// BEGIN editorial data var i = 0; var Ent_FiveTop_060217 = new Array(); Ent_FiveTop_060217.ID = "Ent_FiveTop_060217"; Ent_FiveTop_060217.ID_WB = 11390372; Ent_FiveTop_060217.sPubDate = "2/17/2006 7:35:36 PM GMT"; Ent_FiveTop_060217.navsectionID = "3032083" Ent_FiveTop_060217.appFmt = 2; Ent_FiveTop_060217.itemsPerPage = 5; Ent_FiveTop_060217.appWidth = 624; Ent_FiveTop_060217.appHeader = ""; Ent_FiveTop_060217.appFooter = "    By Paige Newman, Movies Editor"; Ent_FiveTop_060217.rowSpacer = "20"; Ent_FiveTop_060217.rowAlt = "F7F7F7"; Ent_FiveTop_060217.appNavStyle = 3; Ent_FiveTop_060217.appLayout = 1; Ent_FiveTop_060217.copyMargin = 9; Ent_FiveTop_060217.copyBorder = 0; Ent_FiveTop_060217.sBodyFont = "font-size:12px;"; Ent_FiveTop_060217[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060217/060117_sevendays_itlist_11a.vsmall.jpg","","Seven Days in May", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "198", "145", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060217[i-1].body = "Fredric March, \"Seven Days in May\" (1964): This film -- about an ultra-conservative general (Burt Lancaster) who plans a secret coup after the president (March) signs a disarmament treaty with Russia -- feels so strangely timely that you may actually assign roles to correspond with recent public figures. March’s president is a curmudgeonly yet likable guy who jokes about his low 29 percent approval rating, but is quick to believe the young colonel (Kirk Douglas) who suspects a coup. March’s president works because he does what most of us would do. He turns to trusted friends and tries to stick to his morals, even when it’s tempting to do otherwise. The moment where he confronts Lancaster –- urging him to run for office rather than try to forcibly obtain power –- perfectly displays March’s talent. At one point, he says to Lancaster, \"You have such a fervent, passionate, evangelical faith in this country. Why in the name of God don't you have any faith in the system of government you're so hell-bent to protect?\" Added bonuses: Rod Serling adapted the screenplay, John Frankenheimer directed."; Ent_FiveTop_060217[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060217/060217_sellersmuffley_5top.vsmall.jpg","","The whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost if you keep it a secret! ", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "198", "140", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060217[i-1].body = "Peter Sellers, \"Dr. Strangelove\" (1964): Sellers’ Merkin Muffley is so joyously clueless that it’s hard to stop giggling when he comes on screen. Maybe 1964 was the perfect year for such films, given the growing concerns about the nuclear threat during the Cold War. Instead of dealing with that threat ponderously, Stanley Kubrick took a completely corkscrew approach that felt zany and yet more realistic than most films that took themselves seriously. Muffley tells Soviet Premier Kissoff, \"One of our base commanders, he had a sort of ... well, he went a little funny in the head,\" before noting almost as an aside that the errant officer \"ordered his planes ... to attack your country.\" That combination of not wanting to ruffle the premier’s feathers and the seriousness of the message makes the exchange one of the funniest on film -- especially since we only hear Sellers’ side of the conversation. This is why Sellers was a genius. Even if you wouldn’t want Muffley as president, it’s not hard to believe that someone just like him could obtain the office. "; Ent_FiveTop_060217[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060216/060216_failsafe_top5.vsmall.jpg","","Fail-Safe", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "198", "137", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060217[i-1].body = "Henry Fonda, \"Fail-Safe\" (1964): Though this potboiler about an American plane mistakenly sent to launch a nuclear attack on Moscow feels like the film Kubrick was poking fun at, it actually was released nine months after \"Strangelove.\" The two would still make an excellent double feature. At first, Fonda’s character comes off like the ideal president: cool under pressure, commanding and an excellent negotiator. But when Fonda makes his final decision (which I won’t spoil), you find yourself questioning everything that’s come before it. Is he crazy? How will the American people react the next day? Has he ultimately achieved something that will result in a long-term positive solution? There’s much to talk about after credits roll, and it’s impossible to view \"Fail-Safe\" without thinking about Sept. 11 or the current squabbles over who has the right to be a nuclear nation."; Ent_FiveTop_060217[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060216/060216_deadzone_top5.vsmall.jpg","","Dead Zone", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "198", "140", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060217[i-1].body = "Martin Sheen, \"The Dead Zone\" (1983): Before he was \"The West Wing's\" kindly President Bartlett, Sheen was presidential candidate Greg Stilson, perhaps the first president who actually would push the button. Or at least according to the visions of Christopher Walken’s Johnny Smith. In Walken’s vision, a five-star general refuses to help launch missiles, Stilson screams, \"You cowardly bastard! You're not the voice of the people, I am the voice of the people! The people speak through me, not you!\" David Cronenberg (\"A History of Violence\") directed this adaptation of the Stephen King novel – and Cronenberg loves to involve the viewer in his films. When deciding whether or not to dispatch Stilson, Walken’s character compares him to Hitler. We're forced to wonder: What would we do? Would we do what Walken did? Would we look for other options? Though Stilson is a bad guy, Sheen gives him the necessary charisma that shows us why people would be willing to support him."; Ent_FiveTop_060217[i++] = new Array("","","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060216/060216_deterrence_top5.vsmall.jpg","","Deterrence", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "", "198", "140", "", "", "", "", ""); Ent_FiveTop_060217[i-1].body = "Kevin Pollack, \"Deterrence\" (1999): Forget for a second that Saddam Hussein was captured or that Uday Hussein is dead or that 9/11 ever happened. Set in a fictional 2008, this film tells the story of a president (Pollack) stranded by a snowstorm in a Colorado diner during a campaign trip. That same night, Uday decides to lead the Iraqi guard into Kuwait. There are other complications: Pollack is president by default (the former president has died and the vice president has resigned); he’s also Jewish (which further unsettles the Iraqis). Rod Lurie, who also directed \"The Contender\" and created \"Commander and Chief,\" doesn’t take any easy roads here. He has Pollack make a tough, and some would argue indefensible, choice and then lets the audience judge him. To top things off, Pollack’s genial character is fairly hard to dismiss as a bad guy, but somewhat like Fonda’s character in \"Fail-Safe\" you may find yourself a bit baffled by his decision."; // END editorial data