an exploding bomb.
According to Jack Nicholson, Stanley Kubrick
allegedly told Steven Spielberg that 1941 was "great, but not funny."
.
Nominated:
Period piece
-Setting:In the performing arts, a period piece is a work set in a particular era. This informal term covers all countries, all periods and all genres...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, written by Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
and Bob Gale
Bob Gale
Michael Robert "Bob" Gale is an American screenwriter who co-wrote the science fiction film Back to the Future with writing partner Robert Zemeckis, and the screenplays for the film's two sequels. Gale also co-produced all three films....
, and featuring an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
including John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
, Ned Beatty
Ned Beatty
Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
, John Candy
John Candy
John Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
, Toshiro Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
and Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
. The film is about a panic in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
.
Although not as financially or critically successful as many of Spielberg's other films, it received belated widespread popularity after an expanded version aired on ABC, and its subsequent successful home video reissues, raising it to cult status
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
.
Co-writer Gale stated the plot is loosely based on what has come to be known as the Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942
Battle of Los Ángeles
The Battle of Los Ángeles was a military action fought on March 22, 1880 between the Chilean and Peruvian armies during the Tacna and Arica Campaign of the War of the Pacific...
as well as the shelling of the Ellwood oil refinery
Bombardment of Ellwood
The Bombardment of Ellwood during World War II was a naval attack by a Japanese submarine against United States coastal targets near Santa Barbara, California. Though damage was minimal, the event was key in triggering the West Coast invasion scare and influenced the decision to intern...
, near Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
by a Japanese submarine. Many other events in the film were based on real incidents, including the Zoot Suit Riots
Zoot Suit Riots
The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that erupted in Los Angeles, California between white sailors and Marines stationed throughout thehi c mlc city and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored...
and an incident in which the U.S. Army placed an anti-aircraft gun in a homeowner's yard on the Maine coast.
Plot
On Saturday, December 13, 1941 at 7:01 a.m., somewhere along the Northern California coast, a womanSusan Backlinie
Susan Backlinie is a former actress and stuntwoman. She is known for her role as Chrissie Watkins, the first victim in Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster Jaws.-Personal life:...
goes swimming alone and naked only to find a Japanese submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
surfacing beneath her. The submarine crew realizes they have arrived where they intended to be, Hollywood, and the vessel submerges while the woman swims to safety.
Later that morning, dishwasher Wally Stephens is planning to enter a dance contest with Betty Douglas, against the wishes of her father Ward. A tank crew commanded by Motor Sergeant Frank Tree, U.S. Army, 10th Armored Division, and consisting of Privates Foley, Reese and Henshaw, and Corporal Charles ("Chuck") Sitarski, are at the restaurant where Wally works. The trouble-making, egg-hating Sitarski dislikes Wally almost immediately, and trips the youngster up. A fight ensues, leading Wally to lose his job. About half an hour later, Wally takes his friend Dennis shopping to pick up some zoot suit
Zoot suit
A zoot suit is a suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing was popularized by African Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Italian Americans during the late 1930s and the 1940s...
s and steals a suit.
Death Valley, California, high noon: deranged Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
Captain Wild Bill Kelso lands his Curtiss P-40
Curtiss P-40
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational...
fighter near a grocery store and gas station; while refueling, Kelso accidentally blows up the gasoline station.
In Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Major General Joseph W. Stilwell, Commander of the U.S. Army's III Corps, attempts to bring order, but Colonel "Mad Man" Maddox, the General's new secretary Donna Stratten and the General's assistant Captain Loomis Birkhead have other ideas. At one of Stilwell's press conferences at Daugherty Field in Long Beach
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
, the woman-chasing Birkhead is attracted to Donna, who he knows is sexually aroused when in an airborne aircraft. He lures her into a bomber to seduce her but she knocks him out. Birkhead lands on the bomb release control and sends a bomb rolling towards Stilwell's podium as the General is promising that "there will be no bombs dropped here." The bomb explodes, though Stilwell escapes.
That afternoon, at the Douglas family home in Santa Monica
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, Wally is told by Betty and her friend Maxine, both USO hostesses, that he will be forbidden to enter the USO dance to be held that night because he is not a serviceman. Wally is forced to hide in the Douglas family's garage loft when Ward shows up. Soon after, Tree and his tank crew arrive to deliver an anti-aircraft defense battery; Corporal Sitarski spots Betty and is attracted to her. He is just about to ask whether Betty will go to the dance with him when Wally falls from the loft. Ward and Sitarski dump him into a garbage truck.
