Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Article - The Sergeant (1968)
Article - The Sergeant (1968)
Plus
baptisteandre69a@gmail.com
Tableau de bord
Déco
Critics At Large
Independent reviews of television, movies, books, music, theatre, dance, culture, and the arts.
Home In the Press Recent Comments Meet the Critics David Churchill (1959-2013) About Us Contact Us Subscribe
The Sergeant, poor cow of a movie, never had a chance. The critics of 1968 – faced with Rod Steiger’s miserable
Army lifer, Sergeant Callan, pursuing John Phillip Law’s dewy-eyed Private Swanson on a godforsaken supply post in
1952 France, and then killing himself – were unanimous in panning it. “In the context of today’s liberated movie-
making,” Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times, “this study of repressed homosexuality seems almost quaint. It
also is basically confused.” Steiger, Canby felt, “comes on with all the subtlety of a drag queen,” while Law seemed
“remarkably dense.” In The New Yorker, Pauline Kael made more or less the same complaints, while voicing regret for
the loneliness and pathos she believed were the homosexual’s lot in life. New York’s Judith Crist, with a sensitivity
typical of herself and her peers, dismissed it as “a sleazily commercial film [about] a fag non-com.”
YOKO ONO: AN ARTFUL LIFE, by Donald
Brackett
For straight critics like these, The Sergeant was mainly an offense against two hours of their time. Later, with queer
critics to the fore, it became an offense against gay liberation: a mainstay on the list of “daring” sixties Hollywood Search Critics at Large
movies that were seen as retrograde, even toxic in their sexual politics, with a preponderance of gay or lesbian
characters either killing themselves, killing others, or getting killed. (Among the others were 1961’s The Children’s
Hour, 1962’s Advise and Consent, 1967’s Reflections in a Golden Eye, 1968’s The Fox, The Killing of Sister
George, and The Detective, and 1969’s Staircase.) In Screening the Sexes (1973), the first study of homosexuality Search
in the movies, critic Parker Tyler placed The Sergeant in the “Homeros in uniform” subgenre, calling it “a clean-cut,
well-tailored movie like an expensive suit that has had only one wearing, then been relegated in a plastic wrap to the
Motto
closet, where it will stay indefinitely.” By 1981 and The Celluloid Closet, Vito Russo’s definitive history of gayness in
cinema, the AIDS holocaust was imminent, and The Sergeant’s stock was even lower. Rather than suggesting that Never trust the artist. Trust the tale. The
proper function of the critic is to save the
homosexuality might be associated with anything healthy, The Sergeant dealt “only in sexually motivated
tale from the artist who created it.
manipulations, spitefulness and petty jealousy, most of it unconscious and unexplored. The result is caricature.”
function being to preempt the possibility that Callan’s obsession might be erotic, physical, instinctual – that is, natural.
On top of this basic disjunction, the movie is hobbled by direction that is studiously unimaginative, except when
West Side Story: Rumble in the
banally lyrical; secondary acting only a notch above zombie energy; and a score which, while not quite bad, is badly Rubble
used.
All of this negativity is not meant to clear ground for a recuperation of The Sergeant. Not exactly. This is no neglected
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2017/05/looking-back-sergeant-1968.html 1/9
26/06/2022 17:32 Critics At Large : Looking Back: The Sergeant (1968)
gem, because a) its historical importance means it has gotten more
attention than most films of comparable subtlety, coherence, and wit;
and b) it has almost no subtlety, coherence, or wit. What then does it
have, and why think about it?
Headtrip: Everything
Everywhere All at Once
The Goodspeed
Reopens with Cabaret
Otherworldly: The
John Phillip Law and Rod Steiger in The Sergeant (1968).
Haunting Icons of
Fatima Franks
In the late sixties, having capped a series of highly praised performances under strong directors with In the Heat of
the Night (1967), for which he won an Oscar, Steiger entered a brief but interesting wilderness period of working on
marginal material with inexperienced or mediocre directors. In movies like No Way to Treat a Lady (Jack Smight, Off the Shelf: Law &
1968), The Illustrated Man (Smight, 1969), and Three into Two Won’t Go (Peter Hall, 1969), as well as The Order, "American
Sergeant, he worked at developing, or merely pushing, his worst tendencies: mannered virtuosity, battering-ram
Dream" (1993)
intensity, a wasteful worrying over every picayune mental or emotional process. (“He gives you too much for your five
cents,” Sidney Lumet said of Steiger, who he directed in 1965’s The Pawnbroker.) But these performances have
interest as a study in a great actor’s unapologetic defiance of good taste and rational proportion to make a style out of
Self-Renewal: New
objectionable traits.
