Friendly Persuasion (film)

Friendly Persuasion
Re-release poster
Directed by	William Wyler
Produced by	Robert Wyler William Wyler
Screenplay by	Michael Wilson
Based on	The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West
Starring	Gary Cooper Dorothy McGuire Anthony Perkins Richard Eyer Robert Middleton Phyllis Love Peter Mark Richman Marjorie Main
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Editing by	Robert Belcher Edward A. Biery Robert Swink
Distributed by	Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
Release date(s)	November 25, 1956 (1956-11-25)
Running time	137 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$8 million (as of 1960)

Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler. The film was originally released with no screenwriting credit because Wilson was on the Hollywood blacklist. His credit was restored in 1996.

Plot

The film tells the story of a pacifist Quaker family in southern Indiana during the American Civil War. The father of the family is gradually converted to supporting the war.

The protagonist of the story is Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) the patriarch of the Birdwell family whose worldliness is forever coming in conflict with his being a Quaker. Jess's wife Eliza (Dorothy McGuire) is a deeply religious woman and is steadfast in her refusal to engage in violence of any sort. Jess's daughter Mattie (Phyllis Love) wants to remain a Quaker but has fallen in love with a dashing cavalry officer (Peter Mark Richman), a love that is against her mother's wishes. Jess's youngest child "Little" Jess (Richard Eyer) is a feisty child whose comical feud with his mother's pet goose causes her nothing but heartache. Jess's eldest son Josh (Anthony Perkins) is a young man torn between his hate for violence and the knowledge that to protect his family he must join the military and fight the invaders.

We are introduced to the family via its youngest member, "Little" Jess, who is forever at war with his mother's pet goose. The story begins as an easygoing and humorous tale of Quakers trying to maintain their faith as they get ready and then go to Meeting on a Sunday. The mood shifts dramatically when the meeting is interrupted by a Union officer who asks how the Quaker men can stand by when their houses will be looted and their families terrorized by the approaching Confederate army. He questions various young men specifically, doubting their courage and suggesting that they are hiding behind their religion out of fear. When directly confronted with the question of his being afraid to fight, Josh Birdwell responds honestly that it might be the case. His honesty provokes the wrath of Purdy, a Quaker elder who is quick to condemn people who don't believe as he does.

The film returns to comedy as the Quakers try to maintain their ways, but one is always reminded throughout that the Confederate Army is drawing closer every day. When the Confederates finally arrive, the situation turns deadly serious. Jess is cultivating his fields when he notices an immense cloud of smoke on the horizon, the kind that can only be produced by the burning of a city. Josh soon arrives and tells them the entire neighboring community has been reduced to a land of ash and corpses. Josh believes that he must fight, a conviction that threatens to destroy the family. Eliza tells him that by turning his back to their religion he's turning his back on her, but Jess sees things a different way, explaining to her: "A man's life ain't worth a hill of beans except he lives up to his own conscience."

With the story's climax at hand, each member of the family is forced in their own way to confront the question of whether or not it is ever right for a Christian to engage in violence.

Pre-production

The film was in development for eight years; producer-director Wyler brought the project to Allied Artists from Paramount; Allied agreed to a $1.5 million budget for what was Wyler's first film in color, though after the film's shooting location was moved from southern Indiana to a combination of a Republic studio and a San Fernando Valley estate, it ending up costing over $3 million.

Cooper expressed initial reservations to Jessamyn West about the character, noting that in his previous roles "'action seems to come natural to me,' the father should be shown joining the fight. 'There comes a time in a picture of mine when the people watching expect me to do something,' he said. West responded he would do something: 'Refrain. You will furnish your public with the refreshing picture of a strong man refraining.'" Cooper followed West's advice.

It was Perkins' second film, after his debut in the 1953 film The Actress; his Broadway success with Tea and Sympathy in the meantime tempted him to remain on the stage, though ultimately he decided to do the film.

Critical reception

According to Bosley Crowther, "thee should be pleasured by this film", noting it is "loaded with sweetness and warmth and as much cracker-barrel Americana as has been spread on the screen in some time." Crowther called Cooper and McGuire "wonderfully spirited and compassionate in their finely complementary roles" and said a "great deal of admiration must go to Anthony Perkins" for making "the older son of the Birdwells a handsome, intense, and chivalrous lad." Variety magazine called it "the simple story of a Quaker family in Indiana back in the 1860s" with "just about everything in the way of comedy and drama, suspense and action; they also said "figuring importantly in the way the picture plays is Dimitri Tiomkin's conducting of his own score."

Awards

“	Take, for example, [the 1956 film] The Ten Commandments. Original story by Moses. The producers were forced to keep Moses' name off the writing credits because they found out he had once crossed the Red Sea.	”
—Groucho Marx, at the WGA 1957 Awards, in a thinly veiled reference to what happened to Wilson's screen credit.

Only a week before the year's Oscar nominations were announced, the AMPAS Board of Governors introduced a rule denying an Oscar to anyone who refused to talk to a United States congressional committee; after the Writers Guild of America protested the new rule to no avail, they gave Wilson a Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Written American Drama."

At the 29th Academy Awards, Friendly Persuasion was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Anthony Perkins), Best Music – Song (Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster for "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)"), Best Writing – Screenplay (Adapted) (unnamed), and Best Sound Recording (Gordon R. Glennan and Gordon E. Sawyer).

It was among the "Top Ten Films" at that year's National Board of Review Awards, where Dorothy McGuire was also awarded "Best Actress." The film won the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.

Other adaptations

Another adaptation of the novel was made for television in 1975, starring Richard Kiley, Shirley Knight, Clifton James and Michael O'Keefe. It was adapted by William P. Wood and directed by Joseph Sargent. This version also included material from Jessamyn West's sequel novel, Except For Thee and Me.

External links

• Friendly Persuasion at the Internet Movie Database