History Literature / SevenDaysInMay

President Jordan Lyman (March) is about to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons. This has caused a record slump in his popularity[[note]]you would think this would ''increase'' it but people feared the USSR would cheat[[/note]] and the public opposition of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the charismatic General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). Lyman is determined to proceed regardless but then a Pentagon officer, Colonel Martin Casey (Kirk Douglas), approaches him with a shocking revelation. He believes that General Scott is planning a MilitaryCoup, to be staged during a troop mobilization exercise at the end of the week. Although his staff are skeptical, President Lyman is not so sure. He now has [[RaceAgainstTheClock only seven days]] to find proof that [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the most popular general in the country]] is planning treason, and stop him.

President Jordan Lyman (Creator/FredricMarch) is about to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons. This has caused a record slump in his popularity[[note]]you would think this would ''increase'' it but people feared the USSR would cheat[[/note]] and the public opposition of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the charismatic General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). Lyman is determined to proceed regardless but then a Pentagon officer, Colonel Martin Casey (Kirk Douglas), approaches him with a shocking revelation. He believes that General Scott is planning a MilitaryCoup, to be staged during a troop mobilization exercise at the end of the week. Although his staff are skeptical, President Lyman is not so sure. He now has [[RaceAgainstTheClock only seven days]] to find proof that [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the most popular general in the country]] is planning treason, and stop him.

''Seven Days in May'' is a ConspiracyThriller about an attempted MilitaryCoup in the United States. The story first appeared as a 1962 novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook, directed by Creator/JohnFrankenheimer, starring Creator/KirkDouglas and Creator/BurtLancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March) is about to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons. This has caused a record slump in his popularity[[note]]you would think this would ''increase'' it but people feared the USSR would cheat[[/note]] and the public opposition of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the charismatic General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). Lyman is determined to proceed regardless but then a Pentagon officer, Colonel Martin Casey (Kirk Douglas), approaches him with a shocking revelation. He believes that General Scott is planning a MilitaryCoup, to be staged during a troop mobilization exercise at the end of the week. Although his staff are skeptical, President Lyman is not so sure. He now has [[RaceAgainstTheClock only seven days]] to find proof that [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the most popular general in the country]] is planning treason, and stop him.

* ChekhovsGun: White House aide Paul Girard gets a signed statement from an admiral who was approached but refused to take part in the conspiracy. Worried about it being stolen on the way back to Washington, Girard hides the statement in his metal cigarette case. Thus it survives his death in a plane crash and gets returned to the US embassy with his other personal effects, just in time to save the day.

* TheRemake: by HBO as ''The Enemy Within'' in 1994, with Sam Waterson as the President, Jason Robards as the General, and Creator/ForestWhitaker as the Colonel. Updated for a post-ColdWar world, and the conspirators planning to use the TwentyFifthAmendment to declare the President incompetent to serve.

JFK — who was killed shortly before the film's release — considered the film so important because he believed the events in the book and movie could very well happen. After the spat between DouglasMacArthur and President UsefulNotes/HarryTruman, as well as JFK's own problems with his generals, he was well aware that there were those in the military who felt they should be in control of the country instead of him.

JFK -who was killed shortly before the film's release- considered the film so important because he believed the events in the book and movie could very well happen. After the spat between DouglasMacArthur and President UsefulNotes/HarryTruman, as well as JFK's own problems with his generals, he was well aware that there were those in the military who felt they should be in control of the country instead of him.

* BackedByThePentagon: Definitely not, for obvious reasons; though as mentioned above President Kennedy gave the movie his covert support.

JFK -who was killed shortly before the film's release- considered the film so important because he believed the events in the book and movie could very well happen. After the spat between DouglasMacArthur and President HarryTruman, as well as JFK's own problems with his generals, he was well aware that there were those in the military who felt they should be in control of the country instead of him.

When the movie was being filmed, President JohnFKennedy gave the producers special access to the White House, allowing them to film there with access never before or since granted to any (non-documentary) film crew. The President would even conveniently arrange to visit Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House. The Pentagon, in contrast, refused to cooperate at all, leading to the filmmakers doing a bit of covert filming on-site with star Douglas in costume.

* HonorBeforeReason: After seven days the President still doesn't have firm proof of the conspiracy, but he does have letters Scott wrote to his mistress, which his colleagues urge him to use to [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans force Scott to resign]]. For a moment it looks like the President will use them, but he refuses to stoop to crude {{blackmail}}. However, in the novel Secretary of the Treasury Chris Todd and Senator Clark aren't so particular, warning Scott against seeking a Presidential nomination in the next elections. Todd: "The President is a gentleman. [[BadassBoast I am a trial lawyer; a mean son of a bitch."]]]]

