nammage This has been my favorite film since I was 12 years old in 1989. I'm not the type of person who has heroes but if I did Alvin York probably would be it. York the person, not the WWI hero he's been portrayed as. He wouldn't allow a film to be made about him because he didn't want to glorify violence especially of war and the death it entailed. He felt sorrow for the men he killed during the war his entire life.Obviously this film is propaganda; the fact York would only allow Gary Cooper to play him is probably one of the main reasons it wasn't made until 1940. Film execs tried for many years before then but York kept saying 'no'. The average difference of the two during WWI is huge. York was 28 and Cooper was 39 to 40 when making the film. Then you have Joan Leslie, really good in her part but she was 15 years old when this film was made. Kind of uncomfortable watching a 40 year old making out with a 15 year old but it is just acting, I guess. Joan Leslie was great in her role, I really can't imagine anyone else playing Grace.This film sort of portrayed York as an atheist who turned Christian. Never happened. He was always a Christian. The only change was that he became a pacifist Christian like his mother. As an atheist myself (for 28 years) I find that not only insulting atheists but also York himself. That's part of the propaganda that is this film. It was made for the looming war about to happen whether that year or the next. The film also made it seem as if York solely captured 132 Germans when in fact that's slightly untrue. He had help. Two of which didn't receive awards for their actions until decades later. One, not until the mid 1960s. There's a lot of fiction in this film which is why I never get my history from film; almost every film dealing with history always fictionalizes for some type of benefit. Which is sad, really. Unlike other propaganda films of the time this one has good production value, strong cast, great script, etc., if one who has seen the film knows about the actual York then one would know even his "biography/diary" was fictionalized but on York's end it had a good purpose rather thsn a deceitful one: he was trying to bring education to Tennessee people like him who had little to no education at all.Now while I like this film because of York, what he did, etc., he's not my favorite in this film. George Tobias as 'Pusher' is my favorite in this film. I've never seen a film Tobias was in that I didn't like and his character in this was great. A lot of things wrong with this film but a lot of things right with it which, ironically, makes it quite perfect. To know the true story of this film, as stated above: don't read his diary, unless you can find the original diary because otherwise his life outside this film is somewhat fictional, for good reasons, though. Even a lot of the speeches he gave in real life were written by other people, professional writers, for him to say. One can tell by how grammatically correct they are. York was borderline illiterate, he spoke and wrote how he thought; he was only in school for less than a year as a child. His childhood was the epitome of poverty. Children back then didn't go to school, they worked the fields. York was a violent alcoholic, that is true but he attended church regularly. He was never an atheist, as stated. It's a great film but mainly fiction.

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!

tavm I had first watched this during the early '80s on TBS when the station was presenting it on their Academy Award Theatre on Sunday morning. It was my first time of watching a Gary Cooper movie. It was also my first time seeing the true story of World War I patriot Alvin York, from his Tennessee background to his Hell-raising to his conversion to religion to his attempt to avoid combat because of it and then his heroism after he realizes how important his defense is to the good of his country. The film is humorous in spots, romantic when York courts Gracie Williams, touchingly played by luminous Joan Leslie, dramatically intense in the battle scenes, and touchingly heartwarming when the results reach the end. Is it possible this film was made to prepare men to go to battle again in another World War? Yes, it might've been propaganda for that. Still, Sergeant York is such an entertaining and inspirational movie, one forgives some bout of glory-mongering that might have crept in. Walter Brennan was also good as York's religious mentor. And Cooper deserved his first Oscar for this role. So on that note, Sergeant York is still highly recommended. P.S. The reason I watched this again was because I recently started watching the Our Gang shorts-some for the second or third time-in chronological order for review on this site and also other films some of their members appeared in the same way though this one is way ahead of the shorts I'm currently reviewing. So former OG member Dickie Moore plays Alvin's teenaged brother George here. He previously played Cooper as a young boy as the title character in Peter Ibbetson. I always like citing when players from my favorite movie-It's a Wonderful Life-appear in other films so that's Ward Bond as one of York's carousing friends at the bar. The other one was Noah Berry Jr. who is probably best known as Jim Rockford's father in "The Rockford Files". And the commentary on the DVD I watched this on was provided by Jeanine Basinger who does a wonderful job of providing info not only on York but also the people behind this film.

Koosh_King01 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.