The Americanization of Emily (1964)

Date	User	Rating
May 12, 2020	nobamba	75 _83rd
Hilarious unexpected outcomes with a good premise of a coward profiteer in war. Shame it took until the '60s for a critical view on WW2II without being depressing. The romance wasn't as interesting as the cover might suggest. Fav scene: talking with Emily and her mother about his cowardice in a religious context and about his ex-wife.
Jul 18, 2018	KasperL	75 _77th
Garner's great, and so is Chayefsky's dialogue (and, in particular, the monologues). It is, however, a film where one admires the many fine parts (the aforementioned performance and writing as well as Coburn's effortless badassdom) more than the whole.
Mar 02, 2018	auhasarderik	6 _40th
A war movie preaching cowardice; at least it's something else, and has polished dialogues. At its worse it's incredibly lame, far lamer than the brave-patriotic ones.
May 16, 2016	Moribunny	93 _98th
Paddy Chayefsky #1 (possibly thanks to the WBH novel). What a brilliant indictment of the glorification of war.
Oct 24, 2015	ITBSPodcast	100 _0th
"This is actual film history, not bullshit theories about Camp by schoolteachers." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/04/episode-54-paddy-chayefskys-dilemma.html
Jul 27, 2014	Ella May	70 _50th
This movie is the similar to The Music Man... EXCEPT that Julie Andrews is wrong at the end, where Shirley Jones was right.
Mar 23, 2014	glm01	87 _91st
87.000
Jul 01, 2013	redacted	84 _81st
The deranged admiral against whom insubordination is a crime. The severe anti-hero. Life magazines dead man cover. That job during that war. Those concepts will stay with you. You won't see an Omaha beach sequence under that light no where, no sir.
Jun 23, 2012	glm	85 _80th
85.125
Apr 28, 2012	glumpy_99	90 _82nd
Wonderful black comedy/satire in the guise of a drama gives Garner and Andrews some of their best moments on screen, and also takes advantage of their surprising sizzling chemistry. Chayefsky's witty screenplay is full of perplexing Catch-22s, and also gives Coburn and Douglas some wonderful moments in support. Inky black & white cinematography only underlines the darkly cynical implications of the story, which leads to a perfect ending which happily doesn't cop out to what has come before.
Jan 22, 2011	SlantMag	25 _61st
"Though a bit overstuffed with long-winded speeches, Chayefsky's scabrously funny script brims with snappy, crackling dialogue." - Nick Schager
Aug 05, 2009	JooJoo	5 _80th
This script is a bit too clever at times for its own good.
Aug 27, 2008	miss jesus	92 _94th
Fantastic chemistry between Andrews and Garner, and Coburn's merry menace is as entertaining as always. The dialogue is outstanding. It isn't as spectacular (or as frequently personal) as Network, but it certainly left my jaw on the floor a few times. There are some scenes later in the film in which Andrews is quoting Garner to Garner, and it seemed like that hideous sort of audience reminder that assumes we've not paid attention, otherwise it's a near perfect film.
May 12, 2007	PeaceAnarchy	84 _77th
A very good movie that really rides on a great performance by James Garner. The only problem is that while the movie's cynicism is present throughout it still seems to want to be a conventional hero movie. It doesn't detract to much in general, but it does make you wonder how good it could have been if they'd gone all out. The ending leaves you satisfied that the movie doesn't give up on its message, and yet something still doesn't feel right about it.
Dec 19, 2006	MartinTeller	91 _95th
The Chayefsky dialogue sparkles, with some terrific one-liners and rants almost as good as those in Network. A very funny movie with an enlightened moral standpoint. The cast is uniformly excellent. The musical score is perhaps a little too far on the schmaltzy side, though.

Average Percentile 65.45% from 151 Ratings