Tricks by Christopher
House
In The Sergeant, two scenes in particular show Steiger in defiant mode. One is Callan’s kiss of Swanson, though it is
far less a kiss than a violently coerced, prolonged mashing of mouths. (In the novel, Callan simply grabbed the
BloggerWidget
private’s genitals – a more direct indicator of physical lust, and another of the film’s compromises.) The moment, its
build-up and aftermath are acted, shot, and choreographed, if that’s the word, as brutally as the strangling of the
prologue. It’s a ripping away of the homosocial façade, a point of no return, and dramatically everything it should be. Labels
But it’s also more, and worse, than everything: it’s painful, embarrassing, awful. We look away from it, or want to. The
Film
(1508)
dramatic climax is reached, but does it have to be reached in such an ugly, awkward way? As ugly and awkward as it
Steve Vineberg
(728)
would be in life? The moment is Steiger’s more than anyone’s, and to the degree he determines it, the answer is a
Books
(706)
defiant yes.
Music
(691)
The second scene comes soon after, when the post’s commanding officer – a cowardly gentleman drunk over whom Theatre
(550)
Callan has established alpha dominance early on – is forced to relieve the sergeant of his duties before the Kevin Courrier
(507)
assembled company. Callan, horrified, disgusted, outraged at the indignity, informs the C.O. that he has never been Television
(450)
relieved of duty in his life, and that if he were, “it—would—not—be—by—someone—like—you.” Steiger’s stagy Culture
(289)
intensity threatens to implode the scene, but he forces it to completion through the impacted burden of his own too- Shlomo Schwartzberg
(272)
muchness: his eyes water, his features pull in three directions, his voice shreds each word like a strip of flesh from the John Corcelli
(243)
loathed body of the other man. Like the kiss, it is pure overindulgence, an indecent display of Thespianizing. It is also
Justin Cummings
(222)
unstinting and magnetic, and may leave a bruise on anyone who watches it without surrendering to the easy laugh or
Deirdre Kelly
(187)
superior snort.
David Churchill
(178)
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2017/05/looking-back-sergeant-1968.html 2/9
26/06/2022 17:32 Critics At Large : Looking Back: The Sergeant (1968)
With a true artist’s perversity, Steiger has dared you to find him likable, “relatable,” even tolerable. Judith Crist’s Interview
(173)
palpable recoil from both character and actor – her use of words like “sleaze,” “repulse,” “nausea” – brings to mind Mark Clamen
(171)
Lester Bangs’s essay on Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, an album released the same year as The Sergeant. Bangs Bob Douglas
(159)
focused particularly on two songs, one an ode to an aging drag queen, the other a pedophile’s masturbatory
Dance
(134)
daydream. “The beautiful horror of ‘Madame George’ and ‘Cyprus Avenue,’” he wrote, is that “we are looking at life in
Donald Brackett
(133)
its fullest, and what these people are suffering from is not disease but nature, unless nature is a disease.” It was
Neglected Gems
(130)
necessary, Bangs realized, to breach the polite distance of tasteful art, the veil of mere well-meaning, to get at
Phil Dyess-Nugent
(123)
something raw – for “only sunk in the foulest perversions could one human being love another for anything other than
their humanness: love him for his weakness, his flaws, finally perhaps his decay.” This art was about “the absolute Susan Green
(120)
possibility of loving human beings at the farthest extreme of wretchedness.”
Visual Arts
(119)
David Kidney
(96)
Podcast
(86)
Games
(71)
Michael Lueger
(66)
CJ Sheu
(62)
Devin McKinney
(57)
Talking Out of Turn
(52)
Danny McMurray
(45)
Nick Coccoma
(38)
Laura Warner
(36)
Photography
(33)
Mari-Beth Slade
(30)
Amanda Shubert
(26)
Critic's Notes & Frames
(26)
Canada150
(25)
Graphic Novel
(24)
Off the Shelf
(24)
Jack Kirchhoff
(21)
Memoir
(21)
Jessica L. Radin
(19)
Andrew Dupuis
(18)
Joe Mader
(18)
Periodicals
(18)
Poetry
(18)
Catharine Charlesworth
(16)
Rod Steiger as Sergeant Callan in The Sergeant.
