In Spielberg's first Second World War movie he takes a rather unusual look at the period, especially when now we know what emotional brilliance he later brought to the screen. 1941 is a crazy slapstick comedy! It is a combination of 3 young filmmakers full of energy and excitement as they brace the film industry. The screenplay is written by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, and John Milius, of which separately created films such as Back To The Future, Apocalypse Now, and Forrest Gump. I do personally think that 1941 is a good film that is very harshly rated. It is on the same comedic format of films like Airplane and Naked Gun.

Industry folk in the late 70s seemed to desperately want Spielberg to fail. This fresh filmmaker created the summer blockbuster and cinema's highest grossing movie ever made (at the time), surely he couldn't keep going? For me I believe he does, it is not an exceptional movie but it is definitely entertaining. Spielberg's movies tend to linger around or above the 2 hour mark, however, this one would have benefited from a shorter length. Around the 90 minute mark would have knitted the story more tightly together and took out any of the unnecessary loose ends.

There are a plethora of characters involved in 1941, which maybe adds to the dislike of this film. Some characters feel like a recurring joke from a sketch show, simply being used for a quick laugh before the story continues. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are tagged as the big stars on the DVD cover but neither of which contribute to the story nor are exceptionally funny. John Belushi's character was supposed to be very minor at first but when Belushi was cast they decided to make his role more prominent, however, I feel this was a mistake. Belushi does a couple of comedy gags here and there but he is possibly the most unnecessary character of them all, destroying the flow of any story that there is in this film. Dan Aykroyd is also very forgettable, playing another questionable character in regards to his contribution to the story.

Spielberg himself later stated that what killed the comedy from 1941 was the amount of destruction and the noise level that drowned any humour out of it. Originally, the character of Wally (Bobby Di Cicco) was supposed to make an impact on everyone else within the story, which would have created a structural link, however, Bob Gale (screenwriter) said that this was lost in post production. This unfortunately leads us with a mix of differing characters that do not really have any relation to each other leading us to question their purpose. In the end we do not particularly care about what happens to the characters, which shows the lack of character depth implemented, but they are enjoyable to watch and mostly all likeable. We are only watching for the comedic set pieces, which it does deliver on.

Parts of the film were apparently based on real events according to Bob Gale. It is true that Los Angeles believed that there was a Japanese plane above in '41, so they started shooting into the sky, but in fact nothing at all was there! I like the idea of this as it keeps the comedy, knowing that some parts actually happened. The special effects are also brilliant as with any Spielberg film, especially considering it is without CG, however, as Spielberg himself said in later years this may be its downfall. Too much effects and too many explosions!

Altogether, the film did get some bad reviews, but it was NOT a box office flop. Columbia and Universal both came away happy with the profits it made, and I think it's a rather good, fun, and crazy film too. For any haters of this film at least you can surely admit that Spielberg made it up to you by bringing out a cinema classic just two years later with Indiana Jones...