Sergeant York

Ben Mankiewicz introduces Sergeant York, 1941.

Ben Mankiewicz introduces Sergeant York, 1941.

At Camp Gordon, Georgia, 1917, enduring ridicule from Sergeant Early (Joseph Sawyer), who can't see why a would-be conscientious objector would be handy with a rifle, Gary Cooper (title character) demonstrates mad skills, in Howard Hawks' Sergeant York, 1941.

Sent home to Tennessee by his superiors to consider whether, as a gifted marksman, he ought to serve in combat in World War One, Alvin York (Gary Cooper title character) hears various influences, then returns with his decision to Major Buxton (Stanley Ridges), in Howard Hawks' Sergeant York, 1941.

Gary Cooper won his first Best Actor Oscar portraying Sergeant York (1941), the pacifist who becomes a war hero.

Returned to drinking after being beaten in a land deal by a romantic rival, Tennesseean Alvin York (Gary Cooper, title character), who has made clear he feels religion ought to come to a man unbidden, ventures into a storm, then preacher Walter Brennan’s church, in Sergeant York, 1941.

East Tennessee, 1916, joining the first scene for Gary Cooper as Alvin York (title character), with his buddies (Ward Bond, Noah Beery Jr.) conversing over a bottle when younger brother George (Dickie Moore), sent by mother, comes to collect him, in Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York , 1941.

Having trouble changing his ways, Gary Cooper as rural Tennesseean Alvin York is visited at work by non-denominational long-time family pastor Pile (Walter Brennan), who offers telling metaphors, early in Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York, 1941.

Actor Richard Gere offers some thoughts on Gary Cooper and Henry Fonda in this excerpt from TCM's Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence, 2008.