» Seven Days in May

Seven Days in May Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: 3 stars out of 4
Comment: The Bottom Line:

Though the movie suffers a bit when Lancaster is offscreen and the viewer never gets the impression that the situation is dire enough for a coup, Seven Days in May is a decent political thriller.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: 7 days in may
Comment: excellent movie based on a best selling book. douglas and lancaster really relate to each other as to how the american military gets involved in the political system.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Still works today
Comment: Some of the best actors in Hollywood are in this film, but the best performance, as far as I am concerned is by Burt Lancaster. When I read this book and saw the movie as a teenager, it scared me to death to think how easy it would have been to topple our government. I would highly recommend this movie for any age range, with the caveat that reading the book first would enhance the experience.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: Seven Days in May
Comment: Classic political science fiction. The book and the movie are favorites of mine. This is a must see. It could happen here.

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: A meditation of democracy
Comment: There is much to like about "Seven Days in May" as others have noted. In this comment I focus on one long scene: the confrontation between President Jordan Lyman and General James Mattoon Scott.

It is a compelling dialogue about democracy. The general is full of himself, and realized effortlessly as only Burt Lancaster could do, an under-rated actor by all but Luchino Visconti. The beleaguered president, played with enormous conviction and depth by Frederich March, still has one thing the general does not have, an electoral mandate.

While the film seems far fetched, a coup d'état in the United States, as others have noted, the underlying tension is real. There are times when the elected government may well have lost the confidence of the electorate, but it clings on because the constitution permits or indeed requires it to do so. The election occurred in the past, by definition, and events may have wrought great changes, or the government, in this case embodied in one man, the president, may have changed course for one reason or another. That electoral mandate is then a thing of the past, or so it may seem.

There are many examples, an Australian prime minster was removed from office in mid-term as recently as 1975, Israeli governments have stumbled as changing coalitions have produced policies from pure air, the threat of coup d'état against Charles DeGaulle over Algerian independence was very real. More mundane examples likewise abound.

An elected government confronts the reality of the responsibility of office and has to change its rhetoric form the carefree days of opposition to the hard edges of government. Its supporters feel betrayed and the opposition beats the drum for a change of government. In such a situation why wait for constitutional niceties? Throw the rascals out, now! Indeed, why not? Because in the longer run this kind of mob rule and demagoguery destroys order, stability, and continuity. The voice of the mob is not the voice of the people. Why not? Read on to find out why not.

What is the worth of that dated mandate? President Lyman then makes an argument that the process that produced the mandate stands above all else, and it guarantees the continued worth of the mandate, dated or not. Process? The democratic election that yield President Lyman, that process.

General Scott claims to represent the will of the people, and just maybe he does in the film. That is the tension. He may be as much right as wrong. He may be right about the will of the people. But he certainly wrong about the voice of the people.

The voice of the people is not heard on talk-back radio, in studio audiences of public affairs television, newspaper letter pages, bars, and lobbies. The voice of the people is heard in the ballot box. That is Lyman's argument.

If he has exceeded his mandate, if the will of the people has truly changed as Scott believes, then the voice of the people will be heard at the next scheduled election. To make that happen all Scott needs to do is declare his candidacy and run for election. He can do that at any time.

Scott argues that time does not permit the luxury of democracy. The threat is real, material, and immediate. He might be right. Yes, also, this is ever the usurpers argument. It convinced Brutus to strike at Caesar. It led many well meaning people to support Adolf Hitler. Even if right, Scott is also wrong in a much more important way than he is right.

That is the great constraint of democracy. It fixes the occasions of election in one way or another in any political system. The rhythm of elections may not match the rhythm of events. But to breach democracy in accord with the rhythm of events may be a greater destruction that any that events can wreak. That is Lyman's reply.

After all, if the Soviets see a military seizure of power in the United States that alone will be sufficient to cause them to attack right now. The very thing to be avoided will be provoked by the effort to prevent it. But that kind of second guessing is just that, speculative second guessing.

The note that Lyman strikes repeatedly is that democracy is the open and endless opportunity for anyone to take to the soapbox and rally the voice of the people, and that is the one thing General Scott has conspicuously failed to do. He speaks only to those who already agree with. One of the hallmarks of democracy is that it requires those who seek office to meet those who do not yet agree with them. Though there is a lot of nonesense in electoral campaigns that essential requirement remains. To win any candidate has to get votes from that vast bulk of voters who are ideologues.

Rather than face the auditorium with it noisily but vigorous disorder, his meetings have been in closed offices, underground car parks, back rooms, and the like, all this to save democracy from ... itself.

---

More Reviews for Seven Days in May