Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Nostalgia Central
    • Home
    • Blog
      • Lists
    • Television
      • TV by Decade
        • TV – 1950s
        • TV – 1960s
        • TV – 1970s
        • TV – 1980s
        • TV – 1990s
      • Comedy
      • Drama
      • Kids TV
      • Variety
      • News & Sport
      • Advertisements
    • Music
      • Music by Decade
        • Music – 1950s
        • Music – 1960s
        • Music – 1970s
        • Music – 1980s
        • Music – 1990s
      • Artists – A to K
        • Artists – A
        • Artists – B
        • Artists – C
        • Artists – D
        • Artists – E
        • Artists – F
        • Artists – G
        • Artists – H
        • Artists – I
        • Artists – J
        • Artists – K
      • Artists – L to Z
        • Artists – L
        • Artists – M
        • Artists – N
        • Artists – O
        • Artists – P
        • Artists – Q
        • Artists – R
        • Artists – S
        • Artists – T
        • Artists – U
        • Artists – V
        • Artists – W
        • Artists – X
        • Artists – Y
        • Artists – Z
      • Artists – 0 to 9
      • Genres
      • Music on Film & TV
      • One-Hit Wonders
      • Playlists
      • Online Radio
    • Movies
      • Movies by Decade
        • Movies – 1950s
        • Movies – 1960s
        • Movies – 1970s
        • Movies – 1980s
        • Movies – 1990s
      • Movies – 0 to 9
      • Movies – A to K
        • Movies – A
        • Movies – B
        • Movies – C
        • Movies – D
        • Movies – E
        • Movies – F
        • Movies – G
        • Movies – H
        • Movies – I
        • Movies – J
        • Movies – K
      • Movies – L to Z
        • Movies – L
        • Movies – M
        • Movies – N
        • Movies – O
        • Movies – P
        • Movies – Q
        • Movies – R
        • Movies – S
        • Movies – T
        • Movies – U
        • Movies – V
        • Movies – W
        • Movies – X
        • Movies – Y
        • Movies – Z
    • Pop Culture
      • Fads
      • Toys & Games
      • Fashion
      • Decor
      • Food & Drink
      • People
      • Technology
      • Transport
    • Social History
      • 1950s Year by Year
      • 1960s Year by Year
      • 1970s Year by Year
      • 1980s Year by Year
      • 1990s Year by Year
      • Events
    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies - 0 to 9
    Movies - 0 to 9 Movies - 1970s 4 Mins Read

    1941 (1979)

    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email

    1941 is a stupid farce based on a stupid idea: What would have happened if, after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had gone on to attack Hollywood?

    It is the premise of this picture that the Americans would have been so moronic that they would have done the enemy’s job for them. The Americans in this film knock each other out and destroy the California coast before the Japs ever get to Hollywood Boulevard.

    Since it never rises above the silliness of old Abbott and Costello, Three Stooges, and Martin & Lewis comedies, the movie will only appeal to the Animal House  (1978) audience, and there’s a lot of cruelty and violence in it that isn’t the least bit funny.

    The opening sequence is clever – A nubile young girl leaps from a car on a California beach in the quiet fog of a December dawn, sheds her robe and plunges naked into the freezing surf.

    As the John Williams music signals familiar approaching danger, the girl is impaled on the snout of a black monster and hoisted high above the waves, screaming her head off. It’s not a shark this time, but the periscope of a Japanese submarine commanded by Toshiro Mifune.

    The scene is short, but one of the few genuinely funny interludes in the movie. Later, there’s an exciting musical production number that involves a takeoff of the Andrews Sisters in which a riot breaks out and the doughboys demolish a USO centre in the middle of a jitterbug contest.

    This kind of clever send-up of 1940s movies indicates real insight, and there’s no doubt that Spielberg has seen Hollywood Canteen instead of just Animal House. Unfortunately, the movie slides quickly downhill from there, landing in a farrago of flying vegetables, broken plates, wooden situations, and imbecilic sight gags.

    John Belushi (pictured at left) is something that crawled out of a roach motel. Ned Beatty and Lorraine Gary, as a Dagwood and Blondie couple who get an anti-aircraft tank planted in their front yard, get lost in the confusion.

    Slim Pickens is nauseating in a scatological bit involving a swallowed compass from a Crackerjack box and a lot of prune juice. Robert Stack is a general who cries at Dumbo. Tim Matheson is merely baffled as a pilot who crashes into the La Brea Tar Pits. Treat Williams is wasted as a bully.

