Minority of 2, pally. I have ALWAYS loved this movie. Aside from the monstrous production design, great photography/editing, memorable stunt sequences like that AWESOME ferris wheel destruction...I also happen to think it's freakin' hilarious. Dan Aykroyd getting bopped on the head by that santa kills me every time, as does Slim Pickens faking diarrhea. It's a comedy classic of immense scope and polish and imagination, and I'm convinced that aliens on other planets appreciate it like most humans simply can't.
I'm a huge fan of '41 and have been since the movie came out - saw it three times the week it opened in the UK at the Odeon St Albans.
Sure, loads of the gags don't work but those that do are superb. And overall I love the look of the film - the costumes, the sets, the model work - it really is an amazing recreation of America in the 40s.
The FX for their time were astounding. Some of them are still jaw dropping today, like the road-level you get zooming down Holly Boulevard, cars whizing left and right in front if you, as Wild Bill Kelso flies overhead. Also, take a look inside the buildings as the planes fly past- you can see people inside them reacting to the mayhem! Nowadays that would be a simple FX with green screen but back in the 70s they actually went to the bother of filming little reaction shots of people and then projecting them inside the building models using little Super 8 projectors! I miss that sort of inventiveness.
Some of Bill Fraker's cinematography does have a tendancy to go with that over-saturated look that Speilberg loves so much these days and which I hate, but that is probably my only major quibble with the movie. That aside, it is a huge amount of fun, has one of the best John Williams scores ever and has THAT amazing dance number too.
One of the earliest "Making Of" books I ever got was for '41 and I still read it today - bit of a puff piece as you would expect but the behind the scenes photos are amazing.
If I can add one more thought to what I've expressed about the film over the years, it's this little bit of news: in June I finally won a super-rare bit of "1941" memorabilia for which I'd been searching eBay for years and years. I first remember reading about it in an ad in Starlog Magazine, I think, and I mailed them first, decades ago now, to ask whether they had any left, but they'd unloaded them all years before.
It's the Official "1941" Veterans Medal: a slightly oversized bronze medal, with the "1941" movie title logo in a bronze rectangle, from which hangs a red-white-and-blue satin ribbon, from which dangles a bronze emblem of a smiling soldier looking at us through binoculars. On either side of him are leaf clusters, and under his chin a ribbon saying "VET" in red-inlaid letters, and the binoculars have an elaborate inlaid red and white design of a Japanese "rising sun" flag being reflected in the lenses.
It's still in its original box and the medal itself is in the original plastic wrap.
I keep it with the other useless junk inside my limited edition wooden-army-box "1941" 3-DVD set.
--Have you picked up one of those yet, by the way?
Thought this film was very painful to watch the first time around. Juvenile humor, over acted, over loud, unfunny at every turn, a complete mess. Looking back on it I find it amusing in its absurdity, in a cult film kinda way.
Just the other day I was wondering if this title, with its limited mass appeal yet sizeable fan base might not be a perfect candidate for a Twilight Time blu-ray...
in June I finally won a super-rare bit of "1941" memorabilia for which I'd been searching eBay for years and years. I first remember reading about it in an ad in Starlog Magazine, I think, and I mailed them first, decades ago now, to ask whether they had any left, but they'd unloaded them all years before.
It's the Official "1941" Veterans Medal: a slightly oversized bronze medal, with the "1941" movie title logo in a bronze rectangle, from which hangs a red-white-and-blue satin ribbon, from which dangles a bronze emblem of a smiling soldier looking at us through binoculars. On either side of him are leaf clusters, and under his chin a ribbon saying "VET" in red-inlaid letters, and the binoculars have an elaborate inlaid red and white design of a Japanese "rising sun" flag being reflected in the lenses.
It's still in its original box and the medal itself is in the original plastic wrap.
Fantastic! I always wanted one of those myself. I have the '41 baseball cap from the same range but never got a medal.
I missed the cinema run of 1941, but I did catch a screening at the Scala. I think it was a double bill with Dr Strangelove. Fortunately, the Scala had the good sense to show 1941 first.
'41 is one of those movies that had a variety of different prints in circulation, at least in the UK.
For example, the soundtrack mix is very different in some versions although most significant of all was that certain prints omitted the scene where Wild Bill Kelso is scratching himself in the cockpit of his plane and finds his little doll mascot.
Obviously its 30 years since I saw it theatrically but I'm positive that the print showing in London's West End was definately different to the one playing in the sticks (I'm guessing the London run was on 70mm).
It's a comedy classic of immense scope and polish and imagination, and I'm convinced that aliens on other planets appreciate it like most humans simply can't.
