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Friendly Persuasion
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OverviewAI-generated
Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 drama and war film directed by William Wyler and produced by Robert Wyler, based on a work by screenwriter Jessamyn West, who also co-wrote the script with Michael Wilson. Set in Indiana, it stars Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, and Richard Eyer, with a score by Dimitri Tiomkin, production design by Ted Haworth, and costumes by Dorothy Jeakins. It was produced by Allied Artists and B-M Productions and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Netflix. Its themes include faith, slavery, and pacifism.
The film won the Palme d'Or and was named to the National Board of Review's Top Ten Films, and it was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay. Rated Approved, it ran 137 minutes on a budget of 3,000,000 and earned 8,000,000 at the box office.
Synthesized by Vinony from 43 facts across 5 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, OMDb, IMDb, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Film · TMDB
6.7The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the rules of their religion in everyday life but when Southern troops pass the area they are in real trouble. Should they fight, despite their peaceful attitude?
Cast
- Gary Cooper as Jess Birdwell
- Dorothy McGuire as Eliza Birdwell
- Anthony Perkins as Josh Birdwell
- Richard Eyer as Little Jess Birdwell
- Robert Middleton as Sam Jordan
- Phyllis Love as Mattie Birdwell
Themes
- indiana, usa
- based on novel or book
- faith
- slavery
- pacifism
- religion
- goose
- pacifist
- american civil war
- quakerism
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Ratings
IMDb
7.3/10
7,987 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
73%
- Year
- 1956
- Runtime
- 137 min
- Genres
- Drama, Family, Romance
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Nominated for 6 Oscars. 5 wins & 11 nominations total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- William Wyler
- Screenplay by
- Michael Wilson
- Based on
- The Friendly Persuasion , 1945 novel, by Jessamyn West
- Produced by
- William Wyler
- Starring
- Gary Cooper , Dorothy McGuire , Anthony Perkins , Richard Eyer , Robert Middleton , Phyllis Love , Mark Richman , Walter Catlett , Marjorie Main
- Cinematography
- Ellsworth Fredericks
- Edited by
- Robert Swink , Edward A. Biery , Robert Belcher
- Music by
- Dimitri Tiomkin
- Production companies
- William Wyler Productions, Allied Artists Pictures Corporation
- Distributed by
- Allied Artists (USA), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (foreign)
- Release date
- 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) , 3,051,784 admissions (France)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- war film
- Country of origin
- United States
- Original language
- English language
- Director
- William Wyler
- Screenwriter
- Jessamyn West
- Cast member
- Wright King
- Composer
- Dimitri Tiomkin
- Producer
- Robert Wyler
- Production company
- Monogram Pictures
- Narrative location
- Indiana
- Duration
- 137
- FilmAffinity ID
- 273257
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- Gary Cooper in Friendly Persuasion 1956.jpg
Show 9 more facts
- publication date
- 1956-01-01
- Commons category
- Friendly Persuasion
- title
- Friendly Persuasion
- production designer
- Ted Haworth
- after a work by
- Jessamyn West
- costume designer
- Dorothy Jeakins
- distributed by
- Netflix
- review score
- 80%
via Wikidata · CC0
~15 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 American Civil War drama film produced and directed by William Wyler. It stars Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton, Phyllis Love, Mark Richman, Walter Catlett and Marjorie Main. The screenplay by Michael Wilson was adapted from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West. The film tells the story of a Quaker family in southern Indiana during the American Civil War and the way the war tests their pacifist beliefs.
The film received positive reviews, praised for its performances, but faced some criticism for inaccuracies in portraying Quaker views. It earned $4 million at the box office, won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Michael Wilson, the screenwriter, was initially uncredited due to being on the Hollywood blacklist but was later restored in 1996.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Friendly Persuasion” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.