This week, I decided to watch a movie now largely removed from society. The only reason I decided to watch it, and had even heard of it, is because it is referenced several times in The Simpsons.

Considered to be a box office bomb, it is also thought to be Steven Spielberg’s biggest mistake.

Not only does it boast Señor Spielbergo as director, it also has an all-star cast, and was written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, who later went on to create Back to the Future.

So how could it all go so horribly wrong?

Let’s find out…

1941

Starring: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Christopher Lee, Bobby Di Cicco, Nancy Allen, Tim Matheson, Treat Williams, Robert Stack, Dianne Kay, Wendie Jo Sperber, Murray Hamilton, Eddie Deezen, Slim Pickens & John Candy

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Rating: 0 stars

Synopsis

I’ll try my best to make this as understandable as possible. Trust me when I say that this is a very hard task.

The simple synopsis:

Days after the Pearl Harbour attack, a group of soldiers stumble upon a plot by the Japanese to blow up Hollywood.

The real, incredibly complicated, not very well explained and exhaustively confusing plot:

Plot No. 1

A Japanese submarine emerges on the West Coast of America with a German Captain (Lee), intent on bombing Hollywood. They kidnap a local hick named Hollis P. Wood (Pickens) and interrogate him.

Plot No. 2

A group of soldiers arrive in a small town just outside of Los Angeles. They go to a diner and then meet a local family. These characters then get their own storylines- most of the family stay in their house, but the soldiers go into the city.  

Plot No. 3-

Sergeant Tree (Aykroyd) and his colleagues enter L.A., have a huge brawl with Navy soldiers, and then drive a tank through downtown Hollywood.

Plot No. 4

During this brawl, Corporal Sitarski (Williams) tries to rape local woman Betty (Kay), whilst avoiding being attacked by her best friend Maxine (Sperber), and trying to be stopped by local dancer Wally (Di Cicco).

Plot No. 5

Captain Birkhead (Matheson) tries desperately to have sex with secretary Donna (Allen), who will only have sex in an airplane in flight. They end up flying over Hollywood in a fighter jet, whilst making out and being chased by:

Plot No. 6

Captain Wild Bill Kelso (Belushi) tries his best to fight off the invading Japanese. He isn’t very successful, but is good at blowing things up.

Plot No. 7

The family back in the small town try to defend their house and local community from the Japanese.

Plot No. 8

Claude Crumm (Hamilton) and Herbie (Deezen) sit on a Ferris wheel in a closed down Amusement Park, as a first line of defence against invading forces.

Plot No. 9

Major General Stilwell (Stack) just wants to watch Dumbo, ignoring the possible imminent attack.

All of the plots intersect one another, and then all align in one final ‘joke’

Is it really that bad?

A slapstick screwball comedy film based around the bombing of Pearl Harbour?

Yes, it really is that bad.

Keep in mind that this is supposed to be a comedy, and then re-read that synopsis again.

I don’t hear anybody laughing.

Detailed Analysis

The film begins with an allusion to Spielberg's most famous film, Jaws, in which the naked woman from that film once again goes into the ocean, only to be attacked- this time by a submarine.

Don’t worry- she’s fine. But by the end of this grueling two hour debacle, the audience will not be.

So Señor Spielbergo decides to spoof his biggest hit, thinking that, from this moment on, the audience are on his side.

He couldn’t be more wrong.

After Christopher Lee argues in German to a Japanese General, we are introduced to a group of soldiers led by Sergeant Tree and the sort of protagonist Wally, as they have a huge brawl in a diner. Wild Bill blows up a gas station, Betty and her family meet the soldiers and then Captain Birkhead and Donna make out in a cockpit.

All of this happens in the opening fifteen minutes, and doesn’t really make any sense, as none of the characters or their stories are properly established. Not only are the Japanese and Germans stupid, every American character is either an incredibly violent idiot and/or a pervert.  The film loses all credibility when Donna is introduced as having a wild sexual deviancy, and then continues to drop into even more turgid waters when Bluto Corporal Sitarski continuously hounds Betty (Kay) in an incredibly cartoony and thuggish way. This subplot is exactly like when Olive Oil is carried off by Bluto in Popeye because ‘he wants her’. It’s strange and unsettling to watch, especially when it is supposed to be humorous.

The zany energy just doesn’t work, and this is down to a terrible script and awful comedic directing. Spielberg directs it like a serious epic rather than a screwball comedy, and the only part that almost works is the huge brawl in the nightclub that is very reminiscent of the set piece in Shanghai in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  But still, this mass fight scene isn’t very funny- it may be elaborate but it is just insane, and not in a good way.

1941 is completely crazy, and on paper at the very least, might have worked. Even though there are loads of ‘exciting events’ like explosions and airplane chases and tanks and even the moment that The Simpsons copies, when a Ferris wheel rolls down a pier, 1941 still isn’t entertaining in any way. These set pieces may look great from a technical point of view- but they just aren’t funny! This is probably because they go on for far too long, and become boring and therefore painful to watch. We also don’t really understand why they are happening, is it is hard to feel involved.

Mix this with unfunny toilet jokes, incredible levels of sexism and racism and a complete lack of respect for humanity, and you have 1941. The film is a real life Tom and Jerry meets Looney Tunes clash of manic events and characters, but isn’t stylised enough to work. This is mainly because there is no real plot, no narrative structure, and no decent or well establish characters. And all of these lapses in basic storytelling lead to a film that makes absolutely no sense and definitely isn’t funny.

After watching the zany adventures unfold over two hours, I felt like I had been violated. 1941 made me feel as if I had been personally attacked. I’m a huge fan of both Señor Spielbergo and Robert Zemeckis, but after watching 1941, it was hard not to feel anger towards them for what they had put me through.

I feel as if I deserve a personal apology from both of them. How could they do this to me? Especially to someone who holds them both in such high regard. They should issue a public apology to everyone who has suffered through 1941, and that might allow the long, difficult healing process to begin.

The rape subplot is clearly the very worst moment in the film, but we can’t ignore the man from Grease with a ventriloquist dummy, or the inherent hatefulness that the film displays towards the Armed Forces.

1941 was criticised for being very anti-American, which, when you put it into perspective, is, because the Vietnam War had just finished and this film is clearly taking the piss of out of the military. Many people had just literally escaped the horrors of war, and so taping into something very close to the bone is very bad taste indeed.  

1941 was supposed to be a blockbuster, but luckily for everyone, fell flat and is now largely ignored, mainly because everyone wants to pretend it doesn’t exist and also so that they can continue to regard both Spielberg and Zemeckis with high esteem.

Spielberg himself apparently said that personal arrogance got in the way whilst making the movie and that it was one of the biggest lessons of his career.

He’s just lucky he even had a career after this diabolical mess. As much as I like his later work, I almost feel that his career should have ended- that’s how bad 1941 is. He is so very lucky that he got a second chance.  

Does this movie deserve to be one of the worst ever made?

If a film can make me feel as if I was personally attacked, completely unprovoked, and leave me so badly traumatised that I feel raw anger and betrayal towards two of the greatest and most beloved movie directors of all time, then yes it does.