Produced and Abandoned
(16)
Fashion
(14)
Food
(10)
Of course, the signal difference between The Sergeant and Astral Weeks is that the latter is, by almost any standard,
beautiful: subtle, ethereal, tuneful, soaring. Its style is crystalline, its emotionalism held in an unfaltering poise. Ellen Perry
(9)
Whereas The Sergeant, like its star, is morose, ungainly, and uncomfortable with itself. But it may be that Steiger’s Remembering 9/11
(9)
lack of restraint takes us closer to “the farthest extreme of wretchedness” than we’re accustomed to in acting; that Remembering David Churchill
(9)
what makes us squirm is the unusual empathy we are being asked to summon in order to see this man as a human Titanic Omnibus
(9)
being; and that when we ask an actor to delineate pathos and pain with exquisite degrees of control, we may in fact Time Capsule
(7)
be asking for a seemly, aestheticized distance from the very emotional truth we claim to be seeking. Place Steiger’s Podcasting
(6)
sergeant next to, say, Meryl Streep’s Sophie (or Meryl Streep’s anything), and you have the analogy: Steiger is as wet,
Reflections in the Hall of Mirrors
(6)
furious, and self-consumed as an angry baby, while Streep is as dry, correct, and exteriorized as a hologram. Steiger
Technology
(6)
rejects decency and distance in order to embody wretchedness – even if that means that many viewers will reject him;
Adam Nayman
(3)
and that’s a risk most actors never take a single time in their lives.
Felicity Somerset
(3)
One other thing has lodged The Sergeant in my memory: the sequence of shots that end it. Vito Russo described Radio
(3)
them this way: “John Phillip Law sees Steiger go into the woods with a gun and realizes what is about to happen, but Sean Rasmussen
(3)
he makes no move to stop it. The virginal young private, hardly aware throughout the film that there is such a thing as
homosexuality, knows enough finally to allow the suicide to take place unhindered. At the sound of the gunshot, he
Blog Archive
sighs in resignation; another doomed faggot has bitten the dust.” Actually, the ending is somewhat different (as
opposed to the novel’s ending, which more closely conforms to Russo’s description, but is complicated by the open- ►
2022
(35)
►
endedness of all that has preceded it). It’s true that Swanson doesn’t try to stop Callan from carrying out the ►
2021
(78)
►
inevitable. But instead of resignation, his face shows a dawning torment not remotely like any expression it has carried
►
2020
(91)
►
thus far. Hearing the rifle’s report, Swanson stares in its direction for a few seconds; then looks down and takes a step
►
2019
(106)
►
or two away; then stops, turns, and stares again at the woods. Law’s face looks blasted, flayed, as if somehow the
gun has gone off inside his head. Far from shrugging off the demise of “another doomed faggot,” Swanson seems ►
2018
(300)
►
►
12/31
►
- 01/07
(7)
Of what? For once, The Sergeant captures a perfect ambiguity, an Astral Weeks-caliber enigma. It may be the only
►
12/24
►
- 12/31
(7)
multi-dimensional facial expression John Phillip Law crafted in his entire career; and while there has been a not-
uninteresting contrast throughout the film between Steiger’s surplus of technique and Law’s deficit of same, it’s as if ►
12/17
►
- 12/24
(7)
some of Steiger’s feeling has passed over to Law in this moment, and the film’s rampant confusions of mind and ►
12/10
►
- 12/17
(7)
motive have been engraved in his face. The camera, attaining a belated wisdom of its own, can only stare at him,
►
12/03
►
- 12/10
(7)
wanting answers and seeing only questions. Then the screen goes black, and the movie is over.
