Director: Howard Hawks
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Actor - Gary Cooper
Best Film Editing - William Holmes
Nominated for 9 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Director - Howard Hawks
Best Supporting Actor - Walter Brennan
Best Supporting Actress - Margaret Wycherly
Best Original Screenplay - Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston, and Howard Koch
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Max Steiner
Best Sound Recording - Nathan Levinson
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: John Hughes; Interior Decoration: Fred M. MacLean
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Sol Polito
Plot: A Tennessee farmer finds Jesus and captures Germans.
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Top Billed Actors: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie
Won 2 Oscars:
Best Actor - Gary Cooper
Best Film Editing - William Holmes
Nominated for 9 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Warner Bros.
Best Director - Howard Hawks
Best Supporting Actor - Walter Brennan
Best Supporting Actress - Margaret Wycherly
Best Original Screenplay - Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston, and Howard Koch
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Max Steiner
Best Sound Recording - Nathan Levinson
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: John Hughes; Interior Decoration: Fred M. MacLean
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Sol Polito
Plot: A Tennessee farmer finds Jesus and captures Germans.
Sergeant York (1941) was released at an opportune time for its box office success. 1941's highest-grossing film was filmed when isolationist sentiment was at its peak but released when Hitler started taking over Europe, thus changing public opinion. There are reports that young men would exit the theater and immediately sign up for service. The Hollywood studios were ahead of the curve for America's involvement in World War II so Warner Bros. was trying to get this picture made even before 1941. The man this is all based on, Alvin C. York, finally agreed to the picture on the condition his profits were sent to his interdenominational Bible school but it took World War II getting hotter for him to approve. Gary Cooper was purportedly York's choice to portray him in the film. As for his wife, he didn't want any Hollywood actresses that were seen with loose morals or smoked cigarettes. Therefore, fresh and wholesome sixteen year-old Joan Leslie was cast. Leslie would also play wife to James Cagney's character in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), making her the on-screen wife of two Best Actor winning performances in a row. This is Cooper's first of two Best Actor Oscars and his first of three nominations in a row; in addition to his Academy accolades, he was also selected Best Actor by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Walter Brennan, the perennial Best Supporting Actor favorite, finally concludes his Oscar run with his final of four Best Supporting Actor nominations (and his only loss). This was also the highest-nominated film at the 14th Awards with eleven and the first film to earn at least ten nominations and not win Best Picture. This film has also been entered into the National Film Registry in 2008.
One reason this movie was so revered then as well as now is Cooper's indelible performance. He shows a lot of versatility due to the dramatic arc his character goes through including a hard-drinking ruffian, a born-again pacifist, and a commanding solider. He's tough, tender, likeable, and frustrating all in the course of two hours plus. Cooper has said this is his favorite film mostly because of how good and sound the source is (Alvin York himself was on set in the early stages). Although he may be too-good-to-be-true, Cooper breathes life in this somewhat legendary character. Another element that stands out is its screenplay. I see there are four writers credited, including John Huston. I'm not sure if this is the case, but I would fathom that a pair of them worked on each half of the film. At the one-hour mark, the movie ventures out of the Tennessee mountains and into York's training and eventually into France. There is a distinct character arc that takes place in the first half of the movie when York makes amends with people he acted out against and when he's on his way to purchase some "bottom land." Then the draft occurs and the story shifts gears. But all that work in the first half carries into the second as this newfound morality clashes with the realities of war. Although I'm not a religious person, I appreciated how complicated the situation became and I found myself pondering on what this character would do just as York was on his 10-day leave. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the editing since that is where the second Oscar went to. I assume it landed at this film due to the thrilling battle sequence in which York made a name for himself. There's also a montage that shows York hard at work to earn money and any montage that makes physical labor exciting should be commendable from an editing perspective. It's no breakfast montage from Citizen Kane (1941) (the film that should have won this Oscar), but it certainly succeeds.
Although I like the characterization of York by Cooper and the clash of morals and war duties, I couldn't quite get past the accents and dialect during the Tennessee portions of the film. People from the area signed off on this so these are supposedly accurate portrayals, but I laughed way too many times to take this seriously. Every word that ends in -ing is preceded by the letter "a." For example, I'm a thinkin' this all sounds dumb in this here review. If they all had Italian accents, it would work. Ultimately, it sounds like people from Hollywood barely putting on accents and stiffly getting through this mountain speak. It's difficult to describe in a written review but it led me to laugh (and feel guilty for doing so) at this culture that isn't my own. There is also that classic scene that shows how out of touch these people are with modern ways by showing them struggling with a telephone. I'm surprised they didn't show them gasping at one of them there automobiles or describing electricity as a work of Satan.
Overall, Gary Cooper brings it as a complicated character that goes through not one but two satisfying character arcs in this timely and patriotic war film. Although the accents and dialect mildly frustrated me (and made me laugh), the moral quandaries explored between religion and war is thought-provoking and worthy of praise.
My Score: 7/10
One reason this movie was so revered then as well as now is Cooper's indelible performance. He shows a lot of versatility due to the dramatic arc his character goes through including a hard-drinking ruffian, a born-again pacifist, and a commanding solider. He's tough, tender, likeable, and frustrating all in the course of two hours plus. Cooper has said this is his favorite film mostly because of how good and sound the source is (Alvin York himself was on set in the early stages). Although he may be too-good-to-be-true, Cooper breathes life in this somewhat legendary character. Another element that stands out is its screenplay. I see there are four writers credited, including John Huston. I'm not sure if this is the case, but I would fathom that a pair of them worked on each half of the film. At the one-hour mark, the movie ventures out of the Tennessee mountains and into York's training and eventually into France. There is a distinct character arc that takes place in the first half of the movie when York makes amends with people he acted out against and when he's on his way to purchase some "bottom land." Then the draft occurs and the story shifts gears. But all that work in the first half carries into the second as this newfound morality clashes with the realities of war. Although I'm not a religious person, I appreciated how complicated the situation became and I found myself pondering on what this character would do just as York was on his 10-day leave. I would be remiss if I didn't mention the editing since that is where the second Oscar went to. I assume it landed at this film due to the thrilling battle sequence in which York made a name for himself. There's also a montage that shows York hard at work to earn money and any montage that makes physical labor exciting should be commendable from an editing perspective. It's no breakfast montage from Citizen Kane (1941) (the film that should have won this Oscar), but it certainly succeeds.
Although I like the characterization of York by Cooper and the clash of morals and war duties, I couldn't quite get past the accents and dialect during the Tennessee portions of the film. People from the area signed off on this so these are supposedly accurate portrayals, but I laughed way too many times to take this seriously. Every word that ends in -ing is preceded by the letter "a." For example, I'm a thinkin' this all sounds dumb in this here review. If they all had Italian accents, it would work. Ultimately, it sounds like people from Hollywood barely putting on accents and stiffly getting through this mountain speak. It's difficult to describe in a written review but it led me to laugh (and feel guilty for doing so) at this culture that isn't my own. There is also that classic scene that shows how out of touch these people are with modern ways by showing them struggling with a telephone. I'm surprised they didn't show them gasping at one of them there automobiles or describing electricity as a work of Satan.
Overall, Gary Cooper brings it as a complicated character that goes through not one but two satisfying character arcs in this timely and patriotic war film. Although the accents and dialect mildly frustrated me (and made me laugh), the moral quandaries explored between religion and war is thought-provoking and worthy of praise.
My Score: 7/10