Seven Days in May is a 1964 American political thriller film, directed by John Frankenheimer and written by Rod Serling, who adapted Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II's 1962 novel. It is about a military–political cabal's planned takeover of the U.S. government after the president negotiates a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The film stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner.
Seven Days in May was released in theaters by Paramount Pictures on February 12, 1964. The film received two nominations at the 37th Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (for Edmond O'Brien) and Best Art Direction.
Plot In May 1970, during the Cold War, President of the United States Jordan Lyman signs a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, provoking widespread opposition from political opponents and military leaders who distrust the Soviets. As Lyman's approval ratings plummet, violent protests erupt outside the White House. His physician also warns him of a serious heart condition and prescribes a two-week vacation, but Lyman, preoccupied with the mounting crisis, disregards the advice.
Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey, the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, learns that his superior, the highly decorated Air Force general James Mattoon Scott, is planning a coup d'etat with the Joint Chiefs. Disguised as a training exercise, the plan involves a secret army unit known as ECOMCON training at a secret Texas base, which will take control of the country's telephone, radio, and television networks and seize the president while he participates in a staged "alert". Scott, advancing his charismatic public persona through nationally televised anti-treaty rallies, will replace the president as head of a military junta. Although personally opposed to Lyman's policies, Casey is appalled by the plot and alerts Lyman.
A skeptical Lyman gathers a circle of trusted advisors to investigate. Casey deduces the heads of all military branches but the Navy support Scott's coup, and Vice Admiral Barnswell, aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, is apparently the only invited officer to decline. Lyman rescinds his commitment to participate in Scott's alert, pretending he will be away for a fishing weekend, then dispatches his Chief of Staff Paul Girard to Gibraltar to obtain Barnswell's confession. The alcoholic Senator Raymond Clark, Lyman's close friend of 21 years, goes to Texas to locate the secret base, and tasks Casey to gather dirt on the general's private life. The Secret Service surreptitiously films evidence of an attempt to kidnap the president during the phony fishing trip, removing all doubts about the existence of a plot.
Girard successfully secures Barnswell's written confession, which is lost when he's killed in a plane crash in Spain. Clark is taken captive when he reaches the secret base and held incommunicado. Exploiting their longtime friendship, Clark convinces the base's deputy commander Colonel Henderson of the actual intent of the impending "alert". Henderson frees Clark and leads an escape back to Washington but is abducted and confined in a military stockade. In a radiophone conference call with the president, Barnswell denies knowledge of any conspiracy.
Knowing he can't prove Scott's guilt, Lyman calls him to the White House to demand the conspirators resign. Scott refuses, denying the existence of a plot. Lyman argues that a coup would prompt the Soviets to launch a preemptive nuclear strike and Scott maintains the American people are behind him. Lyman challenges him to resign and run for office in order to seek power legitimately, but Scott is unmoved. Lyman restrains himself from confronting Scott with damning letters that Casey had obtained from Scott's former mistress Eleanor Holbrook. Casey, who has his own romantic interest in Holbrook, eventually returns them to her.
Scott meets the other three Joint Chiefs, reasserts his intention to execute the coup, and plans a nighttime network broadcast, but Lyman plans an afternoon press conference to announce the firing of the four men. As the presser begins, Barnswell's confession, recovered from the plane crash, is handed to him and he pauses the proceeding to give time for copies of the confession to be delivered to Scott and the plotters. Scott, devastated, abandons the plan and returns home as Lyman announces the resignation of the other three conspirators on live air.
Lyman delivers a speech on the state of the nation and its values, declaring that the nation gains strength through peace rather than by conflict. The press corps applauds.
Cast
Production Background
Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II wrote the novel Seven Days in May in late 1961 and into early 1962 during the first year of the Kennedy administration; it reflected some of the events of that era. In November 1961, President John F. Kennedy accepted the resignation of vociferously anti-communist general Edwin Walker, who had been indoctrinating the troops under his command with radical right-wing ideas and personal political opinions, including describing Harry S. Truman, Dean Acheson, Eleanor Roosevelt, and other active public figures as communist sympathizers."Armed Forces: I Must Be Free..." (Time Magazine, November 10, 1961) Although no longer in uniform, Walker continued to make headlines as he ran for governor of Texas and made speeches promoting strongly right-wing views. In the film, President Jordan Lyman mentions General Walker as one of the "false prophets" who were offering themselves to the public as leaders.
