Sergeant York (1941)
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Sergeant York Movie Review
Sergeant York is a 1941 biographical war film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Gary Cooper in the titular role. It’s a typically patriotic, but strongly made movie.
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“Therefore, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,
and unto God the things that are God’s“
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A pacifist Alvin C. York is drafted into WWI and becomes a war hero in spite of his beliefs. In that premise alone you can easily see a big issue and that is the message of the film. I strongly oppose wars and I am a pacifist myself, so the film choosing war over pacifism in order to promote the new war effort to the Americans was beyond wrong and disgusting.
However, it was standard for the time period to have that type of thinking, so I honestly could not hold that much of a grudge against this film for being in line with the time when it was made. The problem here is that the first half is so sweet and charming that that war second half really came off as a disappointment.
Yes, watching the first half you get a sense that you are in for an epic historical picture about one man’s rise to greatness. It’s a true rags to riches story and it was wonderful seeing an emphasis on a rural, archaic part of the US as portrayed here. His financial plight was so well explored and there were many moving and inspirational moments to be had in this section of the movie.
The latter section is also very well filmed, but your standard World War I picture in action. Again, WWII was going on during this period, so this WWI movie served as propaganda to enlist Americans into this new war. The action is actually very well executed and the ending is quite moving, but morally objectionable this half remains.
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Gary Cooper is excellent in Sergeant York. He actually won an Oscar for this role and I am glad that he got one, but it was for the most obvious role made for the Academy. Still, he was great, and in this particular year there is no question that he should have won. The other characters are all forgettable as all focus is put squarely on him, but at least the direction from Hawks is very strong, the score is great and the cinematography is strikingly cinematic at times. It’s a very cinematic movie overall and it’s a shame that it wasn’t stronger in the script department as it could have been a great epic for the time.
