Michael_Elliott 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.

Jackson Booth-Millard This is one of the titles I always remembered for being listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, and watching it I was obviously hoping it would be a worthy one, from Oscar nominated director Howard Hawks (Bringing Up Baby, To Have and Have Not, Monkey Business, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes). Based on the true story, poor young Tennessee hillbilly Alvin C. York (Oscar winning Gary Cooper) is an exceptional marksman, but cannot find steady work, which strains the patience of his Mother (Oscar nominated Margaret Wycherly). Alvin then meets winsome Gracie Williams (Joan Leslie), he finds strenuous odd jobs, hoping she will marry him, but he is prone to drinking and fighting, and comes to blows to some of his employers. Late one night, during a rainstorm, Alvin is en route to get revenge on a man who cheated him, he is struck by lightning, he survives the strike, but his mule is knocked down and his rifle is destroyed, following this he enters the church house, he vows never to get angry at anyone ever again. The United States declares the First World War, York is drafted into the army, he tries to avoid induction, claiming to be a conscientious objector, York is denied and reluctantly reports to Camp Gordon for basic training, there his superiors discover he is a phenomenal marksman, he is promoted to corporal. York wants nothing to do with the war and killing, his sympathetic commanding officer Major Buxton (Stanley Ridges) tries to change his mind, citing sacrifices others have made in history, Buxton gives him leave to think about it, he promises York an a recommendation for his exemption if he remains unconvinced. Eventually York reports back for duty after pondering, after reading a particular passage in the Bible, blown open by the wind, he tells his superiors that he can serve his country, despite not having everything figured out, leaving the matter in God's hands, he is ridiculed for his beliefs, but his skill for firing his rifle surprises all. York's unit is shipped out to Europe, as part of the Meuse- Argonne Offensive, deadly machine gun fire pins them down, the lieutenant orders Sergeant Early (Joe Sawyer) to try and take the enemy from behind, but York finds himself the last remaining unwounded non-commissioned officer in the detachment, Early places him in command. York's self-doubt disappears, seeing his comrades being shot down all around him, he works his way to a position flanking the main enemy, he is able to force the Germans to surrender, he then forces a captured German Major (Charles Esmond) at gunpoint to force other officers to surrender, they end up with 132 prisoners. York becomes a national hero and is awarded the Medal of Honor, he explains to Major Buxton he was trying to save the lives of his men, he also goes to New York City to receive a ticker tape parade and the key to the city. York embraces the service at the impressive Waldorf-Astoria hotel, congressman Cordell Hull (Charles Trowbridge) guides him through the city and informs him his fame has brought him many opportunities, totalling around $250,000. York mentions his desire to buy the bottomland he wanted in Tennessee, Hull tells him he has the money to buy it, but York rejects the offers, he says that he was not proud of what he did in the war, but it had to be done. When he returns to Tennessee, the people of his state have purchased the bottomland farm, and paid for a house built on the land. Also starring Oscar nominated Walter Brennan as Pastor Rosier Pile, Joan Leslie as Gracie Williams, George Tobias as 'Pusher' Ross, Ward Bond as Ike Botkin, June Lockhart as Rosie York and Dickie Moore as George York. Cooper gives a great performance as the backwoodsman turned national hero, it should be said that the actual battlefield sequences take a while to come on, they are obviously gripping, but this is also about the character interaction, all in all it is an interesting biographical war drama. It won the Oscar for Best Film Editing, and it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Writing, Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Best Sound and Best Music for Max Steiner. Very good!

SnoopyStyle 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.

atlasmb I can't say I find Gary Cooper a great all-around actor. But when he plays a character that is socially backward or awkward, he does a great job. In Sergeant York, he is convincing as the real-life Alvin York. I view this portrayal of a conscientious objector who deals with his inner doubts a companion piece to Cooper's great performance in Friendly Persuasion (1956).This is a compelling story about a simple man of principle. The fact that it is mostly a true story is icing on the cake. The plot, both before and after it involves WWI, is totally engaging.The hokey religious sub-story is mostly true, too. But the plot does a good job of showing that a man of conscience can interpret biblical passages to support any point of view (or its contrary), and shows that the final decision comes from within the man doing the soul searching if he is a self-determinant, which York is. He may be influenced by others, but his decisions are his own. And he always sticks to his principles.The rest of the cast is excellent, especially Walter Brennan as Pastor Pile.There are few stories in cinema that are as compelling as Sergeant York, so I recommend it to all. The main character is a hero in more than war.