Randy Riddle wonders:
"I'm curious what our esteemed gathering thinks of Speilburg's "1941".
 
I remember seeing the film when it was first released and was struck
by the fact that I really enjoyed it and that there seemed to be a
_really_ negative reaction from the audience.
 
I recently picked up a copy of the film for a "re-consideration" and
enjoyed it very much.  Overwhelming seems to be the key word -- a
friend who watched it with me compared it to a child's temper
tantrum.  My own personal theory is that it was a way for Spielburg
and Co. to "let off some steam" after the very serious (and very
successful) "Jaws" and "Close Encounters". . . . "
 
 
I too have always thought that the film was underrated at least, in part on
the basis of its cost (at the time, it supposedly had the highest cost of any
comedy film).  And it is rather overdone, but is excessive in interesting ways--
you just know that that ferris wheel is going to go riding--the dummy being
a direct allusion to Charlie McCarthy, among other things.
 
But it's actually better in the "smaller" moments: the only film role by
John Belushi that I've actually liked; Robert Stack as Vinegar Joe Stillwell
singing along to the theme from DUMBO,
etc.
 
I think a couple of other things working against the film were Spielberg's
previous successes and the fact that people were ready for him to bomb (a
problem he's continued to "struggle" with) and for some reviewers the notion
that one should not make fun of WWII.  Interestingly, Pauline Kael was pretty
nice to it.
 
Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)
 
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