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 | Captain | Submarine | Upskirt

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)

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:

Some of the scenes made so much noise during filming, the crew could not hear director Steven Spielberg yell, "Cut." For those scenes, he had to fire a prop machine gun in the air to get the action to stop.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Cpl. Sitarsky and Maxine get out of the car in the final scene of the film, they are handcuffed together. The next time they are shown, there are no handcuffs.

Quotes:

General Joseph W. Stilwell: You know son, Col. Maddox is mad.
Cpl. Mizerany: He is?

Movie Connections:

References "The Little Rascals" (1955)

Soundtrack:

Down By The Ohio

Hysterical

This movie sounded bad to me at first, and I was reluctant to rent it. My dad kept saying, "Rent 1941!" every time we went to Blockbuster. Finally, he just got it himself and brought it home. It started out dull, and I thought that it would be a boring movie. But then the laughs came a mile a minute. I'm still cracking up over the priceless scenes with Slim Pickens in the submarine. Also, the explosions (on black) during the end credits and the way most of them went off as segues between each cycle of the music, was one of the funniest parts in the movie. da-da da da ---BOOM!!---

I also like that none of the characters have a minor role. This makes the movie seem more in-depth. It also does not seem like a Spielberg movie. It seems more like something that the Zucker brothers would do. Speilberg actually parodies his own movies. This is a great, clever comedy. A must-see.