    The cast is vast and unimportant. Mifune even says, “rotsa ruck.” Actors will obviously do anything for Spielberg, even if it means sullying their reputations.

    Farce is never effective unless it is played with deadly seriousness. Two hours of noise and custard pies are not enough. 1941 seems to have been made with the philosophy that if anyone stands still too long he gets his head shoved into a tank, a fist, a toilet, or a chocolate cake.

    Steven Spielberg was so certain 1941 was going to be a disaster that on the night of the premiere (14 December 1979) he fled the country and decamped to Japan. The reviews were awful and the picture went down with a resounding thud.

    Sergeant Tree
    Dan Aykroyd
    Wild Bill Kelso
    John Belushi
    Ward Douglas
    Ned Beatty
    Joan Douglas
    Lorraine Gary
    Claude
    Murray Hamilton
    Von Kleinschmidt
    Christopher Lee
    Birkhead
    Tim Matheson
    Commander Mitamura
    Toshiro Mifune
    Maddox
    Warren Oates
    General Stilwell
    Robert Stack
    “Stretch” Sitarski
    Treat Williams
    Donna
    Nancy Allen
    Foley
    John Candy
    Patron
    Elisha Cook Jr
    Hollis Wood
    Slim Pickens
    Mizerany
    John Landis
    Reese
    Mickey Rourke
    Herbie
    Eddie Deezen
    Wally Stephens
    Bobby Di Cicco
    Maxine Dexheimer
    Wendie Jo Sperber
    Angelo Scioli
    Lionel Stander
    Mr Malcomb
    Dub Taylor
    Willy
    Michael McKean
    Miss Fitzroy
    Penny Marshall
    Interceptor commander
    Samuel Fuller
    Polar Bear woman
    Susan Backlinie

    Director
    Steven Spielberg

    Video

    Related Posts

    • Electric Horseman, The (1979)
      Electric Horseman, The (1979)
      Robert Redford and Jane Fonda were well cast in Sydney…
    • Projectionist, The (1970)
      Projectionist, The (1970)
      This independent, low-budget pearl from writer/director Harry Hurwitz deserved a…
    • Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
      Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
      The bombing of Pearl Harbor is presented from the perspectives…
    • Enter The Dragon (1973)
      Enter The Dragon (1973)
      Enter The Dragon was a defining moment for martial arts films…
    • Meteor (1979)
      Meteor (1979)
      A five-mile-wide chunk of the asteroid Orpheus is on a…
    • Animal House (1978)
      Animal House (1978)
      Rude and crude, rough and ready, sometimes revolting but essentially…
    • Midway (1976)
      Midway (1976)
      This 1976 movie dramatises the epic air and sea battle…
    • Being There (1979)
      Being There (1979)
      Peter Sellers plays a mentally handicapped gardener named Chauncey Gardiner ("Chance"),…

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleWay Out
    Next Article Anderson Tapes, The (1971)

    Comments are closed.

    Follow us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    You May Also Like
    • Two In Clover
      1 9 6 9 – 1 9 7 0 (UK) 13 x 30 minute episodes Londoner […]
    • Money
      On paper, Money should have been incredibly successful. Not only […]
    • Cheaters, The
      1 9 6 2 – 1 9 6 3 (UK) 39 x 30 minute episodes This […]
    • Miracle Mile (1988)
      Laid-back jazz trombonist Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) […]
    • Lost Islands, The
      1 9 7 6 (Australia) 26 x 30 minute episodes A group of five […]
    • James at 15/James at 16
      1 9 7 7 – 1 9 7 8 (USA) One of television’s more […]
    Twitter Feed
    Please note


    Nostalgia Central covers the period 1950 to 1999 and contains some words and references which reflect the attitudes of those times and which may be considered culturally sensitive, offensive or inappropriate today.
    Popular Tags
    1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1975 1976 Action Figures Amicus Arcade games Australia Beach movies Beatles Blaxploitation Board games Britpop Canada Crime Disco Disney Doo-Wop Elvis Presley Girl groups Glam Goth Hammer Heavy Metal Irwin Allen Labels Merseybeat Mod revival Motown New Romantic New Wave NWOBHM Oi! One-hit wonders Power Pop Pub rock Punk Radio Scotland Ska Soul music Surf music
    Search Nostalgia Central
    Copyright © 1998, 2022 Nostalgia Central
    • About
    • Contact
    • FAQ

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.