Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 film that stars Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. With Eleanor Roosevelt in 1950 Gary Cooper (May 7, 1901 - May 13, 1961) was an American film actor of British heritage, whose career spanned from the 1920s up until the year of his death. ... Dorothy McGuire and Kent Smith in The Spiral Staircase Dorothy Hackett McGuire (June 14, 1916 – September 13, 2001) was an American actress. ... Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932–September 12, 1992) was an American actor best known for his role as the serial killer Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. ... Actor Middleton in The Big Combo Robert Middleton (ne Samuel G. Messer May 13, 1911 - June 14, 1977) was a film and television actor known for his large size and beetle-like brow. ...

Plot

The film tells the story of a pacifist Quaker family during the American Civil War. The proteganist of the story is Jess Birdwell (Gary Cooper) the patriarch of the Birdwell family who's 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 Maddie (Phyllis Love) wants to remain a Quaker but has fallen in love with a dashing cavalry officer (a love that horrifies her mother). Jess's youngest child "Little" Jess (Richard Eyer) is a feisty child whose comical feud with his mother's pet goose cause 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. Pacifism is opposition to war. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ... The American Civil War (1861–1865) was fought in North America within the United States of America, between twenty-four mostly northern states of the Union and the Confederate States of America, a coalition of eleven southern states that declared their independence and claimed the right of secession from the... Italian cavalry officers practice their horsemanship in 1904 outside Rome. ... Genera Anser Branta Chen Cereopsis Cnemiornis (extinct) † see also: Swan, Duck Anatidae Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. ...

Set in southern Indiana we are introduced to the cast via it's youngest member "Little" Jess who is forever at war with his mothers pet goose. The film 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 of the film shift dramaticaly when 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 damn people who don't believe as he does.

Most of the rest of the film is just a comical look at Quakers trying to maintain their ways but throughout the film the audience is ever reminded that the confederate army is drawing closer every day. When the Confederate army finally arives the film turns deadly serious.

Jess is shown cultivating his fields when he notices a immense cloud of smoke on the horizon the kind that can only be produced by the burning of a city.

Josh soon arives and tells them the entire neighboring community has been reduced to a land of ash and corpes.

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 see's 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 stories endgame at hand each member of the family is forced in their own way to confront the question of whether or not it is ever alright for a Christian to engage in violence.

Awards

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Anthony Perkins), Best Director, Best Music, Song (Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster for "Friendly Persuasion (Thee I Love)"), Best Picture, Best Sound, Recording and Best Writing, Best Screenplay - Adapted. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Award for Directing is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. ... Academy Award for Best Song // 1930s 1934 - The Continental from The Gay Divorcee 1935 Lullaby of Broadway from Gold Diggers of 1935 1936 The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time 1937 Sweet Leilani from Waikiki Wedding 1938 - Thanks for the Memory from The Big Broadcast of 1938 1939 Over... Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (Russian: ) (May 10, 1894 - November 11, 1979) was a film composer and conductor. ... Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907-March 18, 1984) was a American lyricist. ... The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; the awards are voted on by other people within the industry. ... This is a list of films that have received an Oscar for best sound. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ...

The film won the 1957 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival. The Palme dOr (Golden Palm) is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. ... The Palais des Festivals (2000) The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival international du film de Cannes or simply le Festival de Cannes) is the worlds most prestigious film festival, first held from September 20 to October 5, 1946 in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of...

Trivia

The movie was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler. Michael Wilson (July 1, 1914 - April 9, 1978) was an American multiple-Academy Award winning screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism. ... Mary Jessamyn West (1902-1984) was a Quaker who wrote numerous stories and novels, notably The Friendly Persuasion (1945). ... William Wyler (July 1, 1902 - July 27, 1981) was a prolific and award-winning motion picture director. ...

The movie was originally released with no screenwriting credit because Wilson was on the Hollywood blacklist. His credit was restored in 1996. In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgement of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense. ... Michael Wilson (July 1, 1914 - April 9, 1978) was an American multiple-Academy Award winning screenwriter who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses during the era of McCarthyism. ... Playwright Arthur Miller testifies before HUAC The Hollywood blacklist was a group of mainly film actors, directors, and screenwriters in the late 1940s and early 1950s who were unable to work openly after having been targeted by the House Committee on Un-American Activities for alleged communist activities. ...

Friendly Persuasion was remade 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. Richard Paul Kiley (31 March 1922 – 5 March 1999) was an American stage, television, and film actor, though he is best known for his voice work, as narrator of various documentary series. ... Shirley Enola Knight, also known by her married name of Shirley Knight Hopkins, was born on July 5, 1936, to a wealthy family in Goessel, Kansas. ... Clifton James is an actor born on May 29, 1921. ... Michael OKeefe (born April 24, 1955, Mount Vernon, New York) is an American film and television actor. ... William P. Wood was the first Director of the United States Secret Service. ...

Jessamyn West was a cousin of President Richard M. Nixon and it is widely believed that the Birdwell family in the story was loosly based on the Milhous family, Nixon's maternal great grandparents. The President of the United States (unofficially abbreviated “POTUS”) is the head of state of the United States. ... Order: 37th President Vice President: Spiro Agnew (1969–1973), Gerald R. Ford (1973–1974) Term of office: January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 Preceded by: Lyndon B. Johnson Succeeded by: Gerald R. Ford Date of birth: January 9, 1913 Place of birth: Yorba Linda, California Date of death: April 22...

External links

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Friendly Persuasion (film)

• Friendly Persuasion at the Internet Movie Database