The Americanization of Emily
by Arthur Hiller
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Actor: James Coburn, James Garner, Joyce Grenfell, Julie Andrews, Melvyn DouglasDirector: Arthur Hiller
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Philip H. Lathrop
Editor: Tom McAdoo
Producer: John Calley
Producer: Martin Ransohoff
Writer: Paddy Chayefsky
Writer: William Bradford Huie
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-10
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of The Americanization of Emily
DVD Review: All silver bells, coral shells, carousels, & the laughter of children at play
Summary: 4 Stars
The Americanization of Emily is a controversial film, kind of anti-war, but somewhat patriotic, nonetheless. It is included in a box set called the Controversial Classics Collection (Advise and Consent / The Americanization of Emily / Bad Day at Black Rock / Blackboard Jungle / A Face in the Crowd / Fury / I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang). Good company for this black & white film, it was directed by Arthur Hiller (More about him later) and written by Paddy Chayevsky (Altered States, Network, Marty).
James Garner (Maverick (Television Favorites); Maverick, movie directed by Mel Gibson, with Jody Foster; Victor/Victoria and It Happened One Night, both with Julie Andrews) plays a "Dog Robber," which is the name given to military personnel attached to Generals and Admirals who ensure that they are well supplied with food and beverages, and ladies, or whatever their choice is. Julie Andrews (The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins (40th Anniversary Edition), S.O.B., directed by her husband, Blake Edwards, and featuring a drugged out, topless rendition of Polly Wally Doodle All the Day) plays a British soldier who drives for the motor pool, is rather priggish, but then falls for the American, in spite of--or rather--because of his cowardice. He is proud of his cowardice, having seen the hellishness of war, he wants to stay as far away from it as possible. Contacts made while serving as night manager of a hotel in Washington D.C. allow him to do just that. That is, until he somehow winds up an unlikely hero--the first sailor to hit the beach on the Normandy Invasion--D Day.
James Coburn (Ultimate Flint Collection (Our Man Flint / In Like Flint)) plays his pal, an Annapolis graduate who is more than content to remain well behind enemy lines, pandering to the Generals and Admirals, while maintaining his own campaign of extreme womanizing--until his Annapolis background rears its ugly head, and he corrals Garner into an ill-advised campaign to film the Navy's contribution to D-Day. Amusing hijinks ensue, and Garner becomes a reluctant hero.
But enough about them. Watch the movie if you must. But what is really intriguing to me are two things: One, the many and varied films and television programs directed by Arthur Hiller; and Two, the song composed for the movie with music by Johnny Mandel and lyrics by Johnny Mercer: Emily.
Hiller was president of the Director's Guild of America (DGA) from 1989-1993. He attended Victoria School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). The widescreen process that Mr. Hiller uses in his films is never credited in any of his films, and none of his films are in the usual 2.35:1 ratio. The width of the picture resembles VistaVision more than Panavision or Cinemascope. He was president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). [1993-1997] He directed 5 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw, John Marley, Maximilian Schell and George C. Scott.
Movies and Television programs he directed include Pucked (2006), An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1998), Carpool (1996), The Babe (1992), Married to It (1991), Taking Care of Business (1990), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Teachers (1984), The Lonely Guy (1984), Romantic Comedy (1983), Author! Author! (1982), Making Love (1982), Nightwing (1979), The In-Laws (1979), Silver Streak (1976), W.C. Fields and Me (1976), The Man in the Glass Booth (1975), The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974), Man of La Mancha (1972), The Hospital (1971), Plaza Suite (1971), Love Story (1970), The Out of Towners (1970), Popi (1969), "Insight" (1 episode, 1967), The Tiger Makes Out (1967), Tobruk (1967), Penelope (1966), Promise Her Anything (1965), The Americanization of Emily (1964),
"The Addams Family" (1 episode, 1964), Inside Danny Baker (1963) (TV),
"I'm Dickens, He's Fenster" (1 episode, 1962), A Small Matter of Being Fired (1962) TV episode, "Ben Casey" (3 episodes, 1962), "Route 66" (12 episodes, 1960-1962), Blues for the Left Foot (1962) TV episode, "The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor" (2 episodes, 1959-1962), "Naked City" (4 episodes, 1961), Ooftus Goofus (1961) TV episode, Murder Is a Face I Know (1961) TV episode, "The Dick Powell Show" (1 episode, 1961), "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (17 episodes, 1958-1961), "Shirley Temple's Storybook" (1 episode, 1960), "The Rifleman" (4 episodes, 1958-1960), "Gunsmoke" (9 episodes, 1959-1960), "The Barbara Stanwyck Show" (1960) TV series (unknown episodes), Perry Mason" (3 episodes, 1958-1960)
- The Case of the Ominous Outcast (1960) TV episode
- The Case of the Bartered Bikini (1959) TV episode
- The Case of the Desperate Daughter (1958) TV episode
"Wagon Train" (1 episode, 1959)
... aka Major Adams, Trail Master
Love Story may be the most well known, but Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn may be his most controversial, because it tells the story that "Hollywood doesn't want you to hear."