The Japanese submarine becomes lost trying to find Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
when the ship's compass is broken. A landing party captures a timber merchant, Hollis "Holly" Wood who will only give up his name, occupation and social security number (106432185) on board the sub. They see he has a small Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack
Cracker Jack is a U.S. brand of snack consisting of strong molasses flavored candy-coated popcorn and peanuts, well known for being packaged with a prize of nominal value inside. Some food historians consider it the first junk food...
compass that he swallows, in a fit of patriotic pica
Pica (disorder)
Pica is characterized by an appetite for substances largely non-nutritive . For these actions to be considered pica, they must persist for more than one month at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate...
. Wood escapes, hoping to find the authorities.
Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
, 7:35 p.m.: Stilwell goes to see Dumbo
Dumbo
Dumbo is a 1941 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released on October 23, 1941, by RKO Radio Pictures.The fourth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Dumbo is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Pearl for the prototype of a...
. By 9:05 p.m., Birkhead and Donna are headed toward the 501st Bomb Disbursement Unit at Barstow, where Maddox shows them the unit's dilapidated aircraft. Maddox, convinced the Japanese are sending parachutists into the hills near Pomona, lets Birkhead and Donna borrow his aircraft, assuming they are going on reconnaissance.
Back outside the USO dance-hall, Betty is greeted by both Sitarski and Wally. Sitarski kicks Wally in the groin and drags Betty into the dance as his unwilling date. Maxine has fallen in love with Sitarski and tags along. Wally sneaks in with a stolen Shore Patrol
Shore patrol
Shore patrol are service members that are provided to aid in security for the U.S. Navy, United States Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps, and the British Royal Navy while on shore...
uniform, steals Betty away and they win the dance contest whilst evading Sitarski, who is pursued by Maxine. Sitarski, in khaki, punches Wally, in blues, inciting an inter-service brawl. Tree arrives with his team to stop the riot just as Los Angeles goes to Red Alert with an unknown aircraft in the air, piloted by Birkhead and Donna. At the Douglas' home, Ward spots the submarine. As Birkhead and Donna fly over Los Angeles in the back of their aircraft, Army anti-aircraft batteries open fire. Kelso joins the fight and, after shooting Birkhead's aircraft into the La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits
The La Brea Tar Pits are a cluster of tar pits around which Hancock Park was formed, in the urban heart of Los Angeles. Asphaltum or tar has seeped up from the ground in this area for tens of thousands of years. The tar is often covered with water...
, sees the submarine, only to be shot down by two United States snipers who mistake his plane for a Japanese fighter.
Sitarski drags Betty underneath a tank to rape her. Wally rescues Betty and knocks Sitarski out. They discover Kelso, who informs them about the sub. Wearing an army uniform, Wally commandeers Tree's tank and heads toward Pacific Ocean Amusement Park for a rendezvous with the sub. Ward begins firing at the submarine, destroying his house in the process. The submarine returns fire, hitting the ferris wheel
Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...
, which careens into the ocean. The tank sinks when the pier collapses. Kelso drives his motorbike into the ocean and swims to the submarine, where he is captured by the Japanese, who, believing their mission accomplished, return home.
Sunday morning, December 14, 1941: Stilwell arrives at the Douglas home where Ward is hanging a Christmas wreath, only to accidentally push what remains of his home into the ocean. With all the characters in front of the foundations of the destroyed home, Tree predicts to Stilwell that 1942 will be "the 'really big' year of the war." The General simply mutters: "It's gonna be a 'long' war."
Cast
- Dan AykroydDan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
as Motor Sergeant Frank Tree - Ned BeattyNed BeattyNed Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
as Ward Douglas - John BelushiJohn BelushiJohn Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
as Captain "Wild" Bill Kelso, U.S. Army Air Corps - Lorraine GaryLorraine GaryLorraine Gary is an American actress best known for her role as Ellen Brody in Jaws, Jaws 2, and Jaws: The Revenge...
as Joan Douglas - Bobby Di CiccoBobby Di CiccoBobby Di Cicco is an American actor. He has starred in several films since the 1970s, but has mostly been involved in television work such as The A-Team. His early work includes the film 1941 by Steven Spielberg, in which he plays one of the main characters, 'Wally Stephens'...
as Wally Stephens - Murray HamiltonMurray HamiltonMurray Hamilton was an American stage, screen, and television actor who appeared in such memorable films as The Hustler, The Graduate and Jaws.-Early life:...
as Claude Crumn - Christopher LeeChristopher LeeSir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, CBE, CStJ is an English actor and musician. Lee initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Horror films...
