Seven Days in May ***** (1964, Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Martin Balsam, George Macready) – Classic Movie Review 2533

Fired up director John Frankenheimer’s 1964 paranoia conspiracy thriller simmers with tension and delivers edge-of-the-seat suspense in a story that is all about right-wing general  James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster)’s coup with other military leaders to overthrow the pacifist US President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March). He manages to get a nuclear disarmament treaty through the Senate, and the military leaders fear a Soviet sneak attack.

The ideally cast star players, all giving charismatic, believable performances, include Lancaster’s old buddy Kirk Douglas as his aide Colonel Martin ‘Jiggs’ Casey, who blows the whistle on the plot, Oscar-nominated Edmond O’Brien as Senator Clark, Ava Gardner as Eleanor Holbrook, Martin Balsam, George Macready and John Houseman, the distinguished, long-time producer making his acting début as Vice-Admiral Farley Barnswell.

Frankenheimer makes the most of Rod Serling’s thrilling, worryingly credible screenplay, based on Fletcher Knebel and Charles W Bailey II’s 1962 novel, spinning a tangled web of intrigue. Ellsworth Fredericks’s black and white cinematography and Jerry Goldsmith’s fine score add to the distinguished nature of the work.

Also in the cast are Whit Bissell, Hugh Marlowe, Richard Anderson, Bart Burns, Jack Mullaney, Andrew Duggan, John Larkin, Helen Kleeb and Malcolm Atterbury.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2533

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