good back-story, and good acting

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

It's refreshing to watch a film like Sergeant York with it's straight up old fashioned Boy Scout, trying- to-do-what's-right hero. There's no edginess, no irony or need for an anti-hero here and while there's a place for that I enjoy seeing a protagonist who's trying to reflect the best of humanity; many will find this boring and corny but I dig it. Who better to play such a role than the boy scout-iest of actors (along with Jimmy Stewart) - Mr Gary Cooper as Alvin C. York; the story of a contentious objector whom in an ironic twist of fate became a war hero. Although you do have to ask if Cooper was too old for the role of York as at the beginning of the movie he is presented as a pathetic man child still living with his mother.Sergeant York is the black sheep in Howard Hawks' filmography, lacking his trademarks and in many ways the opposite of what you would expect from him. Sergeant York is a film which espouses traditional morality and notions of marriage. Joan Leslie as York's love interest Gracie Williams is anything but a Hawksian women; rather is as innocent and wholesome as you can get. The real Alvin C. York himself initially refused to allow Hollywood to make a film about his life over concerns of the morality espoused in their films resulting in Sergeant York being as wholesome and old fashioned as it is in a film in which religion and the community dominate everyday life. However it's not religion which triggers York's reformation but rather the love of a woman which allows the audience's identification with the character not be a purely religious one. Likewise the foreshadowing from Pastor Pile (Walter Brennan) to York being struck by lightning avoids making the plot device more contrived.At its heart Sergeant York is a movie about pacifism. While its examination of the topic is very much pacifism 101 it is still thought provoking stuff and lets the audience make up their own mind as the film doesn't propagate a point of view (including that which York comes to) onto the viewer. The discussions within the film, on York trying to determine the right thing to do, present both religious and secular arguments in relation to pacifism. On the religious side York states that the Bible is against killing as his reason to be exempt from military service but the draft board states the Bible can be interpreted as its followers choose. On the secular side of things, York is handed a book on the history of the United States by one of his superior officers and is told if he wants to worship God in his own way, plough his fields as he sees fit and raise a family according to his own likes then the cost of that heritage is high - In the words of Team America; freedom isn't free. One of the most striking images in the film is that of York and his dog sitting on a rock on the side of a cliff overlooking the wilderness in a state of deep thought as the words "God" and "Country" are repeated in his head serving as inspiration for the challenge of wrestling with weighty decisions (What Would York Do?).It's clear Joan Leslie in the role of York's future wife Gracie can only just manage to act herself out of a paper bag but manages to get away with it on endearment alone. However the show stealer is Walter Brennan and those amazing eyebrows as the father like figure Pastor Pile; I don't think anyone can play an endearing old man better than Brennan. The other cast member that sticks out to me is Dickie Moore as Alvin's younger brother George. I'm not sure if his performance is supposed to be funny or not but his monotone reaction to everything makes me laugh.Sergeant York is one example in media of Appalachians being presented in a dignified manner rather than being the butt of jokes. In Sergeant York there are presented as uneducated and sheltered but not as a pack of simpletons. As it turns out the writers and filmmakers had little choice in this matter as the real York and several townsmen in Tennessee refused to sign releases unless the film was an accurate portrayal of history. Likewise not a single character in the film, both in York's rural Tennessee home or at the army barracks in which he trains, seem to know what the war is about but then again no one knows what World War I is all about.

It's 1916. Alvin York (Gary Cooper) lives in the poverty stricken Tennessee hills. He often gets into drunken fights to the dismay of Pastor Rosier Pile and his mother. He falls in love with Gracie Williams. He stops drinking and works to buy a farm. He wins a backwoods shooting contest to get the last of the money but the landowner reneges on the deal. He gets drunk and looks to get revenge. A lightning strike destroys his gun. He has a religious conversion and vows to never kill. His change improves his outlook. When America joins WWI, York is conscripted as a conscientious objector. His commanders are taken with his shooting skills and York faces a struggle with his values. On the frontlines, he and his men capture a German position. When they come under fire, York's religious conviction is tested by the realities of war. He and his seven surviving men take 132 Germans prisoner.This was a highly successful patriotic film released five months before Pearl Harbor. It became a great recruiting tool for the war. I was expecting a war movie but this starts off a little slow. Gary Cooper is a great every man. He has an innate goodness. His religious conversion is compelling. He really fits the role well. One can imagine the idealism really affecting the audience at the time. It's not a simple flag waving propaganda. It's a real portrait of a man struggling with his convictions.

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

Alvin York is a good-for-nothing hoodlum in his Tennessee hometown. At least, that's what most of the townsfolk think. The most they ever really see of Alvin is when he and his buddies get boozed up and ride around hootin' and hollerin' on horseback, shooting their guns and generally being a dangerous nuisance. But Alvin's mother knows the truth, that there is a different side to her son. His drinking problem and his violent temper aside, he's done a commendable job of looking after the York family ever since the death of his father, working their farm and pretty much singlehandedly taking care of his mother and his two younger siblings. He's also one of the finest sharpshooters in town. When he's sober, anyway. Unfortunately, the times when Alvin is sober are few and far between lately. Desperate, Mrs. York asks their cousin, local preacher Pastor Rosier Pile, to try and talk some sense into her hellraising son. It doesn't go so well - Alvin isn't in much of a mood to listen. During one of his rare moments of sobriety, Alvin meets and falls in love with local girl Gracie Williams, but his brutish and antagonistic nature, including beating up and driving off a fellow suitor, aren't exactly endearing him to her. Not quite getting the hint, Alvin gets it into his head that if he can own his own piece of land, Gracie will come around and agree to marry him, so he swears off the booze for a while and starts doing odd jobs in an effort to buy some land. However, when the man selling the land swindles him and sells it to the suitor Alvin beat up, a despairing Alvin hits the bottle again and becomes worse than ever. One dark and stormy night, he drunkenly decides to get his rifle and go and murder the land salesman for cheating him, over the objections of his buddies. On the way, though, a bolt of lightning strikes his gun, and an instantly sobered-up Alvin comes to the conclusion that this is a sign from God. He swears of drinking and becomes a pacifist. He begins making amends with everyone he's ever wronged and everyone who's ever wronged him impressing Gracie with his new ways and making her fall in love with him. But just as things are looking up for Alvin, the US enters the Great War against Germany. Alvin, who now considers violence and killing morally wrong, tries to opt out as a conscientious objector, but the military isn't having it. His sharpshooting skills are just too good for them to pass up. Fortunately, his life in the Army isn't all that bad. His superior Major Buxton is sympathetic to his views, and Alvin also meets and befriends "Pusher" Ross and Bert Thomas. His shooting skills soon earn him a promotion to corporal as well. All too soon, though, they're being shipped off to Europe. They aren't there long before Bert gets killed by enemy mortar fire, and, under the command of Sergeant Early, they storm a heavily-fortified German machine gun position.An attempt to flank the Germans goes disastrously wrong. Although they capture the Germans' commanding officer Major Vollmer, enemy fire forces everyone to take refuge in a trench, where they're pinned down. A wounded Early gives Alvin command and tasks him with taking out the machine gun nests. Can the conflicted Alvin find a way of winning the battle by killing as few enemy soldiers as possible? Is there a way to stop the killing but still hold true to his pacifist beliefs? Leaving the captive Vollmer with Pusher, Alvin gathers his courage and charges across the battlefield towards his destiny.Sergeant York is an amazing movie that shows how a man can change himself to become a better person, and take this betterment with him to use his pacifist ideals to bring a conflict to as non-violent a conclusion as possible, actions for which he'd earn the Medal of Honor.