Baffling, bizarre war flick, from some time and place completely devoid of irony. There's a lot of laughs to be had from the hokey corn planted knee deep throughout, but it never goes over the top.
Besides the wonderful first half, which sets up every hillbilly cliche in the book, the breathtaking propagandizing rationalization of "killing in the name of" is awe-inspiring. In making his decision to go to war, York's Bible is Providentially blown open to the passage "give unto God the things of God and give unto Caesar the things of Caesar." And indeed, we soon enough see Sgt. York rendering unto Caesar with a vengeance, with a cold stare and maniac grin. "Just like shootin' turkeys," York muses (in a weirdly looped in line) as he mows down more German soldiers in a key Hollywood backlot battle of WWI. Jesus'd be proud, son.
Besides the wonderful first half, which sets up every hillbilly cliche in the book, the breathtaking propagandizing rationalization of "killing in the name of" is awe-inspiring. In making his decision to go to war, York's Bible is Providentially blown open to the passage "give unto God the things of God and give unto Caesar the things of Caesar." And indeed, we soon enough see Sgt. York rendering unto Caesar with a vengeance, with a cold stare and maniac grin. "Just like shootin' turkeys," York muses (in a weirdly looped in line) as he mows down more German soldiers in a key Hollywood backlot battle of WWI. Jesus'd be proud, son.