Seven Days in May

Seven Days in May (1964) is an American political thriller directed by John Frankenheimer, available to watch online on iFILM. Adapted by Rod Serling from the novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II, it stars Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, and Ava Gardner.

The premise is set a few years out: a U.S. president has signed a nuclear disarmament treaty, his approval numbers have collapsed, and Air Force General James Scott (Lancaster) has decided the country deserves stronger leadership. He has seven days. Colonel Casey (Douglas), Scott's own aide, stumbles onto the plot and faces a choice that has no clean side: expose a conspiracy against the president and betray the man he serves, or stay quiet and let a coup succeed.

Frankenheimer made the film with quiet backing from the Kennedy White House — Kennedy read the script and approved of it. Shot in stark black and white by Ellsworth Fredericks, the film builds its tension through closed rooms and clipped dialogue rather than gunfire. For a thriller made in 1964, it reads remarkably well as a portrait of institutional loyalty tested by conscience. Stream Seven Days in May online on iFILM.