Garner’s and Andrew’s The Americanization of Emily Is Fresh

WHAT IS A COWARD? 

James Garner and Julie Andrews, the stars of the The Americanization of Emil, a 1964 American comedy-drama war film written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Arthur Hiller, have said that this movie was there personal favorite.  I can say as much, as it is my personal favorite movie of James Garner, and my second favorite movie of Julie Andrews (Sound of Music is my personal favorite).  I first viewed this gem as a young teenager, just as the Viet Nam war was taking off.  It bothered me at the time, a movie about a confessed coward (James Garner as Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. “Charlie” Madison) during World War 2.

Even though I don’t consider this movie anti-war (some critics do), it’s sure not a poster boy film for war in general.  A comedy yes, but as written in book form by author William Bradford, it was neither a comedy or a novel about cowardice.  The great Paddy Chayefsky wrote the screenplay and changed the book into a thought provoking movie.   [ “Paddy Chayefsky’s adaptation, while retaining the title, characters, situation, background and many specific plot incidents, nevertheless told a very different story. “I found the book, which is serious in tone, essentially a funny satire, and that’s how I’m treating it.” Wikipedia]  After reading the book, I agree.

The subject of cowardice in this film was troubling. As we all want to say,  that men and women who give their time, effort, and many times, their lives to defend our country, are heroic.  But are they actually true heroes?  Is it all about getting killed?  This movie makes one think about this serious topic in a troubling way.  How would you like to be a dead hero?  And what if there is nothing beyond this existence here on earth?  You gave up everything for what?  Pass into the land of the wonderment of nothingness?  This movie is one of the best as it is for a thinking human being, and most importantly, one that ponders what your actions on earth really mean in the big picture.  

It gives a platform for  James Garner to show how much a gifted actor he was and for  Julie Andrews to tell the world she was more than Mary Poppins.  

The Americanization of Emily is a 1964 British-American black-and-white romantic black comedy war film written by Paddy Chayefsky, produced by Martin Ransohoff, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas and James Coburn. The film also features Joyce Grenfell, Keenan Wynn and William Windom. Chayefsky’s screenplay was loosely adapted from the 1959 novel of the same name by William Bradford Huie, who had been a Seabee officer during the Normandy Invasion. The film is set in London during World War II in the weeks leading up to D-Day in 1944.^[4]