Cinema 114 to host ‘The Americanization of Emily’

The film playing at Cinema 114 on Wednesday, August 13 will be “The Americanization of Emily.” The star, James Garner, is no longer with us and so we wanted to pay tribute to him. Emily is played by our Sag Harbor neighbor, Julie Andrews. This is a comic love story with serious undertones of antiwar sentiments.

Lt. Commander Charles “Charlie” Madison (James Garner) is a devout coward but very useful to the brass in procuring all the extras that make life sweet in war-torn England.

Emily has lost several young loves to the war and she is sick of death and loss and new love. She falls for Charlie mainly because he won’t die because he will not go into battle. She admires his honesty. He is safe and he also gives her some of the rare commodities that are scarce during the Blitz.

His commanding officer (played by Melvin Douglas), is upset by the death of his beloved wife and all the casualties in his unit. He decides that a film crew should document the landing on Omaha Beach; the first death shall be a man from his unit and the hero will be immortalized in a new “Tomb of the Unknown Sailor.” He assigns his best man, Charlie, to head the team. All sorts of comic antics begin as Charlie tries his best to get out of going.

The script was adapted for the screen by Paddy Chayefsky and it is a literate antiwar protest that is easy to assimilate without losing the comic irony of war.

We will be showing our film at 2:30 p.m. at the Senior Activity Center.

Running time: 1 hour and 55 minutes
Please join Mimi, Maggie and me for free drinks and snacks in our air-conditioned space. We will greet you with open arms.