The Americanization Of Emily
Here I am, with yet another picspam. There are so many fave scenes from movies and tv shows that I wanted to post but somehow the month flew by so damn quick and this is the last day for this challenge. So I'll just do one last favorite scene (well, sequence is more like it this time). This is more than a picspam, granted all of the spams I do could be considered a recommendation since I only post what I like, this one gets a special shout out. The movie is from 1964 and it's greatly overlooked but I personally think it's one of the best I've seen. It has a strong anti-war feeling but what it really singles out is the stupidity, all the wrong reasons and insanity that can push people into senseless wars. It's also VERY funny in a sarcastic and ironic way-- it's the kind of humor I maybe appreciate a little more than sitcoms and physical comedy. The Americanization of Emily is set in the days leading up to D-Day. It deals with the war and its ridiculous insanity, as well as the relationship of Emily and Charlie.
What you need to know: Lt. Commander Charles "Charlie" Madison serves in the US Navy... as a "Dog-Robber". A Dog-Robber is the personal attendant of a general or admiral and his job is to keep his general or admiral well-clothed, well-fed and well-loved (by getting them amiable English women) during the battle.
Emily Barham is an English woman who works at the motor pool of the army. She's a window, having lost a husband, father and brother in the war. She falls for Charlie, even if she didn't have a favorable opinion on him (and the Americans in general) first. Her relationships since her husband die were short lived affairs, Charlie appeals to her because he's not another doomed man likely to die in the war. Or so she thinks.
About the two scenes: The first one is the 'Proposal.' The second continues with their story, when Charlie is sent to the front to complete an insane idea by an Admiral who's (literally) losing his mind. He's got to film the first American soldier killed on Omaha Beach. Charlie, having info that D-Day is coming, is relieved because he knows he'll miss the team he's supposed to accompany. So he's a happy camper. He's about to depart to the trip he knows will be very short when Emily drops some news on him.
The picspam contains 22 images and all of the dialogue so it may be a long read, but it's worth it.
Emily: As Sheila would say, „It’s too bloody lovely. Really, it is.”
Charlie: Well she’s not doing the bloody poling.
Emily: It’s defiant, is it? Just give it a big push.
Charlie: Help! [He almost falls in the water, fooling around, and Emily can't stop laughing. She hops down on the grass and lays back]
Emily: [She rolls over and they stare at each other] Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
Charlie: Oh I love you, Emily. [They kiss]
Emily: How many more weeks do we have?
Charlie: Three, maybe four. I know Admiral Jessup has to be back in Washington by the end of June.
[They kiss again]
Emily: Oh Lord, I hope I don’t get pregnant.
[She sits up, so does Charlie.]
Emily: I’ve told myself a hundred times, don’t get earnest about this man. It’s the casual thing. A brief, passionate explosion. Don’t get sticky about it, for Heaven’s sake. Well I’m sticky, Charlie. I’m sticky as hell. I’m insanely in love with you. [She covers her face]
Charlie: Have you ever given any thought to getting married?
[She's surprised]
Emily: You really do cut to the core of things, don’t you?
Charlie: I’ve got some Navy marriage applications here.
Emily: Charlie, let’s be honest about this.
Charlie: Emily, we’re nuts about each other. Let’s get married.
[He kisses her and pushes her back down]
Emily: But we’re basically incompatible, Charlie.
[He bucks into her]
Emily: (laughs) It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s our fundamental approaches to life. I’ve got this ingrained British morality, and you’re the most immoral man I ever met. You’re a shameless coward, selfish as a child and you’re pretty ruthless about getting what you want. [He kisses her] For all your charm, you’re a scoundrel, Charlie. Seems I don’t mind making love to a scoundrel, but I think it immoral to marry one.
[He rolls over, they switch positions]
Emily: You lack principles, Charlie. Isn’t there anything you’d die for?
Charlie: Sure. I’d die for you, if it ever came to that.
