Sergeant York

Rating:
Summary: an absolutely fabulous movie!
Review: My father asked me to watch this movie with him 30 years ago when I was 11 years old. It remains to this day one of the best films I have even seen. Gary Cooper won a well-deserved Oscar for his performance of Sgt. Alvin York. The acting, casting, and directing are close to perfect. I would recommend this movie to anyone at any age.

Rating:
Summary: A classic movie
Review: One of the best individual acting perfomances ever by Gary Cooper. A true story with an indictment of war which is timeless. Those who view it for the first time are awestruck by this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Altogether one of the best movies I have ever seen
Review: Ever since I saw it when i was ten I was suppressed under its magnificance. 6 yrs later here I am again thinking about buying it. Bless AMC for showing it to me the first time for free.

Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Sargent York has no equal
Review: This is one of the nicest film's I have ever seen. I have no idea why the studios have not put this on DVD given it is likely one of the best creations ever in Hollywood. Hollywood studios seem almost totally detached from the market they serve.

Rating:
Summary: Not on DVD???
Review: Gary's 1932 film Farewell to arms is on dvd, yet this masterpiece isn't? What are the studio's waiting for? This was one of the first movies I loved that was made long before I was born. I like alot of movies, and this one is way up there. Not sure how I can say it's dated. Arn't all movies dated? ;)

Rating:
Summary: Solid Sentimental Film -- But Dated
Review: 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.


Rating:
Summary: As Good As It Gets
Review: Don't judge this movie by millennium standards; this was a simple movie from a simpler time. Sgt York was a hero. The film is missing some spots. I remember a particular scene during training when York's backpack was filled with bricks, while the other men had loaded theirs up with straw (don't laugh I've known Marines who actually load their rucks up with heavy gear). But overall, it's a good representation of early genre. Please note that a War Movie used to also include the home coming, the fiancée or wife or mom back home pining away with worry and doubt. It's all here, too. Great entertainment? Not really, it's more in line with a historical review of early cinema.

Rating:
Summary: A classic, but with small technical errors
Review: I have to rate this movie as a true classic with the likes of Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, and The Longest Day. People may think it corny or outdated but for me it just gets better each time I watch it. My only complaint, if you can call it that...more of a comment, are 2 small technicalities: 1) York was not issued and did not use a 1903 Springfield rifle as he did in the movie. He was issued a Pattern 1917 Enfield rifle and used this in the battle where he won the Medal of Honor. When the US entered WW1 there were insufficient quantities of '03 Springfields for every serviceman. The US had been making Enfield rifles for the British in caliber .303 and had a large number of them on-hand when we entered the war. So the government took them, rechambered them for caliber .30-06 and issued them to the US servicemen. 2) York did not use a captured German Luger pistol to shoot the german troops charging down the hill. He used a US Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol, but during filming the Colt 1911 pistol would not cycle properly when firing blanks and the Luger was substituted. Other than that, a movie that will remain timeless.