This movie is not a complete waste of time but I do not believe it can justify the high ratings it receives here. Sergeant York actually picked up some Academy Awards so it is interesting to note the movies it competed with at the time: Citizen Kane, Suspicion, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, Yankee Doodle Dandy, How Green Was My Valley--In short, some of the greatest movies ever made. The stilted acting and predictable script makes the movie appear older than it actually is. Made in an era before the discovery of irony, the heavy handed wartime propaganda film seems cartoonish today. The idea that Gary Cooper beat out Walter Huston (All that Money Can Buy) or Orson Welles (Citizen Kane) for best actor says more about Hollywood's patriotism at the time than it did their ability to recognize or reward a great performance. A similar observation could be made about it's Film Editing award.
I found Max Steiner's score to be particularly disappointing. For an interesting comparison look at Sea Hawk, a wartime film made by the British two years earlier as they prepared to enter WWII (with music by Korngold). For a great movie from the era, see any of the movies listed above. For an exercise in tedium see Sergeant York.
I found Max Steiner's score to be particularly disappointing. For an interesting comparison look at Sea Hawk, a wartime film made by the British two years earlier as they prepared to enter WWII (with music by Korngold). For a great movie from the era, see any of the movies listed above. For an exercise in tedium see Sergeant York.