1941 is the Ultimate Steven Spielberg Film
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1941 ( a 1979 Steven Spielberg action comedy film ) seems like a parody of Michael Bay. The film's credits literally have explosions happen all throughout, under the scrolling text. There is so much colorful destruction, so much over the top action scenes, so much loud over-bombardment, that I believe this is the Ultimate Steven Spielberg film.
Over a year ago I argued that the real Steven Spielberg is not the emotional stuff, people associate with him. But rather the boyish extravagant entertainment stuff. He is good at both, but it seems like sometimes he can't hold himself from indulging in pure fun. And 1941 was a movie where he was given a blank check to do whatever he wanted. Resulting in the loudest, craziest and stupidest movie ever.
Don't get me wrong, I love 1941! Even thought it can be at times tiring to watch, due to all the insanity that is constantly happening. I mean, the insanity is the reason to watch the movie. There is a scene where a tank goes through a paint factory, for God's sake! I mean... Imagine a modern mindless action scene where stuff just keeps happening non stop all the time. 1941 is kind of that. Occasionally it stops for a joke or two. But most of the time it just goes!
But it isn't stupid stupid. Spielberg's direction is incredibly smart in this movie. Transitions are flawlessly genius. Camera is very Spielbergian. The movie had a lot of work put into it. And it shows in every frame. So much that at some points you get dizzy from how much work it should have been to make it.
The film is weirdly horny. There are two horny plots. One trying to be a comedic depiction of an officer ( played by Treat Williams who kind of looks like Colin Farrell ) trying to rape a young girl ( played by Dianne Kay ), who instead wants to be with Bobby Di Cicco's character, while Wendie Jo Sperber's character is chasing the officer around because she wants him.
And then there is another horny plot of Tim Matheson's character trying to seduce Nancy Allen
One character that I couldn't get enough of, is perfectly cast John Belushi as Captain Wild Bill Kelso. He is this force of nature that goes through the world and devours everything in the most satisfyingly stupid way possible.
The movie is insanely expensive. If I am not mistaken it was the most expensive movie in 1979 and it was definitely more expensive than Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. To illustrate you how bad shit expensive this movie is, there is a very short joke, where the punchline is: the whole house breaks. This wasn't a miniature. It was a real house that they destroyed for a short joke in a 2+ hour long movie full of such jokes. The amount of things breaking in this movie is beyond Michael Bay.
The film is not your typical Spielberg film. But if you are a Spielberg fan, as in you know little things that non-fans would not know about, you will have a better time with this movie.
This movie has a reference to The Fabelmans even though The Fabelmans came out decades after this movie. In The Fabelmans you learn about an early film of Spielberg with a train, that he made as a kid. And how putting his head near it, made it look like a real thing. And in 1941 there is a brief gag, where a character is putting his head at a toy train tracks, to see it rushing at him full speed. And from his perspective it looks real, since he is so low to the tracks.
This movie famously opens in the same way as Jaws with the same actress Susan Backlinie, going into the water and music by John Williams from Jaws playing over it. Only to then have a submarine gag instead of a shark.
When I saw 1941 for the first time, I couldn't watch it. It was way to much stuff. It was over-bombardment. And it is perhaps why this movie is considered the worst Steven Spielberg film. Steven himself kind of disowned it, claiming that the writer, Robert Zemeckis would have been a better director to make it. But after more than a decade of careful analysis of Spielberg's work, it seems like this movie was inevitable. Because it is the most Ultimate Steven Spielberg film ever.
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