* HonorBeforeReason: After seven days the President still doesn't have firm proof of the conspiracy, but he does have letters Scott wrote to his mistress, which his colleagues urge him to use to [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans force Scott to resign. For a moment it looks like the President will use them, but he refuses to stoop to crude {{blackmail}}. However, in the novel Secretary of the Treasury Chris Todd and Senator Clark aren't so particular, warning Scott against seeking a Presidential nomination in the next elections. Todd: "The President is a gentleman. [[BadassBoast I am a trial lawyer; a mean son of a bitch."]]]]

* TheRemake: by HBO as ''The Enemy Within'' in 1994, with Sam Waterson as the President, Jason Robards as the General, and Forest Whitaker as the Colonel. Updated for a post-ColdWar world, and the conspirators planning to use the TwentyFifthAmendment to declare the President incompetent to serve.

* ChekhovsGun: White House aide Paul Girard gets a signed statement from an admiral who was approached but refused to take part in the conspiracy. [[spoiler:Worried about it being stolen on the way back to Washington, Girard hides the statement in his metal cigarette case. Thus it survives his death in a plane crash and gets returned to the US embassy with his other personal effects, just in time to save the day.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: The novel implies that this is the fate of [[spoiler:Senator Prentice, one of Scott's co-conspirators, who crashes his car when he learns that the coup has failed]].

* GullibleLemmings: Colonel William "Mutt" Henderson, part of the secret ECOMCON strike force, has no idea why he's training to seize communications assets rather than defend them [[spoiler:until Senator Clark informs him of the plot. He then helps the Senator escape.]]
* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:After seven days the President still doesn't have firm proof of the conspiracy, but he does have letters Scott wrote to his mistress, which his colleagues urge him to use to [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans force Scott to resign]]. For a moment it looks like the President will use them, but he refuses to stoop to crude {{blackmail}}. However, in the novel Secretary of the Treasury Chris Todd and Senator Clark aren't so particular, warning Scott against seeking a Presidential nomination in the next elections. Todd: "The President is a gentleman. [[BadassBoast I am a trial lawyer; a mean son of a bitch."]]]]

* NotSoDifferent: At the end, hoping to bring Scott onto his side (or at least dissuade him from being his enemy), President Lyman asks him what he would do about the possibility of the Soviet's cheating on the treaty if Scott were in power. After Scott replies, Lyman says that is exactly what Lyman is planning to do. Scott [[spoiler:doesn't believe him]].
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: For once this helps the good guys. When an Air Force general complains about 'classified' flights that he hadn't authorised, the President realises he's not part of the conspiracy and orders him to ground the aircraft at once.

** This turns into a BrickJoke at the end of the novel, when the officer, now working in Hawaii, hears about [[spoiler: Scott's resignation]] and thinks that [[spoiler: President Lyman sure must hate gambling.]]

* RevealingCoverUp: Averted. [[spoiler:There's only one death under suspicious circumstances (of a White House aide carrying absolute proof of the conspiracy) and that's never shown to have been anything other than [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident an ordinary plane crash]]. Two people who look like they've been 'disappeared' turn out to have been merely detained on various pretexts.]] The closest we get to this trope is when a conspirator angrily tells Colonel Casey to shut up about the gambling signal -- it's this overreaction that first raises his suspicions.
* RousingSpeech: General Scott was to give this once communications had been seized. Even when the coup is foiled Scott still believes he can force the President's impeachment by arranging an interview with all the major networks. [[spoiler:Instead it's President Lyman who gets the standing ovation at the end.]]

* TreacheryCoverUp: [[spoiler:President Lyman decides that what happened must never become public knowledge, in order to preserve the idea that a military coup against the United States government is simply unthinkable.]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The novel on which the film is based (published in 1962) is set in May 1974, after a stalemated war in Iran. The motion picture is set in 1970 and features the then-futuristic technology of [[VideoPhone video teleconferencing]].

* WildCard: Vice Admiral Barnswell is approached to take part in the coup, but thinks it's too risky and declines. Knowing this the President sends his aide to force him into providing a signed statement about the conspiracy, [[spoiler:which is lost when the aide's plane crashes on its way back to Washington, whereupon Barnswell claims he knows nothing about any such statement.]]

