Plenty of sound and fury...but where are the LAUGHS?!

Rating: 5/10 (23 July 2001)

At some point, every film maker has his off days. Steven Spielberg is fortunate enough that he's had only two films like that (the other being HOOK). But "1941", being made when it was, in the wake of JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, almost destroyed his career. Having seen this film a number of times, I can see why.
This is a high-budget farce about the hysteria that gripped Los Angeles after a Japanese sub was spotted off the coast (which actually happened in February 1942, but the story backdates it to a week after Pearl Harbor). A lot of great comic actors--Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, John Candy, Tim Matheson, Treat Williams--are on hand here. Robert Stack delivers a somewhat skewed but faithful impersonation of General Joseph Stilwell. And three members of Sam Peckinpah's stock company--Warren Oates, Slim Pickens, and Dub Taylor--are also thrown into the mix.
But given all this talent and the story's potential, "1941" still falls flat, because for all the sight gags, explosions, and comic mugging, the film rarely delivers on the laughs. There are moments that are hysterically funny, but those are only MOMENTS. Part of this has to do with the Bob Gale/Robert Zemeckis screenplay (they would later make the ultra-superior BACK TO THE FUTURE for Spielberg), but much of the blame must be put on Spielberg's shoulders. Even HE admitted that this film was a mistake, stating once "Comedy is not my forte." And it wasn't. Critics and audiences hated it, and it's all too easy to see why. When you've got a lot of sound and fury in a comedy but you neglect to get the audience to laugh constantly (as in AIRPLANE!), all you've got is a lot of sound and fury. John Williams' jaunty martial music may be the best thing about "1941". Otherwise, this film would be a total waste--and as a longtime fan of Spielberg's, it isn't easy for me to say that.