The Americanization of Emily (1964) on Netflix
NR19641h 55mComedyDramaRomanceWar
In wartime London, Charlie Madison falls for Emily Barham, an ATS driver whose husband, brother and father were killed. Admiral Jessup orders him to film the first sailor killed on D-Day.
- Netflix4.2/5
- IMDb7.3/106,312 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Charlie Madison serves as adjutant to Rear Admiral William Jessup in London during World War II, keeping his superior supplied with luxury goods and agreeable company. He courts Emily Barham, a driver with the British ATS whose husband, brother and father were killed in the fighting. His pleasure-seeking ways both attract and repel her, and she has no wish to be Americanized. Charlie argues for cowardice, holding that moral striving brings about needless war and death. Despondent since his wife died, Jessup decides that a sailor should be the first American to die on Omaha Beach, so the Army will not overshadow the Navy. He orders Charlie to shoot a combat film recording that death, and Charlie looks for a way out of the assignment.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- William Holden was set to play Charlie Madison in The Americanization of Emily, with James Garner as Commander Bus Cummings. When Holden dropped out, Garner moved up to the lead and James Coburn came in as Bus.
- The hotel suite party scene in The Americanization of Emily was shot on November 22, 1963, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
- The film introduced the song "Emily" by Johnny Mandel and Johnny Mercer, but no vocal version is heard in it; Frank Sinatra recorded the vocal in 1964, followed by Jack Jones and Barbra Streisand.
- Paddy Chayefsky kept the title, characters and many plot incidents of William Bradford Huie's 1959 novel but told a very different story, calling the serious book "essentially a funny satire".
