1941

release year: 1979
genre: period comedy
viewing setting: home Bluray 10/6/25 and home DVD 3/6/10 and several other times spanning back to the 1980s

synopsis: Just after the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor, hysteria and paranoia run wild in Los Angeles, and it all comes to a head in one crazy night.

impressions: This movie actually gets less funny every time I watch it, as the years go on. It's a mix of an actual Japanese submarine looking for a target, tensions in the military, tensions within a family, and a dance competition. This was Steven Spielberg's attempt to make an epic comedy like The Blues Brothers but it didn't work out quite as well. One problem is the dated jokes that don't hold up almost half a century later. Another might be that I watched the extended version, which has an extra half-hour of material that probably slows down the pacing. At any rate, while it has some funny moments, the time to get to them feels longer and longer each time I re-watch this.

acting: This movie has a very large cast of stars: John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, Christoper Lee, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack, Treat Williams, John Candy, Slim Pickens, and more. Belushi and Williams give the most memorable performances, in my opinion.

final word: Funny comedy that was funnier in the 1970s and 1980s; it has not aged that well.

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