Emily: I really believe you would. [She kisses him]
Charlie: There are lots of things I’d die for, Emily. My home, my family, my country. But that’s love, not principle. Now, if I were to bring a raging lion into the house and wrestle it just to prove that I’d die for you, that would be highly principled of me. But! what’s a lion doing in a man’s house anyway?
Emily: Oh, shut up. [They kiss again and then she snuggles up to him]
End of their getaway:
Emily: Charlie, I’ve been so silly. Of course I’ll marry you. I’ll give you the signed documents int he morning. [He kisses her forehead]. I love you so.
Charlie: Oh Lord I hope you do get pregnant.
Bus: Charlie you still have a coupla minutes to say good bye.
Charlie: Thanks Bus. [Emily and Charlie kiss, Charlie turns to leave]
Emily: Charlie. [She gets out of the car and hugs him]. Write to me.
Charlie: Write to you? With any luck, I’ll be back in London for lunch tomorrow. Look, honey, let me make it clear again, I couldn’t make this invasion if I wanted to. The demolition engineers will have shipped out a good two hours before Bus and I even report in. The Port Commander’s gonna look at us as if we’re nuts. I’ll see you tomorrow. [He kisses her].
Emily: It’s like you were taking an overnight business trip.
Charlie: Well that’s what it amounts to. If I can’t book a flight, I’ll catch an afternoon train.
Emily: Well, it’s a hell of a D-day, that’s all I can say. To be honest with you Charlie, there’s something very unpleasant about this little deceit you’re pulling on the Navy. You’ve been cackling away all afternoon as if the invasion in which the fate of nations and the lives of millions are at stake is nothing more to you than a private joke. I just keep thinking of all those men trooping onto all those ships tonight wondering if they’ll end up bodies on a beach.
Charlie: Honey, I’m not cackling because there are going to be bodies ont he beach tomorrow. I’m cackling because I’m not going to be one of them. Honey, we’re both getting drenched. [He kisses her again, ready to leave]
Emily: Charlie. [He stops] I can’t marry you.
Charlie: I’ve been waiting for that. We’ll talk about it when I get back.
Emily: I don’t want to talk about it when you get back. I don’t want to see you again.
Charlie: Emily, I will not be brushed off with my plane about to take off.
Emily: Oh, for pity’s sake, Charlie, we both know it’s finished. Now, let’s end it in one snap before we say things we’ll regret.
Charlie: No. No no, let’s say them. There should be something we regret.
Emily: All right. I despise cowardice, I detest selfish people, and I loathe ruthlessness. Since you are cowardly, selfish and ruthless, I cannot help but despise, detest and loathe you. And that is not the way a woman should feel about the man she’s gonna marry.
Charlie: Don’t be facile, Emily.
Emily: I am not being… I’ve been up all bloody night staring at your bloody marriage applications! Well I’ve signed them. They are in my purse. I was going to give you them this afternoon but you came prancing in with this very funny joke you’re playing on Bus, the Navy, your country and the whole bloody world. Look, I suppose I’m just a stupid romantic but I sort of feel the joke’s on me, too. I believe in honor and service and courage, and fair play and cricket and all the other symbols of the British character which have only civilized half the world.
Charlie: You British plundered half the world for your own profit. Let’s not pass it off as the Age of Englightenment.
Emily: Yes, that’s the American way of looking at it.
Charlie: Emily, let’s not get into one of these a ’the trouble with you yanks” thing. It has nothing to do with it.
Emily: Oh it’s got everything to do with it. I’m British and you’re a bloody fool American. I don’t wanna see you again. [She gets in the car]
Charlie: General Kitchener aside, Emily, the only thing that’s going on here is a woman trying to shake off her lover. If you don’t love me, say so.
Emily: Ah. [She turns her head away]
Charlie: Nobody gets moral unless they’re trying to get something or get out of something. You’re trying to get out of marrying me. If you don’t love me, just say so. Otherwise, I’ll figure you’re just fightened.
