Name: Seven Days in May
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Released: 1964-02-01
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 7.4
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien

Seven Days in May

The astounding story of an astounding military plot to take over the United States! The time is 1970 or 1980 or, possibly, tomorrow!

A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.

DramaThriller

DirectorJohn Frankenheimer

WritersCharles W. Bailey II, Rod Serling, Fletcher Knebel

StatusReleased

LanguageEnglish

Release DateFebruary 1, 1964

Runtime1h 58m

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

December 2, 20248/10

This is an enthralling political drama that pitches Fredric March ("Pres. Lyman") against the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Burt Lancaster ("Gen. Scott") in a battle for control of the United States. When an aide to the General - "Jiggs Casey" (Kirk Douglas) notices some odd goings on, he begins to suspect that his boss is plotting - and plotting on a treasonous scale. When he brings this to the attention of the President, a race is on between the elected authorities and their military commanders to stop the scheming general from achieving his goal. Lancaster is superb as the imperious 4-star general, as are Douglas and March. The star, for me at any rate, though, is Edmond O'Brien as the regularly sozzled Senator "Clark", who is despatched to investigate the existence of a secret base - and potentially thwart the entire rogue operation. The pace is excellent, the dialogue thoughtful and penetrating leaving us with a worrying degree of paranoia - might this actually be possible?