Director John Frankenheimer worked with writer Rod Serling
to create the 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May, starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Martin Balsam, John Houseman (in his first film role), Ava Gardner, and the great Fredric March.
Based on the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey, Seven
Days In May depicts what happens when a military plot to overthrow the United
States government is uncovered one week before the President is scheduled to
deliver his State Of The Union Address. Though it contains a minimum of action,
the film is nonetheless gripping, suspenseful, and, at several points, outright
nerve-wracking.
It also boasts a famous confrontation scene between Lancaster
and March toward the end of the movie which Frankenheimer often said was his
personal favorite of all the scenes he had directed. Considering that his career
spanned five decades, that's no small recommendation. That confrontation sequence
remains on of the most taut, literate, and brilliantly directed sequences I
have ever seen.
Movie Information
Running Time: 118 minutes
Rating: PG
Producer/Director: John Frankenheimer
Screenwriter: Rod Serling
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
Burt Lancaster: Gen. James Mattoon Scott
Kirk Douglas: Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey
Fredric March: President Jordan Lyman
Ava Gardner: Eleanor 'Ellie' Holbrook
Edmond O'Brien: Sen. Raymond Clark
Martin Balsam: Paul Girard
Andrew Duggan: Col. William 'Mutt' Henderson
Hugh Marlowe: Harold McPherson
Whit Bissell: Sen. Frederick Prentice
Helen Kleeb: Esther Townsend
George Macready: Christopher Todd
Richard Anderson: Col. Murdock
Bart Burns: Art Corwin
John Houseman: Vice-Adm. Farley C. Barnswell (uncredited)