Sergeant York (1941)

Best movie ever!

Absolutely Fantastic

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Sergeant York (1941) **** (out of 4) Excellent bio-picture of Alvin C. York (Gary Cooper), a poor Tennessee farmer whose drunken ways finally get the best of him but he decides to turn his life around to marry the woman (Joan Leslie) that he loves. As he's working for a place to live WWI breaks out and he's drafted but has major reservations about killing.Howard Hawks' SERGEANT YORK was released as World War II was in full bloom and there's no question that this was a propaganda film. You can't help that many young men saw this movie when it was in theaters and hoped that they could become the next York. There's no question that the time was right for Warner to make this picture as it proved to be a box office hit and it also earned a lot of Oscar nominations including a win for Cooper as Best Actor.Even by 1941 there had been countless war movies dating back to the silent era. What works so wonderfully well here is that we're basically given a character study and what a character York was. I was really shocked at how much of the running time was devoted to York while he was in Tennessee but this is where some of the greatest stuff happened. There were some truly great moments of the character struggling with his own thoughts and I thought the film did a wonderful job at really showing off the morals of this character and especially how they would come into play once the war scenes started.As far as the war scenes go, they are certainly very intense and exciting. I'm not going to spoil what happens but director Hawks does a terrific job at showing the difficulty of what York did and the cinematography and editing during this sequence was wonderful. Of course, Cooper's wonderful performance is what really makes the film work as he really does a great job with both sides of this character. The drunken redneck as well as the man that would become an American hero. The film also got some terrific supporting performances by Leslie, Walter Brennan, George Tobias, Dickie Moore, Joe Sawyer and Margaret Wycherly as York's mother.SERGEANT YORK is certainly one of the greatest pictures from this era of Hollywood. Some have attacked it for being propaganda and overly religious but it's important to remember when this movie was made. It certainly had a major impact on the time and it still packs a nice punch after all of these years.

Reported to be Gary Cooper's favorite film role, and probably mine as well. In the charisma department, he is abetted by the presence of Walter Brennan, made up to look older than his 47 years. Brennan plays the local parson and store keeper for this rustic community of farmers. He appears to be one of the few of this community who has had significant "book larnin'". Periodically, he showed up to discuss Alvin's problems and philosophy relating to religion and violence.Margaret Wycherly plays Alvin's aged widowed mother, with big soulful eyes, mostly silent and slow to move around. She would play Ma Forrester 5 years later, in "The Yearling" : a very similar type of role, in another rustic setting. Both Brennan and Margaret would receive Best Supporting Actor nominations for their performances in this film. Incidentally, Clem Bevans, who played the minor character of Zeke, would play Pa Forrester in "The Yearling": a very distinctive character.Ex-Little Rascal Dickie Moore played Alvin's kid brother, George. He was the same age as Joan Leslie, who played Alvin's girlfriend and future wife, Gracie. Thus, based purely upon age, George and Gracie seemed a much more likely couple than Alvin and Gracie. 40 year old Cooper came across as more appropriate as her father. Joan was the same age as the real Gracie at this time. The real Alvin was 30: a much more common age spread than the 24 years spread between Cooper and Joan. In those days, a young man often had to wait until he was 25-30 or so before he had the financial means to support a family. In Alvin's case, he also was the sole support of his mother and young siblings. Also, in those days, rural women often were worn out before their time, birthing babies, along with their many indoor and outdoor chores. When looking for a replacement wife, a man often looked for a young woman who was looking for security.The balance between Alvin's civilian and military lives I though was about right. This is not primarily a war movie, although Alvin's fame derived from one war incident, in which he along with 7 privates captured 132 Germans, along with killing a bunch. I thought the battle scenes in recreating this accomplishment were well done. The dismal trench warfare of the western front cried out for a few publicized heros. Alvin wanted to forget about the war as soon as possible, saying he wasn't especially proud of what he had done over there. It was just a job, to reduce the killing. To have cut short his civilian life would have much reduced the general appeal of the film. Like the later "The Yearling", it gives a somewhat authentic snapshot of a segment of Americana early in the 20th century that most urban people had never encountered. York made various demands upon his agreement to sell the rights to his story. Firstly, his share of the profits would go to a bible school. Also, the actress who portrayed his wife must be wholesome, a non-smoker and non-drinker. Third, the screenplay must depict both the good and bad in his character. Fourth, Gary Cooper must play him. In fact, Cooper initially declined the role, and was only persuaded to accept it after meeting Alvin. Alvin had been subjected to repeated pleas to film his life since just after the war. It was only the beginning of WWII that induced him to agree. The Warners were vehemently anti-fascist and anti-communist. I have proposed elsewhere that several Warner-produced Errol Flynn films in the late '30s and 1940 likely had an intended anti-fascist subliminal message. Beginning in '41, this was transformed into 2 flag-waving biops relating the WWI, intended to promote acceptance of the eventual necessity of a formal entry of the US into the war. The other such film was "Yankee Doodle Dandy", released the following year. Warner later produced several musicals that were also blatant war propaganda films. This includes "This is the Army", "Thank Your Lucky Stars" and "Hollywood Canteen". They also released a number of WWII-related Errol Flynn war films during the war, along with "Casablanca".The present film and 'Yankee Doodle Dandy" share a number of similarities besides being nostalgic biop flag-wavers. Joan Leslie was the leading lady in both. Cooper and Cagney were both 40 or so, thus much older than the subjects they represented as well as the 16-17 year old Joan. Both were more than 2 hours long(too long for some, but I didn't think so), about 30 min longer than most feature films. Both were either the top or near top box office earners of the year. In both, the flag-waving aspect was diluted by copious time devoted to other matters.My title is taken from the last line in the film

