Jaime_Weinman
Supporting Actor
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2001
- Messages
- 786
This is the 40th anniversary of The Americanization of Emily. It's an MGM film, so WB now owns it. Has there been any word of a DVD release?
News or no news, I am pretty certain that WB will eventually bring it out, probably when they bring out a Network special edition. I hope Emily gets a good DVD presentation, since it's IMO Paddy Chayefsky's best work; I'm not a big fan of Network, which is too cartoonish for my tastes, but Emily is funny, hard-edged, full of great dialogue, and has hardly dated at all (the anti-war themes, the satire of the photo-op aspects of war, and the satire of European anti-Americanism are all in no need of updating). Great acting from James Garner and Julie Andrews. It deserves a good remastering and a commentary from the surviving participants (the producer, the director, and the lead actors).
I do wonder what it would have been like if William Wyler had directed it. He was signed to direct it, then pulled out. I almost think that Wyler would have tried too hard to make the whole thing "cinematic." Arthur Hiller isn't much of a director, and Emily suffers from some clunky compositions, but at least when he gets a great script (here and The In-Laws) he doesn't get in its way.
News or no news, I am pretty certain that WB will eventually bring it out, probably when they bring out a Network special edition. I hope Emily gets a good DVD presentation, since it's IMO Paddy Chayefsky's best work; I'm not a big fan of Network, which is too cartoonish for my tastes, but Emily is funny, hard-edged, full of great dialogue, and has hardly dated at all (the anti-war themes, the satire of the photo-op aspects of war, and the satire of European anti-Americanism are all in no need of updating). Great acting from James Garner and Julie Andrews. It deserves a good remastering and a commentary from the surviving participants (the producer, the director, and the lead actors).
I do wonder what it would have been like if William Wyler had directed it. He was signed to direct it, then pulled out. I almost think that Wyler would have tried too hard to make the whole thing "cinematic." Arthur Hiller isn't much of a director, and Emily suffers from some clunky compositions, but at least when he gets a great script (here and The In-Laws) he doesn't get in its way.