The name Alan Smithee is one that directors use when they want nothing to do with a project:
"Born in 1967, the same year he directed his first picture, Death of a Gunfighter (1969). Restricted by Directors Guild of America rules to certain "genres" of film, i.e., those on which the other directors have functioned, but from which they wish to be disassociated. Gained strong reviews for his initial film: "Sharply directed by Allen Smithee who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail", (New York Times); "Smithee's direction keeps the action taut and he draws convincing portrayals from the supporting cast", (Variety). His oeuvre extends over a wide range of topics and styles, usually with only one unifying factor between projects: the refusal of other directors to put their name to the work. Although idle speculation has given birth to the rumor that his stage name derives from an anagram of "The Alias Men", in actuality it grew out of a decision that this particular stage name should be so individual that no other person would ever be likely to appear whose name matched that of Smithee. Although Smith, then Smithe, were considered, eventually it was decided that a second "e" would guarantee this individuality, and Smithee has functioned under this name ever since. Although his first name is occasionally misspelled "Allen", the name Alan Smithee has come to represent a unique vision in American film."
Now we come to the meat of the matter. The song, Emily. I watched the movie in vain, waiting to hear it. Julie Andrews, an excellent singer, was in it, and can you blame me for expecting that she might deign to sing it? But no, even though composer Johnny Mandel and lyricist Johnny Mercer are credited, right at the beginning, the song is never sung by anyone, and the theme is orchestrated instrumentally throughout, but it is just a tease. Not once does anyone--Julie Andrews or Marney Nixon--sing it.
What a shame. Barbra Streisand pays homage to it on her album, The Movie Album. Barbra had wanted to do this album for years, and though she is 61, her voice still holds out. She does all her favorites from films such as Bagdad Café's "Calling You," and her "Moon River" is a faithful evocation of Audrey Hepburn strumming her guitar in the film, Breakfast at Tiffany's). That song also features lyrics by Mercer, and the phrase "Huckleberry Friend" though he was advised to remove it, has almost become his calling card. A biography with that title was published, and anyone familiar with Moonriver, from either Breakfast at Tiffany's or the Andy Williams Show, should know who it is about.
But anyone named 'Emily' will love how Barbra sings the Johnny Mercer lyrics. The way Streisand wraps her voice warmly around the three vowels of 'Em-i-ly' is creamy - dare I say like butter, uh, 'buttah'? Seriously, "Emily" is gorgeous.
For serious students of jazz, piano, and well composed tunes, Emily is a revelation. Bill Evans plays it on The Best of Bill Evans Live on Verve. And it is included on Jamey Aebersold's jazz play-along series, in Collectors' Items (Play-A-Long Series, Volume 52). If you really want to analyze the chords, here is the place to begin your studies. It is in ¾ waltz time, and it is in the key of C, but he takes a pretty well known chord progression and takes it through some kind of worm hole, portal to another dimension. It begins with a I vi ii V7 chord progression, but everything after that is unique, and masterful the way Mandel handles it.
Really a great songwriter, he seems to have been born just at the end of the era, the twilight of the Great American Songbook days. His most well-known tune was probably The Shadow of Your Smile, written for another film, The Sandpiper (The Sandpiper: The Original Motion Picture Sound Track). As one Amazon reviewer, Michael C. Smith "MGMboy@aol.com" of San Francisco puts it:
"Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were lucky to have Johnny Mandel write the music for this, their "Honeymoon" film. Mr. Mandel's love of the Big Sur coast is beautifully realized here in his score for The Sandpiper. The colors of the music are so painterly in their layering and execution that they stay with the listener long after the CD has ended. Cool and rich, this jazz inspired music is as intoxicating as a slow drive down Highway One to the Nepenthe. Not to be overlooked are Jack Sheldon's romantic trumpet solos. His contribution is the soulful heart of this soundtrack. Many thanks to Verve for reissuing this wonderful 60's masterpiece. Finally, one cannot help but wonder if "The Shadow Of Your Smile" holds a special place in Elizabeth Taylor's heart. Memories of a beautiful place along the windswept California Coast and the beginning of her married life with Richard Burton."
Description of The Americanization of Emily
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