Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a40d2aaa3bb03488

Jump to content

Yanks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yanks
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Schlesinger[1][2]
Screenplay by
[1][2]
Story byColin Welland[1][2]
Produced by
[1][2]
Starring
[1][2]
CinematographyDick Bush[1][2]
Edited byJim Clark[1][2]
Music byRichard Rodney Bennett[1][2]
Production
company
CIP Filmproduktion GmbH (as CIP)[1][2]
Distributed by
[1][2]
Release dates
  • 19 September 1979 (1979-09-19) (UK & US)
Running time
141 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • West Germany
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million[1]
Box office$4 million[3]

Yanks is a 1979 drama film directed by John Schlesinger, and produced by Joseph Janni and Lester Persky, and is written by Colin Welland and Walter Bernstein.[1][2] It stars Richard Gere, Lisa Eichhorn, Vanessa Redgrave, William Devane, Chick Vennera, Wendy Morgan, Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody.[1][2] The film is set during the Second World War in Northern England and features no combat scenes.

The film depicts the relationships between American soldiers stationed in semi-rural England and the local population during the build-up to Operation Overlord in 1944. In particular, three romances between US service personnel and local women are shown, in order to explore the effects of the cultural differences between the brash GIs or "Yanks" and the more reserved British population.

The world premiere was held on 1 June 1979 at a cinema in Bournemouth, England. Lisa Eichhorn was present at the premiere, which had invited returning D-Day veterans from many American divisions - most notably the American 29th Division. Leader of the returning 29ers was Sgt Curtis C. Williams who was 19 on D-Day.

Plot

[edit]

A small northern town soon finds out that a large U.S. Army base is being established for the build-up to the Normandy landings. Soon thousands of rambunctious American troops, or "Yanks" as they are known to the British, descend upon the area. On the bus on the way into town for their first leave, Sergeant Danny Ruffelo and Technical Sergeant Matt Dyson meet Mollie, a bus attendant, who after some flirting, offers Danny two tickets to the cinema. Danny and Matt meet Mollie and her friend Jean Moreton, who is frustrated that Mollie didn't tell her beforehand they were meeting soldiers at the cinema. Jean is concerned not only because of her strict mother, but also as the town is small and she is engaged to Ken, a British soldier fighting overseas. She initially rebuffs Matt, not wanting to talk or spend time with him. He is quite persistent, and eventually she accepts him. Matt begins talking of his home in Arizona, his work as a short order cook and his plans to build motels. Soon, she is cycling through the countryside with him, attending dances and having him over 'as a friend' for Sunday lunch, after winning an argument with her mother, comparing him positively with other G.I.s who make offensive remarks, and become handsy with women immediately, theirs is a platonic relationship.

Helen is a middle aged, upper class woman with two children, a stately home and a husband away in the war effort. Like everyone else in the town, she has war duties. She greets new US soldiers with tea and doughnuts, plays in the local orchestra and has become friendly with Captain John, an American stationed close by. The Captain drops by to borrow library books, accompanies her to concerts and plays golf with her friends. Their relationship develops further when they begin to share concerns about their spouses, the Captain's wife has unexpectedly sold their home and moved back with her family, and Helen has not heard from her husband in some time. Eventually their close emotional relationship leads to a physical one.

Matt is accepted by the Moreton family, notwithstanding Jean's engagement. They welcome his visits, when he, as an army cook, often brings hard-to-find foods normally on wartime rationing and other presents. But when news of Ken's death in action arrives, Jean's ailing mother condemns their relationship, which has grown more openly romantic, as a kind of betrayal.

Jean and Matt travel together to a Welsh seaside resort, where they make love but without completion when Matt realizes the uncertainty of the future. Jean is crushed, although Matt says "not like this." She feels spurned, and that her willingness to risk everything has not been matched by him, concluding that he is "not ready" for her. This is made sharper by their friends Mollie's and Danny's marriage. After the wedding Jean once again confronts Matt, who offers excuses of the speed of their relationship and the uncertainty of the future as to why he could not marry her.

