What is it you hate about 1941
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jrs-8 — 15 years ago(March 07, 2011 02:31 PM)
The problem is the script. Too many characters that you don't get to know at all to care about. There is no central character (though Belushi's Wild Bill Kelso probably comes closest) and too many sub-plots. It's often beyond silly and it is WAY too loud. Many actors (particularly Dan Aykroyd and John Candy) are totally wasted in throw away roles. It was as if Spielberg decided he was going to throw everything into the film but the kitchen sink and then threw that in too. The mix just didn't work.
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athorpe-1 — 9 years ago(May 13, 2016 06:06 PM)
I agree. I'm watching right now. More laughs than I've had in a while. I especially loved Slim Pickens and the one Japanese crewman who keeps yelling "Horrywoo!" It's a classic and deserves to be remembered as such.
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surfercharlie25 — 14 years ago(August 24, 2011 02:13 PM)
I think a lot of people missed the point of the film. It wasn't trying to tell a story as much as it was trying to get laughs and get people to say things like, "Oh, look, there's such-and-such an actor!" Spielberg even said that the main attraction the film had for him is that it was so chaotic and he wanted to do that kind of film.
I wonder if most people don't understand what the film is trying to be. They could have talked to Robert Stack. From what I heard, Stack understood immediately what kind of movie it was (more a lot of comedy sketches than a story-driven film) and threw himself into it immediately. He must have liked it, because immediately after 1941 he did another sketch-driven film, AIRPLANE!. The only difference between AIRPLANE! and 1941 is that AIRPLANE! made more money.
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Teremov — 14 years ago(January 16, 2012 09:00 PM)
I just watched 1941, and I found it way funnier than Airplane!, which was no more than a silly parody of Zero Hour! I watched that also. ZAZ just took the original plot, rewrote it in a silly way and threw in some random gags, while Spielberg, Zemeckis and Gale (ZGS?) actually tried to come up with something new, crazy and risky. It was a greatly directed, wonderfully casted hit-and-miss madness. Airplane! was only a hit-and-miss parody.
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matt197981 — 14 years ago(January 23, 2012 12:21 PM)
I love this movie it's funny and makes me laugh I love the chaotic feel of the whole thing
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gulag — 14 years ago(March 26, 2012 10:13 AM)
When I saw this in the movie theatres back in the day I remember it had a lot of bad press. I went in expecting to dislike it. But I was pleasantly surprised that I actually found it fascinating. I just didn't think it was a comedy. To me it was a strange surreal take on war hysteria. As a comedy it doesn't work, Spielberg isn't a comedy director. But as a strange chaotic surreal farce it's quite interesting, if a minor work. It's a shame we have to read words like 'hilarious' on the poster or DVD case, but 'hysterical' fits.
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pv61 — 13 years ago(June 09, 2012 06:26 AM)
First of all, I didn't find it funny.
Then, there was John Candy,
and then there was some kind of weird lighting, very uncomfortable, blurry, in the beginning, that made it look like those scenes in TO BE OR NOT TO BE, where Ms Bancroft demanded vaseline filter lenses
I could have stand the vaseline and Candy, but the plot was not at all funny to me.
I liked the dance number performed by the navy boy in the contest and Treat Williams, that's all
Seems like Mr Speilberg's sense of humor is a very weird one, I like most of the stuff he has directed, except this and HOOK -
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CannibalCraig — 13 years ago(October 29, 2012 08:29 AM)
I don't know why people don't like this. I grew up watching it and I still roll over laughing whenever I watch this. I am not even a huge Spielberg fan, but this movie was hilarious.
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ravi02 — 13 years ago(November 02, 2012 11:25 AM)
It tries to be a wacky screwball comedy (like It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World) and fails completely. The film's entire idea of a joke is showing people screaming and stuff exploding. Over and over. For two hours!
I'm a big fan of Spielberg, but 1941 is the one film of his that I outright hate. -
parillamilt — 13 years ago(December 10, 2012 11:43 AM)
The OP asked what you guys HATED about this movie, not why some of you think this is a great and funny movie. Please start your own thread.
Why it didn't work for me:
Tons of money thrown into a movie that maybe shouldn't have been made in the first place. Bigger & better does not translate into funny and more funny.
A script that needed more work. The humor got lost somewhere.
A bunch of big stars with little parts and little to do.
Over emphasis on facial reaction shots (a Spielberg trademark).
Scenes so planned out to the smallest detail that it got in the way of the gag.
Sure, there were funny moments, but it just didn't gel as a whole.