A military plot to overthrow the President of the United States—Seven Days in May Trailer

A classic of suspense directed by John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Ronin) and written for the screen by Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone), Seven Days in May tautly explores that possibility. At odds are a popular general and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman (Burt Lancaster) and an unpopular president (Fredric March) with a pacifist agenda. At stake is the survival of the Republic. A vigilant colonel (Kirk Douglas) uncovers the scheme. But are the seven fateful days ahead enough time to derail a takeover? The clock is ticking.

Seven Days in May – TrailerThe United States is in a state very close to turmoil. Strikes threaten to shut down the entire coal industry–and on Pennsylvania Avenue (still open in front of the White House in the film setting), two opposing forces of demonstrators meet, first in stony silence, then with taunts shouted back and forth. One side carries signs offering thanks to President Jordan Lyman (Fredric March) for signing a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. (“Peace On Earth Or No Earth At All” says a double-wide banner.) The other carries bellicose signs denouncing Lyman and the treaty, and promoting the possible Presidential candidacy of a four-star Air Force general: James Mattoon Scott (Burt Lancaster), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then a Scott fan swings his sign to cut the double-wide banner. Result: mélée, to which the Capitol Police respond at once with cruisers, motorcycles, and paddy wagons.

Inside the White House, the President’s physician (Malcolm Atterbury) notes that Lyman’s blood pressure climbs by three millimeters of mercury for every letter he dictates. Aide Paul Girard (Martin Balsam) reluctantly shares with Lyman a Gallup Poll result showing that only 29 percent of the American people approve of the treaty. To the desperate pleas of the physician that he take two weeks off, Lyman says that he will take a swim in the White House swimming pool.

Lyman asks Senator Raymond Clark, D-Ga. (Edmund O’Brien) to join him. Lyman has two things to tell Clark. One is his rationale for the treaty: that absent that treaty, the hair-trigger status quo would only get worse, and inevitably some hatred-crazed officer, on either side, might initiate a full nuclear strike, maybe with authorization, possibly without, and the resulting war would end in Pyrrhic victory. The other is some advice to Clark: lay off the sauce. Ray Clark is, quite simply, an alcoholic. For the rest of the spoiler visit IMBD