Sergeant York

Sergeant York gets saved in a church after being struck by lightening, and after he is saved he is drafted, and spends time reconciling doing what Christ commands with killing people during time of war. (This isn't an easy thing to reconcile, and perhaps especially for a newly saved person, even if most movies act like its nothing.)

After reading the bible however, York finds the answer, and goes to war, becoming one of America's great heroes, and in the end, he and his future wife are greatly blessed by God.

If all this sounds too heavy, it isn't. Sergeant York is from Tennessee and the movie is actually quite light hearted. I also enjoyed hearing the hymn 'Give me that Old Time Religion'.

One of my favorite movies, and worth getting if you are tired of the trash they put on tv, and want some films with Christians in them.


Solid Sentimental Film -- But Dated   September 25, 2004
Westley (The South)
11 out of 19 found this review helpful

Gary Cooper stars as Alvin York, a young man living in backwoods Tennessee at the outbreak of WWI. York is a tough, heavy drinking man until he has a religious experience. He turns his life around and is working to better his farm and win the love of a local woman. When he's drafted for WWI, he claims exemption as a conscientious objectioner. He struggles with the dilemma of whether to honor his religion or his country.

"Sergeant York" is based on the real-life story of a WWI hero - Alvin York, who reportedly refused to let his story be told for decades. Finally, he relented with the condition that Gary Cooper play him. Even though Cooper was arguably at least a decade too old for the role, he manages to pull it off through his very likeable portrayal. In fact, he won the first of his two Oscars for the role, winning again for "High Noon" in 1952. Walter Brennan gives one of his finest performances as the caring country pastor, earning his fourth Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the process.

The movie was nominated for Best Picture (losing to the even more sentimental "How Green Was My Valley") and Best Original Screenplay. The script is quite good, and makes York's many epiphanies and re-considerations believable, which is quite a task. Howard Hawkes's admirable directing also earned an Oscar nomination. He's best known for madcap comedies (Bringing Up Baby, Ball of Fire) and more trenchant dramas (The Big Sleep, Red River); "Sergeant York" is a surprisingly tame movie for him.

The film is perhaps a little too docile - filled with very gentle somewhat corny humor, prime Americana, and affirmation of the Protestant work ethic. Perhaps as a result, it's rather dated when compared to many other classics from the era - it feels more like a Capra film. Overall, Sergeant York is a solid movie, likely to appeal most to fans of films that are very sentimental. I wish that it had a bit more bite.



A Real Hero of a Movie!!   July 4, 1999
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

Based on the true story of the life of Alvin C.York. Despite the picture on the box, this movie is not about war so much as it is about the unique character of this back-woods Kentucky sharpshooter and farmer. (The real Alvin York insisted that Gary Cooper play his part or refuse to sell the story. The result was on the money as Cooper won an Oscar for his portrayal of Sergeant Alvin York in probably the best performance of his life.) Though he signed on as a consciencious objector, the young York reluctantly served in World War I ~ only to go on to become a decorated war hero who astounded the world with his fearless bravery, leadership and winning humility.

You'll cheer, and you'll laugh at the many humorous scenes seeded throughout the movie (some pretty funny 'a courtin' scenes with his bride to be!) and love the part of the old pastor played by Walter Brennen who takes York under his wing. There are some sad and intense war scenes you may not want the little ones to see, but this is one classic you won't want to miss!


As Good As It Gets   June 9, 2004
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Next to "Red River" this is Howard Hawks' greatest achievement, which is to say one of the greatest American films ever made. A relatively true-to-life depiction of the Tennessee hill farmer who found himself caught up in the nightmare of WWI, it would be memorable enough just for its wonderful re-creation of the the back-country life and dialect. Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan never surpassed the performances they gave here as Alvin York and his neighbor and pastor Rosier Pile, and the rest of the cast shines just as brightly, particularly Margaret Wycherly as York's mother, and George Tobias as his comrade in arms. York won international fame when he accepted the surrender of more than 100 German soldiers about a month before the end of the war. Although York showed amazing heroism and marksmanship in the encounter, both he and Hawks knew full well that the German army was played out by that point and in many areas was surrendering en masse. Some sense of that is built into the project, to everyone's credit, and the picture's finest moment comes when Cooper says firmly "I'm not proud of what when on over there." Both Howard Koch of "Casablanca" fame and John Huston worked on the script.