Hail the Conquering Hero
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- This article is about the Preston Sturges 1944 comedy film. There is also a musical composition with the same name by George Frideric Handel.
| Hail the Conquering Hero | |
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| Directed by | Preston Sturges |
| Produced by | Preston Sturges |
| Written by | Preston Sturges |
| Starring | Eddie Bracken Ella Raines Raymond Walburn William Demarest |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 9, 1944 |
| Running time | 101 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) is a Hollywood comedy movie written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken and William Demarest. Other notable featured actors include Ella Raines, Franklin Pangborn, Maxine Fife, and Raymond Walburn. Sturges was nominated for the 1945 Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay.
[edit] Plot summary
Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Bracken) is a small town boy whose father was a Marine who died a hero in World War I. Woodrow has been rejected by the Marine Corps owing to his chronic hay fever. Rather than disappoint his mother (Georgia Caine), he pretends to be fighting overseas in World War II while secretly working in a San Diego shipyard.
After a chance encounter in a bar in which he buys a round of drinks for six Marines headed by Sergeant Heppelfinger (Demarest), the group decides to return Woodrow to his home, so his mother will not have to keep worrying about him. The Marines, to the chagrin of Woodrow, encourage the charade by loaning him their medals.
Unfortunately, word leaks out, and when they step off the train, the seemingly-harmless deception has escalated beyond control; the entire town turns out to greet its homegrown hero. With an election coming up, the citizens decide to make an unwilling Woodrow their candidate against the pompous current mayor, Mr. Noble (Raymond Walburn). Complicating matters even further, Woodrow had written his girlfriend Libby (Raines), telling her not to wait for him. She had since gotten engaged to Forrest Noble (Bill Edwards), the mayor's son.
Finally, Woodrow can stand it no longer. He confesses everything at a campaign rally and goes home to pack. Ella breaks her engagement and tells Woodrow she is going with him. Meanwhile, Heppelfinger praises Woodrow's courage in telling the truth to the stunned townsfolk, and after considering the matter, they decide that Woodrow has just the qualities they need in a mayor.
[edit] Analysis
The film can be seen as a look at both patriotism and hero worship in World War II America, and while adhering to the Hollywood wartime production code, it is retrospectively somewhat critical of the period's society's willingness to embrace heroes. In this regard it is somewhat of a companion piece to another Sturges film, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, which also featured Bracken, Demarest, and Sturges' usual cast of repertory players.
[edit] External links
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