►
11/26
►
- 12/03
(7)
– Devin McKinney is the author of Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and ►
11/19
►
- 11/26
(7)
History (2003), The Man Who Saw a Ghost: The Life and Work of Henry ►
11/12
►
- 11/19
(7)
Fonda (2012), and Jesusmania! The Bootleg Superstar of Gettysburg
►
11/05
►
- 11/12
(7)
College (2016). Formerly a music columnist (The American Prospect), blogger (Hey
Dullblog), and TV writer (The Food Network), he has appeared in numerous ►
10/29
►
- 11/05
(7)
publications and contributes regularly to Critics at Large and the pop culture ►
10/22
►
- 10/29
(7)
site HiLobrow. He is employed as an archivist at Gettysburg College in ►
10/15 - 10/22
(7)
►
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his wife and their three cats. His
►
10/08
►
- 10/15
(7)
website is devinmckinney.com.
►
10/01
►
- 10/08
(7)
►
09/24
►
- 10/01
(7)
►
09/17
►
- 09/24
(7)
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2017/05/looking-back-sergeant-1968.html 3/9
26/06/2022 17:32 Critics At Large : Looking Back: The Sergeant (1968)
►
09/10
►
- 09/17
(7)
Posted by
Critics at Large
at
12:00 PM
►
09/03
►
- 09/10
(7)
Labels:
Devin McKinney,
Film
►
08/27
►
- 09/03
(7)
►
08/20
►
- 08/27
(7)
1 comment: ►
08/13
►
- 08/20
(7)
►
08/06
►
- 08/13
(7)
Unknown November 15, 2021 at 10:28 AM ►
07/30 - 08/06
(7)
►
I liked this film, it felt timeless, it did not make judgment, it made you sympathize with all the characters. The fable-like ►
07/23
►
- 07/30
(7)
atmosphere is great, and the acting by Steiger and Law and all the cast was amazing. It's a fascinating combination of
►
07/16
►
- 07/23
(7)
'clinical' and 'intimate'
►
07/09
►
- 07/16
(7)
It's too bad Callan took his life, I wish he had help, I wish he had had the chance for a healthy loving partnership with
►
07/02
►
- 07/09
(7)
someone. I almost felt the filmakers took the easy road by not giving him a redemption, But maybe that was their point,
to show a character already in decline ready to burst and spiralling down. ►
06/25
►
- 07/02
(7)
►
06/18
►
- 06/25
(7)
►
06/11
►
- 06/18
(7)
it was hugely triggering for Callan after all these long years of repression & loneliness to come face to face with the
"perfection he can't have OR be" embodied by Swanson : hardworking youth, tall, extreme good looks, healthy ►
06/04
►
- 06/11
(7)
relationships with his friends, the possibility of a future outside the military, romantic love, confident enough to speak ►
05/28 - 06/04
(7)
►
up, but very good at his job, a very beautiful balanced individual
►
05/21
►
- 05/28
(7)
he was madly in love with Swanson, but also jealous of all his qualities, he 'needed' to possess him & control him. ►
05/14
►
- 05/21
(7)
▼
05/07
▼
- 05/14
(7)
He looks at Swanson and he sees everything he craves, physically, sexually, professionally. He sees all the long years
he wasted & regreted & lost.
Defining Race: Raoul Peck's I Am
Not Your Negro
Looking Back: The Sergeant (1968)
out of this, the film's story becomes an effective & chilling depiction (probably unintentionally) of psychologically- Feudal Fury: Team Ninja’s Nioh
abusive workplace sexual harassment.
►
04/30
►
- 05/07
(7)
Newer Post Home Older Post ►
04/23
►
- 04/30
(7)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom) ►
04/16
►
- 04/23
(7)
►
04/09
►
- 04/16
(7)
►
04/02
►
- 04/09
(7)
►
03/26
►
- 04/02
(7)
►
03/19
►
- 03/26
(7)
►
03/12
►
- 03/19
(7)
►
03/05
►
- 03/12
(7)
►
02/26
►
- 03/05
(7)
►
02/19
►
- 02/26
(7)
►
02/12
►
- 02/19
(7)
►
02/05
►
- 02/12
(7)
►
01/29
►
- 02/05
(7)
►
01/22
►
- 01/29
(7)
►
01/15
►
- 01/22
(7)
►
01/08
►
- 01/15
(7)
►
01/01
►
- 01/08
(7)
►
2016
(364)
►
►
2015
(364)
►
►
2014
(364)
►
►
2013
(364)
►
►
2012
(378)
►
►
2011
(371)
►
►
2010
(360)
►
Recent Comments
https://www.criticsatlarge.ca/2017/05/looking-back-sergeant-1968.html 4/9