Vox-Nova at the Movies: The Americanization of Emily

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tHS-ibOpSY

Set in England just prior to D-Day, The Americanization of Emily follows the adventures and tribulations of Charlie Madison (James Garner), personal assistant to a high ranking navy Admiral. Charlie’s job is to keep his boss happy, which among other things means finding them women. He is a shameless scoundrel. He is also a philosophical coward:

It’s not war that’s insane, you see. It’s the morality of it. It’s not greed and ambition that makes wars, it’s goodness. Wars are always fought for the best of reasons, for liberation or manifest destiny, always against tyranny, and always in the interest of humanity. So far this war we’ve managed to butcher some ten million humans in the interest of humanity. Next war it seems we’ll have to destroy all of man in order to preserve his damn dignity. It’s not war that’s unnatural to us, it’s virtue. As long as valour remains a virtue, we shall have solders. So, I preach cowardice; through cowardice we shall all be saved.

While in England, Charlie meets Emily (Julie Andrews), a war widow who is at first repulsed by and then drawn to Charlie’s unscrupulous nature. It seems that one of the things she likes best about Charlie is the knowledge that he won’t go off an get himself killed proving his own bravery, the way her husband had done. Charlie and Emily’s budding romance is interrupted when his boss, in a fit of temporary madness, decides that the way to safeguard the Navy’s military reputation is to ensure that the first dead man on D-Day is a sailor.

The film is rather lighthearted, despite its dark subject matter. It drags at points, particularly toward the end, and there is some needless speechifying, but all in all it is a fairly enjoyable take on the “unsung heroes” of wars, i.e. those who want to stay as far away from the battlefield as possible.