as Captain Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt - Tim MathesonTim MathesonTim Matheson is an American actor, director and producer. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the smooth-talking Eric 'Otter' Stratton in the 1978 comedy National Lampoon's Animal House and has had a variety of other well-known roles, including providing the voice of the lead character...
as Captain Loomis Birkhead - Toshirō MifuneToshiro MifuneToshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
as Commander Akiro Mitamura - Warren OatesWarren OatesWarren Mercer Oates was an American actor best known for his performances in several films directed by Sam Peckinpah including The Wild Bunch and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia...
as Colonel "Madman" Maddox - Robert StackRobert StackRobert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
as Major General Joseph W. Stilwell - Treat WilliamsTreat WilliamsRichard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
as Corporal Chuck "Stretch" Sitarski - Nancy AllenNancy Allen (actress)Nancy Anne Allen is a Golden Globe nominated American actress and cancer activist.Allen began an acting and modelling career as a child, and from the mid-1970s appeared in small film roles, most notably the anchor of Robert Zemeckis's ensemble comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand...
as Donna Stratton - Lucille BensonLucille BensonLucille Benson was an American actress known for her roles in commercials, television, and movies in the 1970s and 1980s.-Personal life:...
as Gas Mama (Eloise) - Jordan Brian as Macey Douglas
- John CandyJohn CandyJohn Franklin Candy was a Canadian actor and comedian. He rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of The Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in comedy films such as Stripes, Splash, Cool Runnings, The Great Outdoors, Spaceballs, and Uncle...
as Private First Class Foley - Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Cook Jr.Elisha Vanslyck Cook, Jr. was an American character actor who made a career out of playing cowardly villains and weedy neurotics in dozens of films...
as The Patron (Dexter) - Eddie DeezenEddie DeezenEddie Deezen is an American character actor, voice actor and comedian, best known for his bit parts as nerd characters in 1970s and 1980s films such as Grease, Grease 2, Midnight Madness, 1941 and WarGames, as well as for larger roles in a number of independent cult films, including Surf II: The...
as Herbie Kazlminsky - Dianne KayDianne KayDianne Kay is an American actress, best known for her role as Nancy Bradford on the ABC television show Eight is Enough ....
as Betty Douglas - Perry LangPerry LangPerry Lang is an American director, writer and actor.He has directed episodes of television series such as Arli$$, ER, Millennium, Dawson's Creek, NYPD Blue, Nash Bridges, Fantasy Island, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, Army Wives, The Twilight Zone, Alias, Las Vegas, Jack & Bobby and...
as Dennis DeSoto - Patti LuPonePatti LuPonePatti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
as Lydia Hedberg - Frank McRaeFrank McRaeFrank McRae is an American actor and former professional football player.McRae was born in Memphis, Tennessee. McRae graduated from Tennessee State University with a double major in drama and history. He was a defensive tackle for the Chicago Bears in the 1967 NFL season.Among his acting roles are...
as Pvt. Ogden Johnson Jones - Steven MondSteven MondSteven Mond is an American former child actor best known for playing Robbie Jason on the 1980s sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.He also guest starred on the TV series CHiPs and Quincy M.E. and had a role in the 1979 movie 1941....
as Gus Douglas - Slim PickensSlim PickensLouis Burton Lindley, Jr. , better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was an American rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, but who is best remembered for his comic roles, notably in Dr...
as Hollis P. Wood - Wendie Jo SperberWendie Jo SperberWendie Jo Sperber was an American actress, best known for her performances in the films I Wanna Hold Your Hand , Bachelor Party and Back to the Future as well as the television sitcom Bosom Buddies .-Life:Sperber was born in Hollywood and aimed for a performing-arts career from high school onward...
as Maxine Dexheimer - Joe FlahertyJoe FlahertyJoe Flaherty is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He is best known for his work on the Canadian sketch comedy SCTV, from 1976 to 1984, and as Harold Weir on Freaks and Geeks...
as Raoul Lipschitz - Ignatius WolfingtonIgnatius WolfingtonIgnatius 'Iggie' Wolfington was an American stage actor. Iggie is the youngest of the Wolfington family of Philadelphia, operators of a carriage business and brother of the founder of Wolfington Body Company in Exton, Pa. He married Lynn Wood, an actress, about 1972...
as Meyer Mishkin
Production
According to Steven Spielberg's appearance in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in PicturesStanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures is a 2001 documentary about the life and work of Stanley Kubrick, famed film director, made by his long-time assistant and brother-in-law Jan Harlan...
, Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
suggested that 1941 should have been marketed as a drama rather than a comedy. The chaos of the events following Pearl Harbor attack in 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
is summarized by Dan Aykroyd's character, Sgt. Tree, who states "he cannot stand Americans fighting Americans."
1941 is also notable as one of the few American films featuring Toshirō Mifune
Toshiro Mifune
Toshirō Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in almost 170 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration with filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, from 1948 to 1965, in works such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, and Yojimbo...
, a popular Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
actor. It is also the only American film in which Mifune used his own voice in speaking Japanese and English. In his previous movies, Mifune's lines were dubbed by Paul Frees
Paul Frees
Paul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
.
Susan Backlinie
Susan Backlinie
Susan Backlinie is a former actress and stuntwoman. She is known for her role as Chrissie Watkins, the first victim in Steven Spielberg's 1975 blockbuster Jaws.-Personal life:...
reprised her role as the first victim in Spielberg's Jaws
Jaws (film)
Jaws is a 1975 American horror-thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg and based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name. In the story, the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town, tries to protect beachgoers from a giant man-eating great white shark by closing the beach,...
by playing the young woman seen at the beginning of the film. Inadvertent comedic effects ensued when John Belushi in character as Captain Wild Bill Kelso slipped off the wing of his aircraft after being lifted by two soldiers. It was a real accident and was left in the movie as it fit his eccentric character. During the USO riot scene, when the naked MP is tossed into the window of the restaurant from the fire truck, John Belushi plays the patron eating spaghetti. He is in makeup to look like Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
in The Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
, which he famously parodied on the sketch comedy TV series Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. Belushi told Spielberg he wanted to appear in another part of the movie and the idea struck Spielberg as very humorous. At the beginning of the USO riot scene, one of the "extras" dressed as sailors, is actor James Caan; the film also featured the acting debut of Mickey Rourke
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke, Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter and retired boxer, who has appeared primarily as a leading man in action, drama, and thriller films....
as Private First Class Reese of Sgt. Tree's tank group.
The M3 tank Lulu Belle (named after a race horse) and fashioned from a mocked-up tractor, paid homage to its forebear in Humphrey Bogart's 1943 movie Sahara
Sahara (1943 film)
Sahara is a 1943 war film directed by Zoltán Korda. Humphrey Bogart stars as a U.S. tank commander in Libya during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The movie earned three Academy Award nominations: Best Sound , Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor by J...
where an authentic M3 named Lulubelle was prominently featured.
Renowned modelmaker Greg Jein worked on the film, and would later use the hull number "NCC-1941" for the starship USS Bozeman in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
.
1941 is dedicated to the memory of Charlotte "Charlsie" Bryant, a longtime script supervisor at Universal Studios. She had served in that capacity on both Jaws and Close Encounters, and would have reprised those duties with this film had she not unexpectedly passed away.
Special effects
The Oscar-winning team of L. B. Abbott and A.D. Flowers were in charge of the special effects on 1941. Careful consideration for production values was indicated in "...there are no tell-tale lines around any element of the composite photography. This is blue-screen work at its best." 1941 is widely recognized for its Academy Award-nominated special-effects laden progressive action and camera sequences.There was a scene shot for the end of the film, in which Slim Pickens's Hollis Wood character caught Christopher Lee's Nazi officer. A still from this scene appeared in the September 1990 issue of Starlog magazine. Lee said: At the end of 1941, I'm the first Nazi captured in the US by Slim Pickens.
Trailer
The advance teaser trailer for 1941, directed by John Milius, featured a voice-over by Aykroyd as Belushi lands his plane and gives the audience a pep-talk to join the armed forces, else they will find one morning that "the street signs will be written in Japanese!" In the trailer, Kelso's name is Wild Wayne Kelso.Musical score and soundtrack
The musical score for 1941 was composed and conducted by John WilliamsJohn Williams
John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career spanning almost six decades, he has composed some of the most recognizable film scores in the history of motion pictures, including the Star Wars saga, Jaws, Superman, the Indiana Jones films, E.T...
. The titular march is used throughout the film and is perhaps the most memorable piece written for it. (Spielberg has said it is his favorite Williams march.) The score also includes swing composition titled "Swing, Swing, Swing" composed by John Williams. In addition, the score includes a sound-alike version of Glenn Miller
Glenn Miller
Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...
's "In the Mood
In the Mood
"In the Mood" is a big band era #1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. Joe Garland and Andy Razaf arranged "In the Mood" in 1937-1939 using a previously existing main theme composed by Glenn Miller before the start of the 1930s...
