Grade: B+
Synopsis: In World War II London, an American officer (James Garner) is content to ride out the war living the good life while seeing to the needs of his Admiral, until he finds himself in love with a British widow (Julie Andrews) and given a dangerous assignment.
The Americanization of Emily is a nearly great satire that, unfortunately, stumbles at the finish.
James Garner leads a knockout cast in a performance that’s absolutely perfect for the part. He’s charming but cynical, passionate but nonchalant. It’s a tricky role, and Garner makes it look easy. Supporting him, Julie Andrews is solid as his widowed love-interest, Melvyn Douglas is convincing as his ailing commander, and James Coburn nearly steals the film as a fellow officer who gets caught up in the chase for glory.
The script by Paddy Chayefsky, who would go on to write the great Network (1976), does a fantastic job of satirizing the machinations of war, until it loses its way toward the film’s finale. It’s not a bad ending, but not the great one the film, up to that point, deserved. It’s almost as if Chayefsky wasn’t willing to go as far as he would with Network, or as far as Stanley Kubrick did in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Both of those films took their satire to over-the-top heights in their finales, but this one attempts to reign it back in and tack on a happier ending that just doesn’t feel organic.
Still, The Americanization of Emily is a good movie, and one well worth seeing. Just don’t be surprised if the ending leaves you feeling a bit cheated.
