Friendly Persuasion
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Movie Reviews of Friendly Persuasion
Movie Review: Five Stars Just Aren't Enough!
Summary: 5 Stars
There aren't many films from any era that come close to being "perfect" (though that's not really the right word) in just about every way--probably you could count them on your fingers and have some left over.
"Friendly Persuasion" is one of those films--in spades. Directed by William Wyler and starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, and Tony Perkins, it is a wonderful, human story about a loving family of Quakers (also known as Friends) living in one of the Union-Confederate "border" states at the time of the Civil War in the 1860s.
The cast, in small roles and large, is uniformly excellent, none calling attention to themselves but rather becoming their characters and making us understand them. Led by beloved, legendary star Gary Cooper in a great performance as the head of the Quaker family Jess Birdwell, they are marvelous, including child actor Richard Eyer as feisty "Little Jess", scrapping with his big sister or partaking in a running feud with "Samantha", his mother Eliza Birdwell's pet goose, who more than carries her end of the feud with scene-stealing craftiness.
There are incidents of family humor and love and occasional disagreements, and a hilarious episode in which eldest son Josh (Perkins) accompanies father Jess on a sales trip and is set upon by the scrappy, amorous daughters of one of Jess's customers (Marjorie Main). We are settled into a lovely, lively exploration of the Birdwell family's idyllic existence.
Then the war intrudes.
Josh feels he must volunteer to fight as long as others have to, even though it is against the teachings of his faith. His younger sister loves a young Union officer who is soon to go into battle. Rebel troops are nearing the region where they live, and no one, including the audience, quite knows what will happen.
There is a beautifully honest and dramatic sequence in which young Josh gets his first taste of battle, which Perkins performs with heartbreaking realism. I recall my father, a World War II veteran, saying that this scene was the most realistic depiction of a young man's first time in battle that he had ever seen in the movies.
When it is all over and the Birdwells return to their quiet, hard-working, loving life as a family, the music (Dimitri Tiomkin's marvelous score) swells, the wonderful lyrics to the song "Friendly Persuasion" are sung sweetly by the young Pat Boone, and you realize you have spent two wonderful hours with these genuinely fine, completely human characters in ordinary life and in challenging times.
The story has been told with integrity, honesty, humanity, gentle humor, kind restraint and, yes, love--all of these also attributes of the Birdwell family that we have come to know. That is the "genius" of this film. Along with a very few others, it shows us who we are, who we can be, and how we can live, all with a grace and humility that is almost poetic. And the film never, ever loses its balance.
It's just a great and good movie. I've seen it almost a dozen times, and it can still move me to tears. I'm betting it could be released today, amid the ridiculously over-budgeted, badly executed films that rely too much on computer effects and star charisma, and that it would clean up at the box office.
The term "family values" has been kicked around a lot lately, and nobody quite seems to know what is really meant by it. Watch this truly beautiful film and you'll get a pretty good idea of the genuine meaning of those words.
Movie Review: Friendly Persuasion
Summary: 5 Stars
ESSENTIAL MOVIE!!! This is one of Hollywood's greatest films that has a cast that's superior. Friendly Persuasion isn't a western though it has some of that. The story centers on a Quaker family in southern Indiana at the outbreak of the American Civil War. It's a drama but has many comedic moments throughout.
Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) is the center of the story. The laconic Cooper is perfect casting. Though Jess is a Quaker he isn't completely committed to the idea of it. He's practical & realizes that, at times, turning the other cheek doesn't always solve the problem. His wife, Eliza (Dorothy Maguire), is committed to the ways of the Quaker. She's even one of their ministers. Anytime Jess & the family begin to stray she's there to put them back on the narrow path. In a day when the female role in most movies wasn't pivotal, Friendly Persuasion was different. The female lead of Eliza was a crucial element in the film. It was probably Maguire's best role, as it would have been for any actress of that era.
Josh (Anthony Perkins) is the oldest of the Birdwell children. He's the most affected by the war. He gets an opportunity to join in the fighting & is almost killed. The film's statement on war is timeless & should remind us how it affects everyone, even those not directly involved. Mattie (Phyllis Love) is the second oldest child. She's at the age where boys are becoming very interesting. Little Jess (Richard Eyer) is the youngest & steals some of the scenes that he's in. His scenes with the family pet goose are hilarious.
Some of the best scenes involve Jess racing his buggy horse against his neighbor, Sam Jordan (Robert Middleton), every going-to-meeting day. Jess loses every time time but he isn't deterred. In a chance meeting with another family Jess meets Widow Hudspeth (Marjorie Main) & her three man hungry daughters. Josh has gone along & he's constantly harassed by the three daughters. But this encounter leads Jess into trading horses with the Widow Hudspeth. She needs a plow horse which Jess has that isn't a good buggy racer. The Widow has a horse that looks like a nag but is one heck of a buggy racer. Everyone thinks Jess has been taken. But, finally, Jess wins a buggy race against his neighbor.
There's a scene where the family goes to a fair & we see how protected an existence they live. Jess, ever the practical one, is the one that extricates the family out of the events here. If you look closely in the scene where Jess is doing the target shooting you will see a young Robert Fuller in Union uniform near Cooper. He has no lines & the role is uncredited but he's there.
Friendly Persuasion was directed by the great William Wyler. It was nominated for six Academy Awards but didn't win any. That's a shame for it was a deserving film. Those nominations were Best Director (Wyler), Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Perkins) Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Song & Best Sound.
Some may see this movie as old fashioned but it presents values that we all should have. It addresses questions that plague us in a time of war. Most of all, it presents us with choices that must be made during a time of great duress. Would our beliefs & values stand up when we're presented the choice of compromising some of them? Friendly Persuasion is a film that should be seen by everyone.
Movie Review: ENCHANTING IN THE MOST LITERAL SENSE OF THE WORD
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie when it came out in 1956 and went to see it several times, much to the annoyance of the lady who was taking care of me (who thought one viewing was plenty.) I was absolutely enchanted by it, and I was eight years old at the time, but it had a tremendous impact on me from start to finish. All of the performances are fabulous, and I still marvel at Tony Perkins going from this good Quaker son role to Norman Bates! The music was, and is, haunting; both the melody and the words in the title tune and the melody at the County fair when Maddie is dancing (forbidden for Quakers!) with the dashing Gard Jordan. I loved the byplay between little Jess and Samantha the goose; it is hilarious. The relationship between Jess and Eliza is glorious; they have deep love and respect for each other, with Jess gently and lovingly teasing her from time to time. On Sundays there are very competitive races between Jess and Sam Jordan (also forbidden for Quakers) and the constant losses rankles Jess enough to swap his horse for a faster one much to the dismay of Eliza. It is a fascintaing view into another world in another time; when the Civil War intrudes on this idyll, it has a devastating impact on the entire family and changes Josh forever.
There is a wonderful scene between Jess and a rebel soldier which brings a lump to my throat thinking about it now, so many decades later.
One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the one where Mattie is talking to little Jess about her love for Gard, and describes his eyes in loving detail, and Gard overhears which mortifies Maddie who then flees to her room in high dudgeon. She does open her window though, to ensure Gard knows how she feels. When she hears he came to say goodbye on his way to the front she runs after him; he cannot hear her at first, then she breaks down in tears and collapses in the road; fortunately he turns and sees her and gallops back and she declares her love for him for the first time in her fear of possibly never seeing him again.
The family holds together despite the absence of Jess and Josh, when the rebel soldiers swarm the farm and take anything they can carry or eat. All is OK until one of the soldiers makes the mistake of trying to catch and eat Samantha the goose! Eliza forgets all her Quaker allegiance and attacks the shocked soldier with a broom screaming at him; "She's a PET! Samantha's a pure PET!" The soldier relinquishes his hold on the goose who honks indignantly and flaps away and Eliza throws the broom down in a fit of remorse.
One of the finest scenes is during the encounter with the rebel soldiers and Tony Perkins has to face why he is there despite his Quaker upbringing, and how he makes his choice.