," the soundtrack uses two songs by The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
, "Daddy" and "Down by the Ohio," and the Irish song "The Rakes of Mallow
Rakes of Mallow
The Rakes of Mallow is a traditional Irish song and polka. The song is about the rakes from the town of Mallow, a town in County Cork. It was first written down in Scotland during the 1780s. The song is a fight song for Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans...
" is used during the ballroom fight. The following tracks were released on the initial Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
LP (and later issued on CD by Varese Sarabande Records):
- The March From 1941
- The Invasion
- The Sentries
- Riot At The U.S.O.
- To Hollywood And Glory
- Swing, Swing, Swing
- The Battle Of Hollywood
- The Ferris Wheel Sequence
- Finale of 1941
The LaserDisc and DVD versions of the film have isolated music channels with additional cues not heard on the first soundtrack album.
In 2011, La-La Land Records
La-La Land Records
La-La Land Records is an American record company based in Burbank, California . The company specializes in film and television soundtracks. The label is run by Michael V...
, in conjunction with Sony Music and NBCUniversal, issued an expanded 2-CD soundtrack of the complete John Williams score as recorded for the film, plus never-before-heard alternate cues, source music, and a remastered version of the original album. Disc One, containing the film score, presents the music as Williams originally conceived based on early cuts of the movie.
Alternate versions
The film was previewed at approximately two and a half hours, but Columbia PicturesColumbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, who both had a major financial investment in the film, felt the film was too long to be a blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
. The initial theatrical release was edited down to just under two hours, against Spielberg's wishes. After the success of his 1980 "Special Edition" of Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
, Spielberg was given permission to create his own "extended cut" of 1941 to represent his original director's cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
. This was done for network television
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
(it was only shown on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
one time, but it was seen years later on The Disney Channel). A similar extended version (with additional footage and a few subtle changes) was released on LaserDisc, VHS, and later on DVD.
Reception
The film was a box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
success, but it did not turn out to be the blockbuster
Blockbuster (entertainment)
Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre, denotes a very popular or successful production. The entertainment industry use was originally theatrical slang referring to a particularly successful play but is now used primarily by the film industry...
film the two studios were hoping for. It was considered a flop in comparison to Spielberg's previous record on Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
. Writer Bob Gale defended it in a DVD documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
about the film:
- It is down in the history books as a big flop, but it wasn't a flop. The movie didn't make the kind of money that Steven's other movies, Steven's most successful movies have made, obviously. But the movie was by no means a flop. And both Universal and Columbia have come out of it just fine.
Spielberg joked at one point that he considered converting 1941 into a musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
halfway into production and mused that "in retrospect, that might have helped."
Parodies of 1941 have cropped up in a number of unusual ways, including one by Spielberg himself. In an episode of Spielberg's Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
, where Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner, also known as "The Warner Brothers " or "The Warner Siblings", or just simply "The Warners", are the three titular cartoon characters featured on the animated series Animaniacs. The trio of red-nosed Warner siblings were considered to be the stars of the ensemble of...
inhabit a giant video store
Rental shop
A rental shop, also known as a video library, is a business that allows a consumer to temporarily obtain a reusable good or product for a specified period of time in exchange for payment, a process known as renting...
, a video copy of 1941 is used as a weapon, an exploding bomb.
According to Jack Nicholson, Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
allegedly told Steven Spielberg that 1941 was "great, but not funny."
Accolades
The film received three nominations at the 1980 Academy Awards52nd Academy Awards
The 52nd Academy Awards were presented April 14, 1980 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The ceremonies were presided over by Johnny Carson, who in noting the long duration of the production, joked that President Jimmy Carter was working hard for their "release" from the ceremonies, a...
.
Nominated:
- William A. Fraker, A.D. Flowers and Gregory Jein for Best Effects Visual Effects
- William A. Fraker for Best CinematographyAcademy Award for Best CinematographyThe Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
- Robert KnudsonRobert KnudsonRobert Knudson was an American sound engineer. He won three Academy Awards for Best Sound and was nominated for seven more in the same category...
, Robert GlassRobert Glass (sound engineer)Robert Glass is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for five more in the same category. He has worked on over 100 films and since 1948.-Selected filmography:...
, Don MacDougallDon MacDougallDon MacDougall is an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award for Best Sound and was nominated for four more in the same category. He worked on over 130 films between 1974 and 1999.-Selected filmography:...
and Gene S. Cantamessa for Best Sound