Emily: Frightened of what? [Her head snaps to him]
Charlie: Frightened of getting married.
Emily: Don’t be an ass.
Charlie: The weekend passion is over. Now it’s down to signing applications, babies, setting up house, you have to commit yourself to life now, Emily. I don’t want to know what’s good or bad or true. I let God worry about the truth. I just want to know the momentary facts of things. Life isn’t good or bad or true. It’s merely factual. It’s sensual. It’s alive. My idea of living sensual facts are you, a home, a country, a world, a universe. In that order. I wanna know what I am, not what I should be. Well the fact is, I’m a coward. I never met anyone who wasn’t.
Emily: I’m not. (head down)
Charlie: You’re the most terrified woman I’ve ever met. You’re even scared to get married. [She looks up]
Emily: I’ve already been married.
Charlie: Oh sure. You married him three days before he went to Africa. Thank God he never came back. You’re forever falling in love with men on their last nights of furlough. That’s about the limit of your commitments. One night, a day, a month. You prefer lovers to husbands, hotels to homes. You’d rather grieve than live.
Emily: You’re not only cowardly and selfish, you’re remarkably cruel as well.
Charlie: Come off it, Emily. The only immoral thing you have against me is I’m alive.
[She gets out of the car]
Emily: I’m gonna slap your face, Charlie.
Charlie: Go ahead. I won’t hit you back, I’m a coward.
[She slaps him]
Charlie: On the other hand, I’m selfish. I don’t easily give up what’s mine. You’re mine, Emily, and I’m not going to let you go.
[She slaps again]
Charlie: All you have to say is, „I don’t love you.”
Emily: I don’t love you, Charlie.
Bus: [From the plane] Come on Charlie, it's time to go.
Charlie: Well you’re a good woman. You’ve done the morally right thing. God save us all from people who do the morally right thing. It’s the rest of us who get broken in a half. You're a bitch.
Charlie: I want you to remember that the last time you saw me I was unregenerately eating a Hershey* bar.
[He walks away]
[She watches him go]
*: The Hershey bar is a reference to an earlier comment by Emily where she refused the chocolate he got her as a present, telling him not to americanize her.
Whether this is the end or not, I won't say. Watch the movie and you'll find out. (Or ask me in the comments lol).
What you need to know: Lt. Commander Charles "Charlie" Madison serves in the US Navy... as a "Dog-Robber". A Dog-Robber is the personal attendant of a general or admiral and his job is to keep his general or admiral well-clothed, well-fed and well-loved (by getting them amiable English women) during the battle.
Emily Barham is an English woman who works at the motor pool of the army. She's a window, having lost a husband, father and brother in the war. She falls for Charlie, even if she didn't have a favorable opinion on him (and the Americans in general) first. Her relationships since her husband die were short lived affairs, Charlie appeals to her because he's not another doomed man likely to die in the war. Or so she thinks.
About the two scenes: The first one is the 'Proposal.' The second continues with their story, when Charlie is sent to the front to complete an insane idea by an Admiral who's (literally) losing his mind. He's got to film the first American soldier killed on Omaha Beach. Charlie, having info that D-Day is coming, is relieved because he knows he'll miss the team he's supposed to accompany. So he's a happy camper. He's about to depart to the trip he knows will be very short when Emily drops some news on him.
The picspam contains 22 images and all of the dialogue so it may be a long read, but it's worth it.
Emily: As Sheila would say, „It’s too bloody lovely. Really, it is.”
Charlie: Well she’s not doing the bloody poling.
Emily: It’s defiant, is it? Just give it a big push.
Charlie: Help! [He almost falls in the water, fooling around, and Emily can't stop laughing. She hops down on the grass and lays back]
Emily: [She rolls over and they stare at each other] Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
Charlie: Oh I love you, Emily. [They kiss]
Emily: How many more weeks do we have?
