Released the same year as Dr. Strangelove, Seven Days in May, Fail Safe and The Best Man, The Americanization of Emily must have seemed dull and conventional even in its day. Arthur Hiller who directed Love Story, Silver Streak, Making Love and The In-Laws is no Kubrick or Frankenheimer; he's an unimaginative, pedestrian director who fared better with The Hospital(1971)also scripted by Paddy Chayefsky which was funny and featured a spectacular performance from George C. Scott. Emily is seemingly endless, wavers in tone, and the two stars are dull together; their love scenes lack genuine passion. Garner is blank and Andrews' clipped speech leaves one chilled. A few interesting ideas and scenes are overwhelmed by a talky script and inert filmmaking. As a whole, the film doesn't compel or hold together.

Although not a great film, it surely deserves high points for touching on points that mainly pro-war, heroic epics seek to sell. This one takes a completely different, and totally necessary turn in the telling. It lays bear the often contradictory and often insane view of the underbelly of the business of war, taking advantage of sophisticated and edgy story telling to make its point. This in itself makes the film ahead of its time. Well acted by both James Garner and Julie Andrews, it's worth watching, if nothing more that watching Andrews seduce, then "get jiggy" with the handsome star. As always, the stellar acting of Melvin Douglas in the twilight of his illustrious career, adds another dimension of truth and color to the film. And kudos for the theme song, "Emily," still one of my all-time favorite movie themes.

Building up to D-Day, American Charlie Madison (James Garner) arrives in England on May 4, 1944. He is a "Dog-Robber" or a personal attendant of a general or an admiral keeping the highest ranked personnel happy. Emily Barham (Julie Andrews) is the driver given to the brash Madison and she's not very impress with the American at first. She had suffered great losses. Despite that, they fall for each other. His superior Adm. William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) is going crazy trying to maintain the profile of the Navy. He comes up with a scheme to make the first dead man on Omaha beach to be a sailor and sends Charlie off to the pointless suicide mission.For this movie, it's the Paddy Chayefsky screenplay that is the most important. His lines are sizzling. James Garner eats up his rants. The 'cowardice as a virtue' speech has no parallels that I know of. His character is deeply complex. Julie Andrews is absolutely winning. The story doesn't portray the military in the best light.

This classic anti-war film with its heavy dose of black humor is one of the most entertaining "war" movies I have ever seen. Not a war movie in the usual sense, it definitely deals with the subject of war and attempts, through the character of Charlie Madison, to expose war as a tragedy. The lesson is delivered with a dose of levity that makes this movie all the more entertaining.Writer Paddy Chayefsky has scripted material custom-made for James Garner and Julie Andrews in the roles of Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Madison and Emily Barham. The two leading actors are supported by a strong cast that includes Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn, Joyce Grenfell and William Winton.Garner is the cynical aide to Admiral Jessup, played by Melvyn Douglas. Jessup is dedicated to the glorification of war and particularly the role of the navy. Garner, as Madison, delivers a number of private lectures on the immorality of war and the men who wage it and confesses that he is a coward. The audience can judge whether or not he is a coward but he is honest and is certainly nobody's fool. He does not let his strong anti-war bias show but dutifully performs his job for the jaded Admiral Jessup. The role is made for Garner and he delivers.Madison meets and falls in love with a young Englishwoman, Emily Barham, who is the epitome of the stiff upper lip folks of wartime Britain. Emily has lost her husband, father and brother to the war but unlike Charlie, feels that their deaths are heroic. Charlie Madison, the self-confessed coward, and Emily literally come to blows during a stormy relationship. Nevertheless Charlie is a very witty and debonair "coward"...one who Emily cannot resist.The climax comes when Adm. Jessup in one of his moments of insanity, decides to film the first unknown sailor to die on the beaches of Normandy. James Coburn, who plays Charlie's womanizing buddy, embraces the scheme with enthusiasm. Charlie finds himself reluctantly going along with this public relations stunt with interesting consequences for his career and for his relationship with Emily.James Coburn, Melvyn Douglas, and Joyce Grenfell are all in top form. William Winton, who later starred in Murder She Wrote with Angela Lansbury, offers another strong supporting role. The movie is one great vehicle for the talents of Garner and Andrews, who meet up again in the movie Victor, Victoria, many years later. There is a remarkable chemistry between them.