Friendly Persuasion (film)
Set in southern Indiana we are introduced to the cast via its 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 arrives the film turns deadly serious.
Jess is shown 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 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.
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.
The film won the 1957
Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the
Cannes Film Festival.
The movie was adapted by
Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel
The Friendly Persuasion by
Jessamyn West, and was directed by
William Wyler.
The movie was originally released with no screenwriting
credit because
Wilson was on the
Hollywood blacklist. His credit was restored in 1996.
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.
Jessamyn West was a cousin of
President Richard M. Nixon and it is widely believed that the Birdwell family in the story was loosely based on the Milhous family, Nixon's maternal great grandparents.
