Friendly Persuasion

“Here's A Superb Motion Picture Full Of Fun... Laughter and Happiness.”

The Birdwells are Quakers in southern Indiana in 1862, farmers sworn against all violence, and the war is coming closer to their land anyway. William Wyler shows a household where faith has to be practiced at the supper table and in the yard, with Jess (Gary Cooper) and Eliza (Dorothy McGuire) each holding the rule a little differently. Their son Josh (Anthony Perkins) listens to the distant guns, and a father and mother wait to see whether he stays.