Sergeant York

Years ago I had a friend who was a minister of a small local church. He told me that this was his favorite movie. After taping this on TCM I have watched the movie in starts and stops over the last few days and have to say that it is a fine movie.

The movie tells the story of Alvin York a man from the backwoods of Tennessee who became one of the most decorated soldiers of World War I. The movie gives plenty of time to the characters experiences before the war, in fact the better part of the movie. The conversion experience shown in the film is one of the best found God movies you will ever see in a movie. I suspect this was why my friend enjoyed the movie.

Gary Cooper won the Best Actor Oscar in his role as York and played him as the aw shucks persona that was according to the record York's true personality. Walter Brennan plays the Minister and local trading post proprietor who serves as York's counsel as his own father died when he was eleven. Brennan in playing many of the same types of characters is underrated in his talent. One might question where those eyebrows of a different color came from in the movie and to what purpose.

York's military experiences and relationships with his peers are well documented and given especially sensitive treatment is York's concern to stay true to his religeous beliefs with his mission in war. Find a way he did as York took out a whole machine gun battery and captured a group of men many more in number than his group.

Black and white from 1941 and certainly nothing like what is filmed today in terms of cinematography. Still the story is the story and this is a good story. A very good movie. Now if I was to see my friend Ron from years ago I could tell him I knew what he meant.

Rio Bravo

I love Westerns and this is a typical Western. Actually I will say this is a great Western. Dean Martin plays a deputy turned town drunk who is in the process of being rehabilitated by Chance the Sheriff ( played by John Wayne.) In this role there is nothing of a stretch for Wayne. This was the Wayne role.

Interestinlgy I find now that the director Hawks did the film along with Wayne as a response to High Noon which they hated and took as an allegory to the blacklisting in Hollywood of the early fifites as releates to the Red Scare. I like to think I am a pretty bright guy but I did not see it in either movie. Certainly the Sherriff's in the movies act differently. Cooper looks for help and is deserted and Wayne refuses help not wanting to put others at risk. To me in my mind if any allegory is to be found Wayne's character would seem to be more in compassion to those blacklisted figures who refused to cooperate thus not seeking help but then again maybe it is just beyond me.

Now as a movie the story is very good. The cast is wonderful. Wayne is as at home in this role as any I have ever seen him in. Dean Martin, always likeable, is very good and Ricky Nelson adds a nice touch as Colorado. Angie Dickinson is pretty and sassy as a former card hustler that becomes the romantic interest of Wayne, this seems a stretch in regards to their age difference, and perhaps my favorite is Walter Brennan playing Stumpy who offers a comedic turn but also fits in every role he does. Brennan could act and always makes me smile.

Forget about the allegory and enjoy the movie. It is a winner.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - The Movie

Having read the book and reviewed it here the review of the movie will be much different. This movie from 1943 was up for nine Oscars with one win for supporting actress.

Ernest Hemingway handpicked Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman to play the American Robert Jordan and Maria a Spanish girl rescued by a band of fighters operating behind the facist lines in the Spanish Civil War.

Hemingway was reportedly not happy with the finished movie as he felt the politics of the movie were diminished. Of course for a mainstream movie that is true. However politics did invade the movie, most notably Robert Jordan's monologue about why he as an American was involved. He tells that the communists and those for the Republic are on one side against the facists, Nazi's, Germans and Italians and that Spain was a practice and proving ground for what might be coming later for all of Europe and America would have to fight then so he chose to fight now.

I consider myself a student of history but the Spanish Civil War is not an easy war to understand. To delve too far into the politics would have made the movie less easy to relate too and it was , with that cast, a commercial film.

As I watch Cooper in this, Friendly Persuasion, and High Noon I become more and more of a belief that he was a fine, underrated actor. I have enjoyed him in everything I see him in.

The characters in this book and thus movie are well drawn. Anselmo is a great character torn between the Republic he wants and not wanting to kill , Pablo is perhaps the most complex character Hemingway ever drew. Yes he is for himself but his twists and turns, his becoming a Capitalist with his horses and his brutal behavior when needed. Pilar who takes over the leadership of the group when Pablo loses his grip is well told as well.

Ingrid Bergman was captivating. Perhaps not a great fit for a Spanish girl she still filled the role well. She was beautiful and the chemistry between her and Cooper was apparent. Her smile was as radiant as you will ever see in a movie.

An underrated subplot is the tale of Sordo and his last stand.

This was one of the best books I have ever read. The movie is a good one too.

Both are highly rated by this reviewer.

High Noon

Continuing forward with fifties week I watched this, another Gary Cooper classic. Shot in black and white this movie tells the tale of a Sheriff played by Cooper who is to be faced with a return to town of a convict, and his gang, that he put away.

Donna Reed plays the newlywed Quaker wife of the aging lawman played by Cooper. She wants him not to fight. Still Kane is worried about the townsfolk being terrorized if h goes through with his retirement.

The townspeople are no help either afraid or not willing to help for their own personal reasons such as Cooper's deputy played by Lloyd Bridges.

This is a great movie.

Sheb Wooley plays the gunman's brother and the title song sung by Frankie Laine was a hit and still provides a good time capsule to the era.

Again, a great movie