Seven Days in May (1964) on Netflix
Approved19641h 58mDramaThriller
President Jordan Lyman signs a nuclear disarmament treaty, and the country divides. Colonel Martin 'Jiggs' Casey, aide to General James Mattoon Scott, finds evidence of a planned coup.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.8/1017,910 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
The United States is split over President Jordan Lyman's nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. General James Mattoon Scott, who leads the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifies against the treaty before a Senate committee. Outside the White House, demonstrators carry signs promoting Scott's possible run for the presidency. Colonel Martin 'Jiggs' Casey, Scott's aide, hears from Colonel Henderson about a secret unit called EComCon at a base near El Paso, Texas, and finds a note about an airlift to Site Y. Casey takes what he has gathered to the White House. Paul Girard doubts him, and Lyman forms a small group to test the evidence.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Seven Days in May (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- President John F. Kennedy helped get the film made: director John Frankenheimer said Kennedy sent word through White House press secretary Pierre Salinger that he wanted it produced, and, despite Defense Department opposition, Kennedy spent a weekend at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port so the production could shoot outside the White House.
- John Frankenheimer shot without permission: in an early case of guerrilla filmmaking he photographed Balsam ferrying to the supercarrier in San Diego, and when he could not get permission for a shot of Douglas entering the Pentagon he rigged a camera in a parked car.
- Producer John Houseman made his uncredited acting debut as Vice Admiral Farley C. Barnswell, agreeing to play the part in exchange for a bottle of fine wine, which can be seen during the telephone scene.
- The novelists, political journalists Knebel and Bailey, interviewed Air Force chief of staff General Curtis LeMay, who was angry at Kennedy over the lack of air support at the Bay of Pigs, and the film's General James Mattoon Scott is believed to have been inspired by LeMay and Walker.
- David Amram, who had scored Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate, wrote the music but the producer was unsatisfied with it; Jerry Goldsmith was signed to rescore the film and delivered a very brief score of around 15 minutes using only pianos and percussion.
- The production team became the first ever to film inside the recently built Washington Dulles International Airport, where several scenes were shot, including one using stand-ins for nuns.
- The secret base and airstrip were specially built in the desert near Indio, California, and in one shot a single aircraft tail was used to create the illusion of a whole plane lying off screen.
- The original script had Lancaster's character dying in a car crash at the end after hitting a bus, but that was dropped for a scene of him leaving for home in his limousine, shot in Paris during production of The Train.