As Knebel and Bailey, primarily political journalists, collaborated on the novel, they also conducted interviews with another highly controversial military commander, the newly appointed Air Force chief of staff General Curtis LeMay, who was angry with Kennedy for refusing to provide air support for the Cuban rebels in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.Stoddard, Brooke C. "Seven Days in May: Remembrance of Books Past" (Washington Independent Review of Books, November 27, 2012)Steed, Mark S. "Seven Days in May by Knebel and Bailey - Book Review" (An Independent Head, October 26, 2013) The character of General James Mattoon Scott was believed to have been inspired by both LeMay and Walker.
President Kennedy had read Seven Days in May shortly after its publication and believed that the scenario could actually occur. He told Paul B. Fay that the premise of the novel was "possible, but the conditions would have to be just right". According to director John Frankenheimer, the project received encouragement and assistance from Kennedy through White House press secretary Pierre Salinger, who conveyed Kennedy's wish that the film be produced. In spite of Defense Department opposition, Kennedy arranged to visit the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House.Kakutani, Michiko. Kennedy, and What Might Have Been: 'JFK's Last Hundred Days' by Thurston Clarke, page 95 (The New York Times, August 12, 2013) Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr. said that he wanted the film made as a "warning to the nation".
Development Kirk Douglas and Frankenheimer were the moving forces behind the filming of Seven Days in May, which was produced by Edward Lewis through Douglas's company Joel Productions and Seven Arts Productions. Frankenheimer recruited screenwriter Rod Serling. Douglas intended to star along with his frequent costar Burt Lancaster. Douglas offered Lancaster the General Scott role, and agreed to play Scott's assistant. Frankenheimer commissioned Nedrick Young to rewrite the scene in which Casey visits Holbrook at her apartment.
Lancaster's involvement nearly caused Frankenheimer to withdraw from the project, as the two men had conflicts during the production of Birdman of Alcatraz two years earlier. Only Douglas's assurances that Lancaster would behave kept Frankenheimer on the project.. Lancaster and Frankenheimer were at peace during the filming, but Douglas and Frankenheimer sparred with one another.Frankenheimer, John and Champlin, Charles. John Frankenheimer : A Conversation Riverwood Press, 1995. Douglas, Kirk. The Ragman's Son. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. Frankenheimer was very happy with Lancaster's performance, especially the long scene toward the end between Lancaster and March, saying that Lancaster was "perfect" in his delivery. Frankenheimer stated decades later that he considered Seven Days in May among his most satisfying work,Frankenheimer, John, Seven Days in May DVD Commentary, Warner Home Video, May 16, 2000 which put a "nail in the coffin of McCarthy."
Filming Filming took 51 days and was a happy affair, according to Frankenheimer, with the cast and crew displaying great reverence for Fredric March. Many of Lancaster's scenes were shot at a later time as he was recovering from hepatitis. Ava Gardner, whose scenes were shot in just six days, thought that Frankenheimer favored the other actors over her. Frankenheimer remarked that she was sometimes "difficult." Martin Balsam objected to Frankenheimer's habit of shooting pistols behind him during important scenes. Frankenheimer had been briefly stationed in the mailroom at the Pentagon early in his Korean war service and stated that the sets were totally authentic, praising the production designer. Further providing authenticity, many of the scenes in the film were loosely based on real-life events of the Cold War.Antulov, Dragan. "All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review Seven Days In May" (All-Reviews, 2002)
In an early example of guerrilla filmmaking, Frankenheimer photographed Balsam ferrying to the supercarrier in San Diego without prior permission. Another example occurred when Frankenheimer wanted a shot of Douglas entering the Pentagon, but unable to receive permission, he rigged a camera in a parked car.Pratley, Gerald. The Cinema of John Frankenheimer London: A. Zwemmer, 1969. . Frankenheimer recruited well-known producer and friend John Houseman to play Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell in his uncredited acting debut. Houseman agreed in return for a bottle of fine wine (seen during the telephone scene).
Several scenes, including one with standins for nuns, were shot inside the recently built Washington Dulles International Airport, and the production team was the first to ever film there. The alley and car-park scene was shot in Hollywood, and other footage was shot in the Californian desert in 110-degree heat. The secret base and airstrip were specially built in the desert near Indio, California, and an aircraft tail was used in one shot to create the illusion of a whole plane off screen. The original script had Lancaster dying in a car crash at the end after hitting a bus, but this was dropped in favor of a scene showing him leaving for home in his limousine, a scene that was shot in Paris during production of The Train (1964). President Kennedy arranged a visit to the family compound in Hyannis Port one weekend so that the riot scene could be filmed outside the White House.Seven Days in May commentary as part of the Kirk Douglas Featured Collection at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research