Sergeant
York
1941
Director: Howard Hawks
Starring: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan,
Joan Leslie, Margaret Wycherly
Why
am I watching Sergeant York a second time?
Well, two main reasons. One: it’s
been several years since I saw it, and I owe it to the film to watch it a
second time before writing this piece.
But that’s not the real reason.
The second reason is that the dang thing clocks in about two and a half
hours and it’s taking up a lot of space on our DVR hard drive, so I might as
well get it over with and watch it again so I can delete it and free up the
space.
The
film follows true life hero Alvin York (Cooper) starting with his humble beginnings
in Tennessee as a wayward drunk.
Inspired by the pretty Gracie (Leslie), he tries to turn his life around
and become an honest laborer, even finding religion with the help of the pastor
(Brennan). Just as he does, however,
America joins World War One and Alvin is forced to join up despite the fact
that he objects to killing based on his newfound Bible-motivated pacifism. After a battle with himself, he finds it
morally right to fight for his country and pulls off an impressive act of
heroism. But really, Alvin just wants to
get back to Tennessee, to Gracie, and to his mother (Wycherly).
Y’know,
I’m really coming around on Howard Hawks.
I had no idea this film was his when I watched it the second time around
(I wasn’t paying attention, clearly, during the credits), but now that I am
aware of that fact, I can see these little Hawksian touches I’ve come to
recognize in his other films that are in 1001 Movies. And, while I’m on it, dude has eleven –
ELEVEN – films in 1001 Movies.
That’s more than the likes of Buñuel, or Bergman, or
Wilder. And there’s really a pretty
remarkable range in terms of subject matter and types of films in those eleven
movies.
Now,
don’t get me wrong, I certainly don’t hold Sergeant York to be the pinnacle of
Hawks’ filmmaking abilities – in fact, it’s probably the last one of his in 1001
Movies I would choose to watch – but I do see his sly sense of off-kilter
humor, even of subverting expectations, that graces the likes of Gentlemen
Prefer Blondes and Rio Bravo and Red River and His
Girl Friday. It’s in the way
Alvin meekly, while inebriated, waits for his mother to throw a pail of water
in his face. It’s in the bar fight
scene, played far more for laughs than danger or poor moral choices. It’s in the traveling salesman trying to hawk
ladies’ bloomers to the pastor. It’s in
the wholly charmingly comical romance, one that never gets too sexy, between
Gracie and Alvin. For a movie called Sergeant
York, Alvin spends most of his screen time not a sergeant at all, but of
course, that’s on par for Hawks. You’re
expecting a war film with a title like that, but it’s truly not. Far more about York the farmer than York the
soldier, it’s not at all what I remembered or expected. But that’s Hawks for you.
I
remember being bored stiff the first time I sat through – yes, sat through – Sergeant
York. I wasn’t as bored this
time, but it’s still a bit of a ridiculous pill to swallow. My best summation of Sergeant York is
Hollywood sanctioned propaganda. With
World War Two already raging in Europe and the US awfully close to being drawn
into the fray, Sergeant York’s ridiculous aw-shucks,
we’re-on-the-side-of-right theme makes sense, even if it doesn’t make it
palatable. With its choice of a hero
being a person who undergoes several rather unbelievable changes in attitude,
all while remaining ridiculously humble, it’s clear that Sergeant York intended to
inspire a contemporary audience to adopt similar philosophies. There is no subtlety – none at all – in the
film, a fact which rubs me the wrong way, frankly. It’s waving its American flag from the
opening to the end, all while preaching loudly from the pulpit that it’s best
to remain humble and serve the Lord.
It’s awfully hard to swallow this kind of, well, propaganda in this day
and age. But then, I keep on telling
myself, this film wasn’t intended for me.
It was intended for a different audience. And
Hawks’ episodic structure, along with his odd little touches of humor, made it
a little easier to sit through a second time around. But it was still a bit of a chore.
I
like Gary Cooper, but I don’t love him, and I certainly don’t love him as Alvin
York. Frankly, I don’t think Cooper is a
very good actor. Whenever I see a film
of his, he’s always himself. He’s
always, ALWAYS, Gary Cooper. He can’t
help himself. He never morphs into
anything other than who he is. He was
never Alvin York to me, just… Gary Cooper, the same Gary Cooper from Ball
of Fire, or even High Noon. He was just wearing a different costume in
this film. When you add onto this his
frankly painful rural Southern accent, and I’m sorry Mr. Cooper, but I’m
laughing at you. Hearing him say with
such rigid delivery “Them thar hills” is so far from believable, I dare you not
to laugh either. He’s not exactly helped
along by his fellow actors, with Brennan playing his usual caricature (this
time he’s a preacher, that’s totally different!), Wycherly as York’s
unbelievable saint of a mother, Joan Leslie’s histrionics as giggly Gracie, and
York’s fellow soldiers portrayed as nothing more than a series of
one-dimensional heavily-accented cartoons.
Put all of these together, and you have a mass of performances that don’t
really do much to help the movie.
Overall,
I liked Sergeant York a bit more in its second go-around due to Hawks’
slightly crazy touches of humor and zaniness, even in this, a piece of
propaganda. But it’s still propaganda,
and utterly unsubtle propaganda at that.
And Gary Cooper is still awkward as all get-out with his stupid Southern
accent. And it’s still long. I like Howard Hawks, I do, but this is not my
favorite film of his.
Arbitrary
Rating: 5/10. Small note: I recognized
Howard Da Silva in a small role as one of Alvin’s Tennessee neighbors, which
made me happy, as Da Silva played Ben Franklin in 1776, which I love.
