It took nerve for writer/director Preston Sturges to lampoon the whole concept of hero worship in the middle of World War II, but once more Sturges' oddball sense of taste and propriety paid off at the box office in Hail the Conquering Hero. Eddie Bracken plays the son of a World War I Marine hero who is the first in his small town to sign up for military service. When Bracken is discharged from the Marines for hay fever, he hasn't the nerve to go home and tell his mother and the rest of the
townsfolk. Fortunately, he is befriended by a bunch of good-hearted Marines, led by sergeant William Demarest. Bracken's new buddies decide to help him save face by accompanying him to his home and telling one and all that Bracken has served valiantly in the Pacific. Lauded as a hero thanks to this subterfuge, the hapless Bracken finds himself being coerced into running for mayor! When he finally does confess the truth, the townspeople decide that only a real hero would own up to his lies in public. As always, Preston Sturges' richly varied supporting cast makes the most of every scene they're in, especially Raymond Walburn as a blustering politico and Franklin Pangborn as a persnickety councilman. Special mention must be made of Ella Raines as a refreshingly non-cliched heroine, and ex-boxer Freddie Steele as a morose Marine with a Mother complex. While Eddie Bracken's nerdish mannerisms can wear on the viewer, he is kept marvelously in check throughout Hail the Conquering Hero. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Hail the Conquering Hero is widely praised as one of Preston Sturges' best films, but I found it tedious and mawkish - the 1944 equivalent of a dopey sitcom.
Sturges turns upside down the conventions of Hollywood's small-town film: His characters' eccentricity is meant to show the more multifarious and resourceful nature of folks who appear to be bland and ordinary.
eddie bracken plays a washed out marine who returns home to a hero's welcome thanks to some service buddies who don't want to disappoint his mother. and then things get complicated. great performances, wonderful writing, classic sturges
May 16, 2010
Stella Dallas
Super Reviewer
Frantic comedy that in lesser hands would be ridiculous but Sturges moves it along at such a lively clip that it comes across as silly and charming. An ace cast all perform marvelously but Demarest stands out as marine with a solution, no matter how farfetched, for every problem.
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