Charlie: Three, maybe four. I know Admiral Jessup has to be back in Washington by the end of June.
[They kiss again]
Emily: Oh Lord, I hope I don’t get pregnant.
[She sits up, so does Charlie.]
Emily: I’ve told myself a hundred times, don’t get earnest about this man. It’s the casual thing. A brief, passionate explosion. Don’t get sticky about it, for Heaven’s sake. Well I’m sticky, Charlie. I’m sticky as hell. I’m insanely in love with you. [She covers her face]
Charlie: Have you ever given any thought to getting married?
[She's surprised]
Emily: You really do cut to the core of things, don’t you?
Charlie: I’ve got some Navy marriage applications here.
Emily: Charlie, let’s be honest about this.
Charlie: Emily, we’re nuts about each other. Let’s get married.
[He kisses her and pushes her back down]
Emily: But we’re basically incompatible, Charlie.
[He bucks into her]
Emily: (laughs) It’s got nothing to do with that. It’s our fundamental approaches to life. I’ve got this ingrained British morality, and you’re the most immoral man I ever met. You’re a shameless coward, selfish as a child and you’re pretty ruthless about getting what you want. [He kisses her] For all your charm, you’re a scoundrel, Charlie. Seems I don’t mind making love to a scoundrel, but I think it immoral to marry one.
[He rolls over, they switch positions]
Emily: You lack principles, Charlie. Isn’t there anything you’d die for?
Charlie: Sure. I’d die for you, if it ever came to that.
Emily: I really believe you would. [She kisses him]
Charlie: There are lots of things I’d die for, Emily. My home, my family, my country. But that’s love, not principle. Now, if I were to bring a raging lion into the house and wrestle it just to prove that I’d die for you, that would be highly principled of me. But! what’s a lion doing in a man’s house anyway?
Emily: Oh, shut up. [They kiss again and then she snuggles up to him]
End of their getaway:
Emily: Charlie, I’ve been so silly. Of course I’ll marry you. I’ll give you the signed documents int he morning. [He kisses her forehead]. I love you so.
Charlie: Oh Lord I hope you do get pregnant.
Bus: Charlie you still have a coupla minutes to say good bye.
Charlie: Thanks Bus. [Emily and Charlie kiss, Charlie turns to leave]
Emily: Charlie. [She gets out of the car and hugs him]. Write to me.
Charlie: Write to you? With any luck, I’ll be back in London for lunch tomorrow. Look, honey, let me make it clear again, I couldn’t make this invasion if I wanted to. The demolition engineers will have shipped out a good two hours before Bus and I even report in. The Port Commander’s gonna look at us as if we’re nuts. I’ll see you tomorrow. [He kisses her].
Emily: It’s like you were taking an overnight business trip.
Charlie: Well that’s what it amounts to. If I can’t book a flight, I’ll catch an afternoon train.
Emily: Well, it’s a hell of a D-day, that’s all I can say. To be honest with you Charlie, there’s something very unpleasant about this little deceit you’re pulling on the Navy. You’ve been cackling away all afternoon as if the invasion in which the fate of nations and the lives of millions are at stake is nothing more to you than a private joke. I just keep thinking of all those men trooping onto all those ships tonight wondering if they’ll end up bodies on a beach.
Charlie: Honey, I’m not cackling because there are going to be bodies ont he beach tomorrow. I’m cackling because I’m not going to be one of them. Honey, we’re both getting drenched. [He kisses her again, ready to leave]
Emily: Charlie. [He stops] I can’t marry you.
Charlie: I’ve been waiting for that. We’ll talk about it when I get back.
Emily: I don’t want to talk about it when you get back. I don’t want to see you again.
Charlie: Emily, I will not be brushed off with my plane about to take off.
Emily: Oh, for pity’s sake, Charlie, we both know it’s finished. Now, let’s end it in one snap before we say things we’ll regret.
