Comedy · War · Action
American
1979 · Directed by Steven Spielberg · 118 min
Days after Pearl Harbor, Southern California convinces itself that a Japanese attack is imminent. A sprawling ensemble of soldiers, civilians and one very determined submarine captain collides in a noisy, large-scale farce about wartime panic.
Why it matters in cinema history
A late-1970s blockbuster-era experiment: an expensive ensemble comedy that parodies the war film, and a rare Spielberg misfire that tells us much about the limits of the New Hollywood boom.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a live-action cartoon in which the crowd, not any single character, is the lead.
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