SERGEANT YORK Movie Review
1941 Howard Hawks
Hollywood's most honored piece of propaganda—and one of its most popular—is also a thoughtful, even gentle film. It can be faulted for taking a rosy view of World War I, but that's because it was part of a larger effort by the entertainment industry to prepare the country for World War II. The subject is Congressional Medal of Honor–winner Alvin York. His is an unusual tale of heroism, and, by all accounts, this is an unusually accurate version of real events. To no one's surprise, it's also uncritical. York's diary is the source of the script and he served as an advisor. The film's enduring success, though, comes from a brilliant performance by Gary Cooper, one of the best in his long career. He won his first Academy Award for it; the second came for High Noon.
When we first meet Alvin C. York, he is sowing his wild oats in an Arcadian rural Tennessee. (The place is so idealized that it must be close to Brigadoon.) Alvin rips around with his pals Ike (Ward Bond) and Buck (Noah Beery Jr.), getting drunk and shooting their pistols. “Satan's got you by the shirttail, Alvin,” Pastor Pile (Walter Brennan) says “He's gonna yank you straight down to hell!” Alvin's saintly mother (Margaret Wycherly) agrees. (In the long history of long-suffering Hollywood mothers, she may be the longest suffering of them all and, like Cooper and Brennan, she was nominated for an Oscar.) Then Alvin meets lovely young Gracie (Joan Leslie) and thinks about changing his ways, but nothing comes easy. His conversion to the straight and narrow is finally accomplished through a particularly crazed bit of business. Somehow, though, Cooper's craggy innocence pulls off the transformation. A great actor might not be able to manage the scene, but a real movie star can.
Unfortunately for Alvin, he finds religion on the eve of America's entry into the war. As he sees it, “I ain't a-goin’ to war. War is killin’ and the Book's agin killin’, so war is agin the Book.” His draft board doesn't agree, so Alvin, who's also a deadeye shot, is faced with a second set of moral questions. And for a second time—in defiance of all dramatic logic—Cooper, director Howard Hawks and a team of writers make it work. We believe that York wrestles with his angels and comes to the right decision. That's when, at long last, the scene shifts to France, where York accomplishes his astonishing feats. Again, the filmmakers manage to make potentially absurd events seem absolutely believable, and much of the credit for that must go with Arthur Edeson, who photographed the battle sequences.
Two other aspects need mention. First, this may be the most flattering and forgiving depiction of the Army as an organization ever put on film. Officers and non-coms are shown as wise, compassionate, and forbearing men. They're probably cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent, too. Second, though the Southern accents are pure Hollywood, with speech patterns that seem strange and forced, they're not entirely inaccurate. (For more realistic use of deep Southern accents, see Robert Duvall in Tomorrow, adapted by Horton Foote from a William Faulkner story.)
In the end, Sergeant York is unabashed, unembarrassed hero worship, and to criticize it for being effective hero worship misses the point. No, the film does not question York's rationale that he killed only to prevent more killing, but it doesn't revel in his deeds, either. Instead, it tells an involving, emotional story about an admirable man who served his country well.
Cast: Gary Cooper (Sgt. Alvin C. York), Joan Leslie (Gracie Williams), Walter Brennan (Pastor Rosier Pile), Dickie Moore (George York), Ward Bond (Ike Botkin), George Tobias (Michael T. “Pusher” Ross), Noah Beery Jr. (Buck Lipscomb), June Lockhart (Rosie York), Stanley Ridges (Maj. Buxton), Margaret Wycherly (Ma York), James Anderson (Eb), David Bruce (Bert Thomas), Lane Chandler (Cpl. Savage), Elisha Cook Jr. (Piano player), Erville Alderson (Nate Tomkins), Howard da Silva (Lem), Donald Douglas (Capt. Tillman), Frank Faylen (Butt Boy), Pat Flaherty (Sgt. Harry Parsons), Joseph Girard (Gen. John Pershing), Creighton Hale (AP Man), Russell Hicks (General), George Irving (Harrison), Selmer Jackson (Gen. Duncan), Jack Pennick (Cpl. Cutting), Harvey Stephens (Capt. Danforth), Kay Sutton (Saloon girl), Clem Bevans (Zeke), Charles Trowbridge (Cordell Hull), Guy Wilkerson (Tom Carver), Gig Young (Soldier); Written by: Abem Finkel, Harry Chandler, Howard Koch, John Huston; Cinematography by: Sol Polito; Music by: Max Steiner. Producer: Howard Hawks, Jesse L. Lasky, Hal B. Wallis, Warner Bros. Awards: Academy Awards ‘41: Best Actor (Cooper), Best Film Editing; New York Film Critics Awards ‘41: Best Actor (Cooper); Nominations: Academy Awards ‘41: Best Black and White Cinematography, Best Director (Hawks), Best Interior Decoration, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Supporting Actor (Brennan), Best Supporting Actress (Wycherly), Best Original Dramatic Score. Running Time: 134 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta.