1941

1941 (1979)

Soon the screen will be bombarded by the most explosive barrage of クソッ ever filmed.

In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.

Date of release
1979-12-14
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (743)
Runtime
1h 58m
Genres
Comedy, War
Director
Steven Spielberg

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $35M
  • Filmed in: Oregon, Malibu, and Santa Monica
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 3

1941 is a 1979 American war comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The film stars an ensemble cast including Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack, Nancy Allen, and Mickey Rourke in his film debut. The story involves a panic in the Los Angeles area after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Production

According to Steven Spielberg's appearance in the documentary Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures, Stanley Kubrick suggested that 1941 should have been marketed as a drama rather than a comedy film. The chaos of the events following the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 is summarized by Dan Aykroyd's character Sgt. Tree who repeatedly states, 'If there's one thing I can't stand seeing, it's Americans fighting Americans".

Robert Zemeckis originally pitched the concept to John Milius as a serious depiction of the real-life 1942 Japanese bombardment of Ellwood, California; the subsequent false alarm of a Japanese air raid on Los Angeles; and the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots, titled The Night the Japs Attacked.

1941 is also notable as one of the few American films featuring popular Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. It is also the only American film in which Mifune used his own voice in speaking Japanese and English. In his previous movies, Mifune's lines were dubbed in English by Paul Frees.

John Wayne, Charlton Heston, and James Stewart were originally offered the role of Major General Joseph Stilwell, with Wayne still considered for a cameo in the film. After reading the script, Wayne decided not to participate due to ill health, but also urged Spielberg not to pursue the project, as both he and Heston felt the film was unpatriotic. Spielberg recalled, "[Wayne] was really curious and so I sent him the script.

Susan Backlinie, the first victim in Spielberg's Jaws, appeared as the woman seen swimming nude at the beginning of the film. The gas station that Wild Bill Kelso accidentally blows up early in the film is the same one seen in Spielberg's 1971 television film, Duel, with Lucille Benson appearing as the proprietor in both films.

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