Shortly afterwards, on the day of Jean's mother's funeral, the Americans ship out by troop train to Southern England to prepare for D-Day. A last-minute gift and message from Matt prompt Jean, with her father's urging, to race to the railway station, where a pregnant Mollie is already fighting through the crowds to say goodbye to Danny. In contrast, Helen's and the Captain's goodbyes are more resigned. He returns her library books at concert practice, tells her his wife is divorcing him, and Helen shares her husband is due home that week for leave. With a brief kiss, the two part.

The film ends with the crowded train station. Hundreds of the townswomen, some of them pregnant from liaisons with men they may never see again, scramble to catch one last glimpse of their American boyfriends before the train leaves. Matt shouts from the departing train that he will return.

Cast

[edit]

Main cast

[edit]


Production

[edit]

Schlesinger was able to obtain the finance to make Yanks - which was a personal project - because of the financial success of his 1976 suspense film Marathon Man.[4]

Much of the filming took place on location in Northern England between April and August 1978. Scenes were shot on location in Oldham, Glossop, Stalybridge, Stockport, Salford and other surrounding areas. The opening shot of the film is the war memorial in Stalybridge town centre. Other scenes were filmed at the town hall in Hyde[5] and outside a Type 24 pillbox attached to a former Royal Ordnance Factory in Steeton, West Yorkshire.[6][7][8] The main street procession was filmed in the Ordsall area of Salford, where the entire length of Regent Road was redressed to period appearance. All the shop fronts were replaced or covered over and the road-lines were covered by gravel. The cinema sequences were shot at the Davenport Theatre / Cinema, in Stockport. This was chosen because of its authentic, period Art Deco interior, as well as the presence, in the orchestra pit, of a Compton 3 Manual/6 Rank theatre organ on a lift to the left of the stage. This was used in the film for scenes involving an audience sing-along, to such songs as "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" and "Deep in the Heart of Texas," Exterior shots of the unnamed Welsh resort were filmed along Happy Valley Road, Llandudno, North Wales.

The ending, where the troops board their train to head to the front, were filmed at Keighley railway station on the line belonging to the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. An authentic Second World War locomotive, which is preserved by the heritage railway, was used for the scene.[9]

Lisa Eichhorn said one of her most difficult scenes in the film was where she offers herself to her boyfriend, Matt, only to be rejected. "The difficult part was dealing with the nudity in that scene," she said. "I'd never done any on the stage, and didn't think I'd have to do it in my first movie. I didn't want to get the reputation of an actress who easily disrobes".[10]

Reception

[edit]

The film was a box office flop in the US only making $1.6 million in rentals.[11]

The film received mixed reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 57% based on reviews from 21 critics.[12]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "Yanks (1979)". AFI Catalog. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Yanks". BFI Collections. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Yanks (1979)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Gene D. Major Film Directors of the American and British Cinema, Volume 1999. Lehigh University Press, 1999. 238. Retrieved from Google Books on January 30, 2012. ISBN 0-934223-59-9, ISBN 978-0-934223-59-1.
  5. ↑ "Bradford people get a taste for big screen". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  6. ↑ "History enthusiasts launch campaign to save rare pillbox". Craven Herald. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ↑ "Steeton Dump Type 24 pillbox". www.menofworth.org.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Location of Steeton Pillbox 53°53′55″N 1°57′02″W / 53.89861°N 1.95068°W
  9. ↑ Horton, Glyn (2007). Horton's guide to Britain's railways in feature films. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 186. ISBN 978-1-85794-287-3.
  10. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (21 September 1979). "New Face: Lisa Eichhorn Why Heroine of 'Yanks' Is as English as Apple Pie". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  11. ↑ THE BIG THUDS OF 1979--FILMS THAT FLOPPED, BADLY Epstein, Andrew. Los Angeles Times 27 Apr 1980: o6.
  12. ↑ "Yanks (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yanks&oldid=1375458937"