I did not like 1941 as much as its successor-in-tone, Airplane! (1980) though the formats are similar (gags, non-sequiturs, multiple stories, etc.)
Did I expect too much from the creators early in their careers?*
I turned to Roger Ebert for clarification:
...the real problem with "1941", I think: This movie was never thought through on a basic level of character and story. All sorts of things are happening, but we're never clear why they have to happen and we haven't been told enough about the characters to care if they survive or not.Ah ha! Oh well. At least I learned from the script's great opening:
a) It plays with the Columbia Pictures logo in a playful way that was not often done until the 1980s.
b) It establishes a tongue-in-cheek tone right away.
ex. "FADE IN:
COLUMBIA PICTURES LOGO
The Lady With The Torch -- proud, heroic.
We HEAR the sound of an air raid siren...and then the voice of EDDIE DEEZEN, yelling!
DEEZEN (V.O.): It's an air raid! Lights out! Lights out!
Of course, the Lady With The Torch is immobile.
DEEZEN (V.O.): Hey, you crazy broad, put that light out!!!
The Lady immediately reacts -- she blows out her torch and the screen goes pitch black!
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: Ebert is right. I cared more about the characters in Airplane! surviving than I did here, and it made all the difference.
1941 (1979)(Revised 9th draft, 8/28/78)
by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
Based on the story "The Night the Japs Attacked," by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale and John Milius
* This script and film are the combined talents of Spielberg + Zemekis + Gale + Milius + Belushi + Aykroyd.
Also, the marketing tag line was: "Soon the screen will be bombarded by the most explosive barrage of #$%(& ever filmed"?
No comments:
Post a Comment