Howard Hawks sure knows how to make a film, but it doesn't stop this sad piece of kitsch from being downright boring. You know the whole story right from the beginning, and the only thing that surprises is just how crazily far they'll take it. The movie is more than 2 hours long and it uses every second to cram fake values down your throat like you're a dumb kid in a crappy Sunday school.I registered just to warn people what they were gonna get. I figured I was in for a tight war flick with some imparted knowledge by a master. Instead, I found myself in the midst of a lecture that seemed to get more and more sure of itself as it got crazier and crazier... that's what crazy people do you know.I find that the only way to enjoy this film is to view it as a dark satirical piece akin to Taxi Driver or Apocalypse Now, but even that is hard to believe.

Of course behind the blatant war propaganda and shameless just-converted preacher's talk, in the end, what the producers wanted was making money. Hence the hodge-podge of other things they throw into their concoction: romance, a strong-minded matriarch (but not even close to Ma Joad from "The Grapes of Wrath") rivalry, et al - which made them end up with a movie which might as well have been two or three different ones (talk about bad editing!)and, as I mentioned on the title, it ends up not achieving one of them skillfully enough to be taken seriously. After all, I dare even the most hard-core fan/advocate of this movie not to admit even they were wondering by the end of its second third, whether they were watching the right movie or not or when the war bit was actually going to start and how! The question "When is the sergeant finally taking over?" was constantly at the back of my mind by then.To mention a few flaws, and as much as I am a huge fan of, say Screwball comedy and the odd romance threw in, and still a great admirer of Hawks's, I fail to understand how on earth it could amass so many academy awards in spite of the gigantic competition that year (Citizen Kane et al).Maybe Gary Cooper, as usual, deserved his statuette in the end, as the truly convincing redneck simpleton who always goes about life with a naive look on his face (Mr. Deeds, anyone?). Also (and this is still the huge Howard Hawks fan speaking) the director/writers were just trying to be faithful to the book. As I can't vouch for it simply because I didn't read it, I'll have to quote someone else's review when they say this was a blatant case of an autobiography in which the author seemed to give more emphasis to promoting his deeds and achievements than actually worrying about whether his book would be a pleasant read or not. I very much doubt that Rambo-like scene actually happened that way! As far as my weak war tactics knowledge go, they threw it all through the window in that particular scene!But the film editing award!? Come on! Does the war effort really put people so out of their minds!? Do they suddenly start awarding people for simply saying what they want the population to hear and ignoring the great minds who don't comply to all that brain washing!?Finally, making war look like a turkey shooting (and fun!) wasn't IMHO a wise move. After watching this faux-pas I'm in desperate need of watching more sober films such as "Citizen Kane"; "All Quiet in The Western Front" for what a real WWI movie should look like, or even Hawks's sublime Screwball masterpiece "Bringing Up Baby" for laughs only, not an all-in- one concoction of a movie! PS: For Christ's sake, sharpshooters are meant to do just that in the trenches, not just chatting about between ducking here and there!