1941

This rare misfire from cinema’s greatest entertainer was one of several productions to mark the end of the New Hollywood era. 1941 is a mess of a movie, an unfocused, undisciplined, uninvolving and, despite some decent gags, unfunny splurge of slapstick, bad taste, in-jokes, smut and satire. Salvaged by a strong cast and a sincere message, it is nonetheless a disaster, but an interesting one. Interesting enough, in fact, to merit this solid 2 disc set, which gamely includes a series of disastrous reviews and a sometimes dry but insightful 100 minute Making Of, wherein John Milius reveals the whole enterprise could have been Bordello of Blood; Robert Zemeckis discusses an outrageous alternate ending involving the Enola Gay; and Spielberg laments his failure to involve John Wayne and Charlton Heston. The über-patriots regarded the script as anti-American, while the director saw nothing wrong with “sticking a pie in the face of the Statue of Liberty in the spirit of humour”. [Michael Gillespie]