Evviva il nostro eroe

Brilliant farce with more than a bitter-sweet tang about the attitudes of small town Americans towards the war and the people who served. The dialogue and pacing is first rate and Preston Sturges' stock cast are all excellent, not least Freddie Steele as the slightly dented Bugsy. His performance gives an odd edge to the film, being an awful actor and a poor comedian helps him stand out and appear as someone more real and genuine.

Sturges is Hollywood's most forgotten great director, writer and producer. Even though he shone brightly but briefly he made far superior comedies than Woody Allen's and those are pretty damn good themselves.

Preston Sturges's companion piece to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek was this brilliant satire on patriotism and hero worship, with Eddie Bracken giving a touching performance as a 4-F reject whose elaborate system of lies snowballs when he runs into a troop of returning Marines who decide to help him maintain his imposture. Taking a lot of strands from Sturges's previous comedies, this film remains fresh and perceptive, with hilarious insights into politics, family values, and ethics. With the disenchantment with politics in today's society, where is Preston Sturges when we need him?

I initially picked this up because I had just seen Phantom Lady with Ella Raines and was very impressed with her work in that film noir thriller. In this film she has a decidedly less prominent role though whenever she is onscreen my enjoyment of the film intensified. This is the first of Eddie Bracken's work that I have encountered. I think he did well with both the dramatic and comedic elements of his chracter. I have seen a few of Preston Sturges' films and in my opinion the director succeeded handsomely with this effort. In addition to the leads he elicited excellent performances from the character actors most of whom are recognizable to avid film buffs like all of us in the IMDB community I'm sure. As a change of pace from the more traditional WW II films, Hero is very smart and entertaining comedy. Recommended, 7/10.

This film was delightful and fun! It will lift your spirits - as I imagine it was meant to do in 1944. I enjoy watching films made during WWII - it helps me understand the attitudes and thoughts of the people living and fighting then. The sentiment is occasionally rather precious (for a Sturges film), but that is my quibble. I have always enjoyed watching Sturges' Sullivan's Travels. Watching "Hail the Conquering Hero" has convinced me to find and view more of Sturges' films. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

With literally dozens of identifiable characters, named and unnamed, this is a film in which nearly every shot is jammed full of faces -- in fact, it's nearly twenty minutes into the movie before a shot occurs in which the frame contains only a single human being (Mom taking hot buns out of the oven). Filmed and released during the darkest year of WWII, HERO is a smart, unjingoistic yet oddly patriotic comedy of the home front, and of our often short-sighted view of what makes a hero. One of Sturges' best and most innovative comedies -- and that's saying a lot!