1941 (1979)

Thursday, March 5, 2009

1941 (1979)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Lorraine Gary, Bobby Di Cicco, Murry Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Warren Oates, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, Nancy Allen, John Candy, Elisha Cook Jr, Eddie Deezen, Dianne Kay, Perry Lang, Patti LuPone, Frank McRae, SLIM PICKENS, Wendie Jo Sperber, Lionel Stander, Dub Taylor, Joe Flaherty, Michael McKean, Samuel Fuller, John Landis, Dick Miller, Mickey Rourke, Penny Marshall, James Caan (as an extra)

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: A Comedy Spectacular!

Plot: Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.

My Rating: 9/10 so eat it all you 1941 haters!

Would I watch it again? YES YES YES YES YES YES YES (1,941 times)

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SIDE NOTE: On 10/1/07 I started keeping track of every movie I've watched from that day forward and I've finally gotten to my 300th movie review. I STILL have a stack of 30 movies I've watched that I'm behind on but I thought I'd pick out a great one from that stack for the 300th review before I continue.
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I don't get it. I just...don't...get it. I've been in love with this picture since I first saw it as a kid. It's fucking hysterical!!! I laugh so hard my face hurts. Yet, it's considered by just about everyone to be Spielberg's worst film!?!?! HELLO? Have you seen HOOK (1991)? JURASSIC PARK 2 (1997)? WAR OF THE WORLDS (2005)? ARRRRGH! I'm going to get so pissed I'm gonna cry. Like scientists, I'm baffled at how so many people just don't get it.

It's got a tremendous cast, the characters are all unique and riotous, the situations are fun as hell, the special effects and model work is absolutely amazing, the look and feel give you a great sense of time and place, it's got one of John Williams' best scores, his Swing, Swing, Swing tune for the dance hall riot is one of the best ever, it's loaded with references to earlier Spielberg films without being cheap in-jokes, there's a payoff for every joke set-up and this is a film that proves without a shadow of a doubt that SLIM PICKENS SHOULD BE IN EVERY MOVIE!

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going through the movie and pull out a gazillion of my favorite scenes and lines. Naturally, it can't be all of them. Enjoy. Or, if you're like some, hate it and if you do, I'd like to know your reasons why.

John Candy: Watch it. He's got a leg!

Perry Lang: Tonight's the night of the jitterbug contest.
Dub Taylor: Jitterbug? Hell, that reminds me. Kill them cockroaches back there in that flour sack.

Elish Cook Jr: It was just a case of war nerves.

Robert Stack: The G2 should pour knockout drops into the water supply. Maybe the people of this city would calm down and leave the war to the Army.

Robert Stack: There will be no bombs dropped here.

Christian Zika (left): You've dug your own grave.

Dan Aykroyd: We wanna put this 40mm anti aircraft gun...in your yard...sir.

Diane Kay: Put me down.

Treat Wiliams: Anything you say, Doll.

Japanese Soldier: Cheese.

Slim Pickens: FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!

Slim Pickens: Jesus Palamina! WALKIN' TREES!

John Belushi: Deep in the heart of Texas.

Slim Pickens: Does that gun work? Ya ain't gonna shoot nobody, are ya? Ya outta get some oil on that thing. Ya shouldn't leave it sittin' out here like that. What is it, a Winchester? That's what I got, a Winchester. Doggone lever action. Shoots like a housefire. Outta try to pick ya one up while you're over here.

Toshiro Mifune: Where Hollywood!
Slim Pickens: I'm right here.

Slim Pickens: Betcha gonna bomb John Wayne's house, ain't 'cha?

Slim Pickens: Jesus Palamina! A NAZI! I knew it! You're all in cahoots!

Slim Pickens: One authentic early American harry carey knife. Pass it around boys. Maybe somebody's got a use for it.

Slim Pickens: Let's see you try and find Hollywood now you scrawny little...hey boy, watch that knife.

Slim Pickens: (sniff, sniff) Prune juice!

The Dummy: Scared of heights, huh? Me, too!

Slim Pickens: You ain't gettin' SHIT outta me!

Slim Pickens: Which way's the damn beach?

Robert Stack: Ya know, son...Col. Maddox is mad.

Warren Oates: Winarsk! A little tall for a Jap, wouldn't you say?
Ronnie McMillan: Yeah, but those Japs are sneaky bastards, sir. You never know...
Warren Oates: You're right. Check 'im for stilts.

Warren Oates: Hell, son, the only plane I got around here is that old shit-on-a-shingle trainer sittin' right over there.

Warren Oates: My god! We've been cut off!

John Belushi: My name's Wild Bill Kelso, and don't you forget it!

Warren Oates: Let me hear your guns, son. I want to hear what they sound like. Let me hear 'em. Yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank yank

Dan Aykroyd: Look at Santy Claus, isn't he cute?
Crowd: Yeah!
Dan Aykroyd: D'ya think the Japanese believe in Santy Claus?
Crowd: NO!
Dan Aykroyd: Well instead of turkey for your Christmas dinner, how would ya like to have raw fish heads and rice?
Crowd: NO!
Dan Aykroyd: D'ya think the Krauts believe in Walt Disney?
Crowd: Yeah!
Dan Aykroyd: Yeah? Well, was that Mickey Mouse I saw blitzkriegin' across France?
Crowd: NO!
Dan Aykroyd: Pluto in Poland?
Crowd: NO!
Dan Aykroyd: Or Donald Duck at Pearl Harbor?
Crowd: NO!
Dan Aykroyd: This time we free the world or we lose it! This time we win or we die trying!