1941 (1979)

It is a performances centric movie

Absolutely amazing

The first must-see film of the year.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

... but I love this movie. This type of all-star comedy broadly plays out, getting crazier and crazier as the plot unravels, is a slice of bygone Hollywood.Think "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!" "The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming," "Cold Turkey" "The Great Race!" And the godfather of them all "Around the World in 80 Days" These films I saw as a kid at the local Drive-In called Route 66.Famous faces, dozens of cameos, broad humor and all presented with an innocence that longer exists in today's cinematic world.I am just asking you to view it once, Once, perhaps at Christmas, or because John Belushi is awesome or because there is a dance sequence that is so amazing, you might have to rewind and watch it twice!!

Okay all you One-Star Wallys, you Gloomy Guses, you Debbie Downers, I'm going to explain this for the umpty-umpth time in thirty-five years: "1941" is slapstick comedy. It's a big, noisy mess. It's warped fun and nothing more. "1941" is not -- I repeat NOT -- your mature sophisti-comedy with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn with pithy nuances and lessons for the heart. You've got Eddie Deezen on a Ferris wheel, Ned Beatty on an artillery cannon, John Belushi on a P-40 Tomahawk, and Bobby Di Cicco on the make! You've got Slim Pickens reprising Major Kong, Robert Stack as a resolute General Stillwell, and Lorraine Gary as an hysterical housewife. There are soldiers, sailor, zoot-suiters, submarines, tanks, toilet jokes, paint factories, machine guns, rockets, explosions, and wild-eyed screaming close-ups. There's John Williams' bombastic orchestral score, there's boogie-woogie, swing, and close-harmony. There are rude ethnic stereotypes and sophomoric sex jokes. There are kicks in the shins and punches in the nose. There is no subtlety. None. If you're looking for any of that Woody Allen stuff, you might as well watch the Three Stooges for the character development and "Hamlet" for the pie fight. If you took "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" and siphoned off the clever plot, you might get something like "1941." "1941" retains the riotous excitement Spielberg brought us with "Sugarland Express," but burns off the sorrow of "Sugarland," leaving pure intoxicated joy!I don't advocate substances either way, but you can still follow "1941" no matter how stoned or drunk you are. You will love it if you just want to take your mind off your troubles for a couple of hours. Just don't try to take it to film school, you'll only whine and fuss.

Apparently, Spielberg and Zemeckis think it's hilarious! to have a "comedy" mocking Californians who would understandably be scared after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.Would Spielberg think that it would also have been hilarious! to have a comedy mocking New Yorkers who were understandably scared after the Muslim attacks of 9/11?As out of it as Spielberg is, I am guessing so. Many of his fellow Jews ranged from confused to horrified when he used Nazis as cartoon villains in the Indiana Jones movies.Maybe "Schindler's List" was Spielberg's way of trying to regain credibility among his fellow Jews. But, here with "1941," he's clearly oblivious.** (2 Out of 10 Stars)

Hysterical Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion in the days after Pearl Harbor.Can you believe this cast? Robert Stack (in excellent makeup), John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Christopher Lee, John Landis, Dick Miller, Nancy Allen, Eddie Deezen, Joe Flaherty and the list goes on. Even if this was not a good film (and it is) you should check it out to see a performance from some great actors.While the humor is relatively low (Kubrick allegedly called the film "great but not funny"), there are some nice moments featuring parodies of previous Spielberg films "Duel" and "Jaws". Great sense of humor, Mr. Spielberg.Today, the Zoot Suit Riot is probably best known as a song from Cherry Popping' Daddies. But it really occurred, and it has never looked better in fiction than it does in this film with a wonderfully long dance and fight sequence that is the centerpiece of the whole film.