The Americanization of Emily

The Americanization of Emily (1964) is a film you can watch online on iFILM — an anti-war comedy directed by Arthur Hiller from Paddy Chayefsky's screenplay, based on the novel by William Bradford Huie.

Wartime London, 1944. U.S. Navy "dog-robber" Charlie Madison keeps his admiral supplied with food, women and comfort, and makes no apologies for it. He meets Emily, an English widow who has already buried her husband and her brother; she finds his cheerful cowardice repellent, then slowly doesn't. Meanwhile the admiral's plan takes shape: Charlie will be the first American killed on the Normandy beaches, on film, for the historical record.

Chayefsky's script is a direct attack on the mythology of military sacrifice — precise and angry enough that the film still pushes back. James Garner plays the coward as the most principled man in the room. Watch The Americanization of Emily (1964) online on iFILM.