Charlie: No. No no, let’s say them. There should be something we regret.
Emily: All right. I despise cowardice, I detest selfish people, and I loathe ruthlessness. Since you are cowardly, selfish and ruthless, I cannot help but despise, detest and loathe you. And that is not the way a woman should feel about the man she’s gonna marry.
Charlie: Don’t be facile, Emily.
Emily: I am not being… I’ve been up all bloody night staring at your bloody marriage applications! Well I’ve signed them. They are in my purse. I was going to give you them this afternoon but you came prancing in with this very funny joke you’re playing on Bus, the Navy, your country and the whole bloody world. Look, I suppose I’m just a stupid romantic but I sort of feel the joke’s on me, too. I believe in honor and service and courage, and fair play and cricket and all the other symbols of the British character which have only civilized half the world.
Charlie: You British plundered half the world for your own profit. Let’s not pass it off as the Age of Englightenment.
Emily: Yes, that’s the American way of looking at it.
Charlie: Emily, let’s not get into one of these a ’the trouble with you yanks” thing. It has nothing to do with it.
Emily: Oh it’s got everything to do with it. I’m British and you’re a bloody fool American. I don’t wanna see you again. [She gets in the car]
Charlie: General Kitchener aside, Emily, the only thing that’s going on here is a woman trying to shake off her lover. If you don’t love me, say so.
Emily: Ah. [She turns her head away]
Charlie: Nobody gets moral unless they’re trying to get something or get out of something. You’re trying to get out of marrying me. If you don’t love me, just say so. Otherwise, I’ll figure you’re just fightened.
Emily: Frightened of what? [Her head snaps to him]
Charlie: Frightened of getting married.
Emily: Don’t be an ass.
Charlie: The weekend passion is over. Now it’s down to signing applications, babies, setting up house, you have to commit yourself to life now, Emily. I don’t want to know what’s good or bad or true. I let God worry about the truth. I just want to know the momentary facts of things. Life isn’t good or bad or true. It’s merely factual. It’s sensual. It’s alive. My idea of living sensual facts are you, a home, a country, a world, a universe. In that order. I wanna know what I am, not what I should be. Well the fact is, I’m a coward. I never met anyone who wasn’t.
Emily: I’m not. (head down)
Charlie: You’re the most terrified woman I’ve ever met. You’re even scared to get married. [She looks up]
Emily: I’ve already been married.
Charlie: Oh sure. You married him three days before he went to Africa. Thank God he never came back. You’re forever falling in love with men on their last nights of furlough. That’s about the limit of your commitments. One night, a day, a month. You prefer lovers to husbands, hotels to homes. You’d rather grieve than live.
Emily: You’re not only cowardly and selfish, you’re remarkably cruel as well.
Charlie: Come off it, Emily. The only immoral thing you have against me is I’m alive.
[She gets out of the car]
Emily: I’m gonna slap your face, Charlie.
Charlie: Go ahead. I won’t hit you back, I’m a coward.
[She slaps him]
Charlie: On the other hand, I’m selfish. I don’t easily give up what’s mine. You’re mine, Emily, and I’m not going to let you go.
[She slaps again]
Charlie: All you have to say is, „I don’t love you.”
Emily: I don’t love you, Charlie.
Bus: [From the plane] Come on Charlie, it's time to go.
Charlie: Well you’re a good woman. You’ve done the morally right thing. God save us all from people who do the morally right thing. It’s the rest of us who get broken in a half. You're a bitch.
Charlie: I want you to remember that the last time you saw me I was unregenerately eating a Hershey* bar.
[He walks away]
[She watches him go]
*: The Hershey bar is a reference to an earlier comment by Emily where she refused the chocolate he got her as a present, telling him not to americanize her.
Whether this is the end or not, I won't say. Watch the movie and you'll find out. (Or ask me in the comments lol).