Counting down the last 10 of 100 Consecutive Movie Nights…
Directed by Howard Hawks, starring Garry Cooper. I knew this was a very highly regarded film, and despite a little patriotic hokum, I enjoyed it a lot. It’s the true story of Alvin C. York, the Tennessee farmer and sharp shooter who applied for conscientious objector status during WWI, was denied, and then went on to become one of the most highly decorated heroes of the conflict.
The first half is dedicated to his life in Tennessee. I was glad Hawks chose to devote so much screen time to his pre-war life, because it makes the later heroics all the more satisfying. York is first shown as a drunken layabout and good-natured troublemaker, who at his lowest ebb ‘gets religion’ and joins Walter Brennan’s fundamentalist congregation. His conversion is sincere and complete, and by the time the US enters the war overseas, he is adamant that he will not take part. The good book says “Thou shalt not kill” – it’s as simple as that.
His army training and problems of conscience are given enough time to play out. Hawks is as patient with telling this story as York’s surprisingly understanding commanding officer was in allowing York time to work things out. A lesser director would certainly have charged more quickly to The Big Scene, that of York’s heroism at the battle of the Argonne. And it’s a doozy of a sequence, with Cooper charging machine gun nests and pretty much singlehandedly capturing about 130 German soldiers. Sounds like Hollywood exaggeration, but apparently his exploits were witnessed by many and fully documented, and what you see in this movie is extremely accurate.
Some amount of flag-waving in this movie can be excused, as it was made just as Americans were deliberating whether or not to get involved in WWII. The real Alvin C. York resisted any attempt to make money on his story for years, only relenting to have it made into a film when he became concerned about the rise of fascism in Europe.* His intent was to aid the war effort and counter the pro-German stance of another American hero of the time, Charles Lindbergh.
York also insisted on Gary Cooper in the lead. Cooper may have been a bit too old for the part, but plays it so well, and is totally convincing at every stage of his character’s arc. It’s hard to imagine anyone else pulling it off as well. The supporting cast, too, is stellar. Walter Brennan is great as the pastor, and I especially enjoyed Margaret Wycherly as York’s mother and Dickie Moore as his little brother George. (His best scene: entering a rowdy tavern and pointing a rifle at Cooper. “Ma wants ya at home.”)
All in all, this is a very enjoyable film about a pretty unique American hero – a perfectly crafted and balanced story about one man’s crisis of conscience. As a bonus, it handles the subject of religion in a grown-up, nuanced fashion. Just like Gary Coooper’s acting, the entire movie is understated, sincere, and deceptively simple.
*I guess that makes him antifa.
