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In this version of the story, Stagg is presented as a rigid, self-serious character, whose expertise and authority are constantly in question. Will Eisenhower listen to him, whose conclusions are based on the best silence available? Or will the president take the advice of his longtime favorite, Irving Crick, whose predictions were entirely based on historical weather patterns?<\/p>\n
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James Stagg (Andrew Scott, left) and Irving P. Krick (Chris Messina) are rival meteorologists with differing methods i the World War II thriller “Pressure.”<\/p>\n
Alex Bailey\/Focus Features\/Alex Bailey\/Focus Features\/Studi<\/p>\n
Crick, played with great relish by Chris Messina as a supremely confident idiot, is absolutely sure that the skies will be clear on June 5, 1944, the day scheduled for the invasion. Stagg offers no such certainty, and as a personality he\u2019s no match for Crick. But he\u2019s fairly sure that, if the Allies attack on June 5, it will be an absolute disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cPressure\u201d presents Eisenhower and Stagg as brand-new acquaintances, but Eisenhower, in fact, had had Stagg on his staff for several months, in order to test Stagg\u2019s predictive capability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The movie also departs from history by having Eisenhower go off half-cocked yelling at various people, especially Stagg. Yes, it\u2019s true that Eisenhower could have an explosive temper, but he knew how to keep it under control. Here he\u2019s so angry that he often seems weak, and in a way that would have undermined his authority.<\/p>\n
Oh, and while we\u2019re quibbling, Ike didn\u2019t smoke filtered cigarettes. This was 1944. He smoked filterless Camels.<\/p>\n
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Captain James Stagg (Andrew Scott) confers with\u00a0 as Captain Kay Summersby (Kerry Condon), the personal assistant to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in director Anthony Maras\u2019 \u201cPressure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alex Bailey\/Focus Features\/Alex Bailey\/Focus Features\/Studi<\/p>\n
But enough of that. Most of the liberties taken with the real history in \u201cPressure\u201d only serve to enhance the drama, in a film where the built-in dramatic takes are already incalculable. This was the largest seaborn invasion in history, and most seaborn invasions against defended territory fail. Eisenhower knew that, if they waited, the element of surprise could be lost.<\/p>\n
By making the stresses on Stagg even worse than they were, the movie guarantees that Scott has plenty to play, and there are moments here when he convincingly seems like a man about to break. It\u2019s yet another exceptional performance from an actor who seems unable to make a false move.<\/p>\n
Also worth noting is Kerry Condon as Eisenhower\u2019s driver, assistant and probable girlfriend, Kay Sommersby. Sommersby was Irish, and so is Condon. Watching her here, it\u2019s hard to escape the sense that yes, this is what Kay Sommersby must have been like \u2014 capable, discreet and a natural judge of character.<\/p>\n
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Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brendan Fraser stars as U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower in director Anthony Maras\u2019 “Pressure,” about the 72 hours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[2224,88,206,138590],"class_list":["post-657388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-movies-and-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\u201cPressure\u201d: Drama. Starring Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser and Kerry Condon. Directed by Anthony Maras. (PG-13. 100 minutes.) Special Memorial Day screenings at 2 p.m. Monday, May 25, in select Bay Area theaters. In theaters nationwide Friday, May 29.<\/p>\n