As trenchant political thrillers go, Seven Days in May (1964) is at or near the top of the list.  John Frankenheimer’s movie, based upon the bestselling novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, is an engrossing tale of treachery and sedition plotted in the guise of self-serving patriotism.  Filmed at the height of the Cold War, soon after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Seven Days in May was an extremely bold movie for its era.

Its blistering drama, adapted by Rod Serling to the big screen, is brought to life by a dream cast: Kirk Douglas as the colonel who discovers a plot to overthrow the U.S. government, Burt Lancaster as a general with messianic political aspirations, Ava Gardner as the woman torn between them, Fredric March as the unpopular president, Edmond O’Brien as a dipsomaniac Senator, and Martin Balsam as the president’s closest advisor.  In smaller roles George Macready, Whit Bissell, Hugh Marlowe, Richard Anderson, Andrew Duggan and John Houseman shine.

This is an actor’s showcase, with top honors going to O’Brien and March (O’Brien was Oscar-nominated), yet the film itself is far more important than that.  It captures with frightening clarity just how a divided country can open opportunities for ambitious people who might take shortcuts to power.  To its credit, the film gives a great deal of credence to the general’s position and his unflinching belief in it. Serling’s screenplay is tight and filled with crisp dialogue.  About the only thing missing is a climax as dynamic as the intrigue that sparks the story.  The film ends not with a bang but with a slow exhalation of relief.

Still, it’s quite a ride.  Frankenheimer’s visuals are less dramatic than those of his previous masterpiece The Manchurian Candidate (1962), but Seven Days in May is just as frightening, especially as the threat to our country’s hierarchy comes this time from one of its own key elements.  And because our current political situation seems just as volatile (although reversed from that in the movie; now it’s the peaceniks who want to throw the warrior president out of office) [note – this was written in 2007!], the film seems just as relevant today as it surely did in 1964.

Seven Days in May was remade on HBO as The Enemy Within in 1994 starring Forest Whitaker, Jason Robards, Sam Waterston and Dana Delany, but that version doesn’t hold a candle to the original.  My rating (for the original):  ✰ ✰ ✰ ½.  (8:3).