1941 – Walter Brennan
Sergeant York
Here we are once again with Walter Brennan. This is his fourth Best Supporting Actor nomination in the last six years. This guy was on a roll and it was clear that the Academy loved him. But I have to say, this wasn’t my favorite character for him. There just wasn’t much to him. He played a sweet, kindly old man, and that was about it. There was no real drama, not much depth. It’s almost like the Academy voters nominated him just because it was him.
So he played the part of Pastor Rosier Pile. One might say that he was the emotional catalyst of the film. It was his teachings that led the errant York to become a fervent Christian, and eventually the hero of World War One. He was simple country Pastor, who was kind, wise, and passionate. Unfortunately, he was written as a one-dimensional, flawless, saint of a character. And to my mind, that means that the actor had very little room to show off any of the great acting skills that he was known for. Brennan was capable of far more than the role demanded.
That isn’t to say he did a poor job. I just don’t think the role itself was worthy of an acting nomination. I much preferred his work in The Westerner or Kentucky. In those films, he had dimension and depth. So then I have to ask myself, what scenes in Sergeant York allowed Brennan to do some of his acting skills? There are three that immediately come to mind.
First, when York’s mother comes to the General Store for supplies. Pastor Pile gently consoles her for having a rowdy son, and agrees to have a talk with him. But that scene was more about Mother York, not the Pastor. The second is when he talks to Alvin, telling him that religion might come a-calling like a bolt of lightnin’, when ye ain’t even expectin’ it. He was good there. And the third is when Alvin actually comes to the church. He and the congregation are singing Give Me That Old Time Religion. Suddenly he turns into a fervent Pentecostal Evangelist, getting Alvin on his knees before God.
But that was about it, unless you consider the short sequence in which he tries to get Alvin out of the draft as a conscientious objector. But that was more about Alvin than him. I guess my point is that Brennan was worthy of the nomination. The role of Pastor Pile wasn’t.