Today was a double feature. After I watched Close Encounters I watched 1941, the only Steven Spielberg film I have never seen beginning to end. I skipped the film when it was released in 1979 because of the bad reviews. Later on I owned a copy on laser Disc to complete my Spielberg collection, but i only watched the first 45 minutes or so before turning it off.
So today I sat down and watched the Director's cut DVD which is 26 minutes longer than the theatrical release version. I don't think I ever watched a movie that tried so hard to be funny and failed so miserably.
All the Spielberg touches are there; great cast, unique camera angles, big action set pieces, multiple edits in a single scene, strong score by John Williams, but none of it comes together.
The film has multiple problems:
1.) no straight man- a cast full of zany characters doing wild and crazy things but the film lacks any straight men, with the exception of Robert Stack, to provide balance. Even the Japanese are wild and crazy
2.) frantic editing - is seems that there was an attempt in the editing room to provide a frantic, comedic pace that was lacking in the script or in Spielberg's direction.
3.) Elaborate set pieces with no pay-off - the point of a joke is the reaction shot at the pay-off and these are missing through out the movie. Every joke is telegraphed through elaborate set-ups and then cut away from before there is a chance to appreciate it.
4.) The script is unwieldy. They must have had fun writing it and they included everything they could think of, most of it juvenile, but on the screen it is an unwieldy mess.
5.) Ackroyd and Belushi - The two leading comics at the time, both SNL alumni, are in the same film together and yet at no point do they interact or share a scene. In addition, Ackroyd can't decide whether to play foolish uptight Army buffoon, or completely manic Army soldier, and Belushi just reprises his Bluto role from Animal house, this time in uniform.
6.) It is too long. At 146 minutes the movie seems endless. At 2 hours it would still drag. The movie needs to be a tight 90 to 100 minutes.
7.) Central story - the main story that everything else revolves around is about Wally, played by Bobby Di Cicco, who wants to go to the dance and win a dancing contest with his best girl Betty Douglas, played by Dianne Kay. he crosses paths with a crazy Corporal Charles Sitarski, played by Treat Williams who also has eyes for Betty. The rivalry between Wally and Sitarski cause all sorts of mayhem, none of it really funny. And none of the three stars are dynamic enough to hold the center of the film together.
The film has a few good points. The previously mentioned Robert Stack, as a General who tears up watching Dumbo. Wendie Jo Sperber as a man hungry USO hostess. The attention to period detail and John Williams score. But none of that is enough to redeem this costly, over-indulgent mess. They attempted to capture the comic genius of Animal House and failed and a year later the Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers would release Airplane and show how comedy like this should be done.
At The Movie House rating *1/2 stars
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