This is a fabulous movie with wonderful acting and storyline and moments ranging from hilarious to somber to tragic and fascinating and is worth more than one viewing and of course, is entirely family friendly.
Movie Review: Thee I Love.....
Summary: 5 Stars
FRIENDLY PERSUASION was released in theaters the year I turned 14. At the time, Anthony Perkins was a very big star adored by millions of young teenage girls like me. He had just appeared in TALL STORY with Jane Fonda and had not yet been turned into Norman Bates in Hitchcock's PSYCHO. I saw FRIENDLY PERSUASION about five times that year (1956 --admittance to pictures was a dime back then) and was absolutely smitten. Recently, I bought the DVD version of FRIENDLY PERSUASION and rewatched the film. I wondered if I would like it as much after all these years. The answer is yes--only now I'm taking another look at Gary Cooper. At last I can understand better what mama saw in him.
FRIENDLY PERSUASION is not an antiwar film. It was released long before the antiwar movement built against Vietnam. FRIENDLY PERSUASION could actually be construed as a pro-war film made in the glowing period of the fifties when the U.S. still basked in the victories of WWII. After all, when those bad Confederates threaten Mrs. Birdwell's pet goose, all hell breaks loose. And forget Jess Birdwell, we girls all developed crushes on Mattie's Methodist soldier boyfriend. Boy he looked great in that Blue Union uniform.
During the Civil War, Friends (the Birdwells are Quaker) lived in southern Indiana at the crossroads where the two armed forces met. Interestingly, the Quakers were the heart of the Underground Railroad and instrumental, though indirectly, in bringing on the Civil War--which may or may not have been fought over slavery.
As they sow, so shall they reap. The Friends are not the victims of disciplined soldiers, they are the victims of hooligans and cutthroats--Southern Bushwackers. A less sanguine and more violent tale of life where Union and Rebel lines were not clearly drawn and Jayhawkers and Bushwhackers constantly raided was told a year or two in Ang Lee's overlooked film RIDE WITH THE DEVIL. I recommend both of these films.
And a little aside--Jessmyn West who wrote the novel FRIENDLY PERSUASION on which the film is based was Richard Nixon's cousin. Yes, Nixon--the old hawk--was a Quaker--raised in the Quaker community of Whittier California.
Movie Review: revisiting a classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd seen this film once as a child since it is one of my mother's favorites and recently we obtained a copy. I'd only remembered the goose! Upon seeing it again, I can safely say this is a classic to be viewed numerous times. It never slides into mockery and presents the Quakers as a family struggling with temptations forbidden by their religion from dancing to violence. The trip to the fair is a wonderful example of this: Little Jess's adventure with gambling, Josh's friend Caleb wrestling and their fight with other spectators, the father, Jess, played wonderfully by Gary Cooper, squirrel shooting and singing with friend and racing competitor, Sam Jordan, and the daughter Mattie dancing with epitomy of non-Quakerness, a Methodist Union Officer.The trip Josh takes with his father to Ohio and meets a widow and her three very single daughters is delightful. Anthony Perkins is fabulous as he tries to keep away from the girls who hardley ever seen men!
THings turn serious as the Civil War which was always somewhat distant (even with Gard, Mattie's suitor and Sam Jordan's son, coming home on furlough wounded in battle) finally comes to fore. Enoch, the hired hand and runaway slave, must leave to save himself from the Confederates and Josh must choose between his country and his religion. The war literally comes to their front porch as Eliza, the mother and minister, Mattie and Little Jess are left defenseless at home.
One of the best parts is the culmination of the courtship between Gard and Mattie where he asks her to marry him. What will they go through during and after the war as Mattie will have to reconcile the conflict between her religion and Gard's occupation and what will her family's reaction be? There's a sense that her father doesn't mind Gard and would welcome a marriage between Gard and his only daughter. She could honestly not do better. The man is the son of her father's friend and is highly trusted by the family.
The characters and stories are delightful and I've rewatched this film several times over and still find great things in it every time. Well worth owning.