''Seven Days in May'' is a ConspiracyThriller about an attempted MilitaryCoup in the United States. The story first appeared as a 1962 novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring KirkDouglas and Burt Lancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

''Seven Days in May'' is a ConspiracyThriller about an attempted military coup in the United States. The story first appeared as a 1962 novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring KirkDouglas and Burt Lancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

''Seven Days in May'' is the story of an attempted military coup in the United States. It first appeared as a 1962 ConspiracyThriller novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring KirkDouglas and Burt Lancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

''Seven Days in May'' began as a 1962 ConspiracyThriller novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring KirkDouglas and Burt Lancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

* TheKoreanWar: Part of Jordan Lyman's BackStory in the novel. Lyman suffers a HeroicBSOD caused by what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder until another soldier, Raymond Clark, [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slaps him out of it]]. Clark goes on to become a senator--and Lyman's lifelong friend and most trusted political ally.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Averted when a Pentagon communications officer tells Colonel Casey about a seemingly-innocuous bit of gambling by some high-ranking officers (it's actually a code indicating their willingness to join the coup). Instead of a heavy-handed punishment detail, General Scott wisely has the blabber shipped off to a highly-desirable post in Hawaii, and orders Casey to take a few days leave so he won't be in a position to observe anything else suspicious.
** This turns into a BrickJoke at the end of the book version, when the officer, now working in Hawaii, hears about [[spoiler: Scott's resignation]] and thinks that [[spoiler: President Lyman sure must hate gambling.]]
* TheRemake: by HBO as ''The Enemy Within'' in 1994, with Sam Waterson as the President, Jason Robards as the General, and Forest Whitaker as the Colonel. Updated for a post-Cold War world, and the conspirators planning to use the TwentyFifthAmendment to declare the President incompetent to serve.

* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:After seven days the President still doesn't have firm proof of the conspiracy, but he does have letters Scott wrote to his mistress, which his colleagues urge him to use to [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans force Scott to resign]]. For a moment it looks like the President will use them, but he refuses to stoop to crude {{blackmail}}. However, in the novel Secretary of the Treasury Chris Todd and Senator Clark aren't so particular, warning Scott against seeking a Presidential nomination in the next elections. Todd: "The President is a gentleman. [[BadassBoast I am a trial lawyer; a mean son of a bitch."]]

* HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:After seven days the President still doesn't have firm proof of the conspiracy, but he does have letters Scott wrote to his mistress, which his colleagues urge him to use to [[JusticeByOtherLegalMeans force Scott to resign]]. For a moment it looks like the President will use them, but he refuses to stoop to crude blackmail. In the novel though his lawyer friend isn't so particular, warning Scott against seeking a Presidential nomination in the next elections. "The President is a gentleman, I am a trial lawyer; a mean son of a bitch."]]

''Seven Days in May'' began as a 1962 ConspiracyThriller novel by Washington journalists Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. It was adapted into a 1964 FilmOfTheBook , directed by John Frankenheimer, starring KirkDouglas and Burt Lancaster, and scripted by Creator/RodSerling.

Originally a 1962 novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II. When adapted as a theatrical movie (with RodSerling, no less, writing the screenplay), President JohnFKennedy gave the producers special access to the White House, allowing them to film there with access never before or since granted to any (non documentary) film crew. The President would even conveniently arrange to visit Hyannis Port for a weekend when the film needed to shoot outside the White House. The Pentagon, in contrast, refused to cooperate at all, leading to the filmmakers doing a bit of covert filming on-site with star Douglas in costume.

A 1964 film based on the [[TheFilmOfTheBook novel of the same name]], directed by John Frankenheimer and starring [[DuelingStarsMovie Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster]].

President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March) is about to sign a treaty with the Soviet Union for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons. This has caused a record slump in his popularity[[note]]you would think this would ''increase'' it but people feared the USSR would cheat[[/note]] and the public opposition of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the charismatic General James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster). Lyman is determined to proceed regardless but then a Pentagon officer, Colonel Martin Casey (Kirk Douglas), approaches him with a shocking revelation. He believes that General Scott is planning a military coup, to be staged during a troop mobilization exercise at the end of the week. Although his staff are skeptical, President Lyman is not so sure. He now has [[RaceAgainstTheClock only seven days]] to find proof that [[VillainWithGoodPublicity the most popular general in the country]] is planning treason, and stop him.