Yanks [DVD]

Opening Narration: "From early 1942 until the invasion of Europe over a million Americans landed in Britain. They came to serve on other battle fronts or to man the vast number of U.S. bases in England. Hardly a city, town or village remained untouched." Or as the Brits said about the American invasion of Yanks..."Oversexed, overpaid and over here!" ☺ This is an excellent John Schlesinger portrayal of the interaction of deployed American soldiers with the British - in particular the British women - during the lead up to the D-Day invasion of France. It is set on an American base located near a small northern English town. The film is not rated as highly by the critics as some of his other films - "Midnight Cowboy", "Marathon Man", etc; but I think it tells the WW II story of Americans in Britain better than any other I've seen. It stars a young Richard Gere - whose star was ascending in 1979 - and an ensemble cast that included Vanessa Redgrave, Lisa Eichhorn, William Devane and Chick Vennera...all of whom deliver fine performances, with special kudos going to Gere, Eichhorn and Redgrave. The primary romance is between Gere and Eichhorn (in her first movie role); but the romance between a fortyish Redgrave and Devane also features prominently. There is some battle footage, but not much; this is primarily a romantic drama set in a wartime environment...and secondarily a social commentary about the effect of this kind of deployment on the civilian population. I enjoyed it thoroughly...and highly recommend it! -

The relationships are so interesting in this movie plus it's a great love story set in a challenging time in Britain (WWII). US troops were stationed in my British home town and my mother had cherished memories of those days.Great to see the young Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave and William Devane. If you want some history and living-during-war perspective, this is a great pick. No shoot-em up war scenes.

It’s been years since I’ve watched this movie. I enjoyed it immensely as I’ve always been drawn to World War ll romance movies. This one was in the top five. But, that was when I had full hearing. I recently purchased this DVD to add to my collection. To my dismay this disc is not CC or subtitled so therefore I am unable to understand most of the dialogue. Reason being...I am now hard of hearing. The release date for this movie to DVD was 2010 which should have had both CC and subtitles. I will contact Amazon with my complaint.

This is a different kind of war movie in that is has little to do with war or the military. They are simply backdrops for the real theme of the movie which is, as the title states, the issue of Americans or Yanks in England during the buildup to Normandy who interacted with the locals. The movie begins with Richard Gere's unit arriving in northern England to join others already there. His character is a cook but that is really irrelevant. Very quickly the movie shifts from Army matters to situations in which he and his buddy start to date local women. There are three situations. A supply officer from the unit has been seeing an aristocratic local women who works for the Red Cross. Both are married. The woman's spouse is off to the war. Gere's buddy is a big talker who hooks up with an energetic local girl eager to meet an American soldier. Gere starts to date a reluctant daughter of shop owners who has her own fiancee away at the war. Most of the scenes in the movie are quite gray and the tone of the movie is reserved, if not depressing at times. As one would expect, many cross-cultural and separation themes are covered in the movie. Some of the scenes seem a bit too long and inconsequential while others are very touching and emotion-filled. The movie ends with the Americans leaving and each story having its own set of circumstances under which the cross-cultural couples part.While I would not call the movie one of the most memorable war movies I have seen, it was certainly quite different than most. It made me want to know more about the issue of soldiers overseas who formed relationships with locals and what happened to these long-term. Often we think of war as being a series of famous battles and we forget the long weeks or years of preparation and the time spent getting by in foreign locales. This is a lesser-known Richard Gere movie. I had not even heard about it before seeing it advertised here on Amazon. If you enjoyed his work in An Officer and a Gentleman, you might like this movie. His performance here is more subdued but similar. In spite of the dark tone of the movie, it's definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of stories from the WWII time period.

This is one of those few movies that I like to watch at least once a year. The story is a real part of History and has been developed into a series of human stories woven together anime really enjoyable drama. All the performances are great and I'm madly in love with the female lead.

I love this film. it older but the setting is 1940's war time England with an American GI met girl! And what a guy, classic heart thub Gere Richard. Doesn't get any better for historical war romance. Fine acting but all, little brother adds sentiment and innocent to a difficult time period, her parents indifference and fear of THE AMERICANS INVASION.a must see love story!

I only became a Richard Gere fan, once I found out he was a Buddhist so I never thought much of him as an actor. I thought they only rated him so highly because he was so beautiful and didnt bother with him back then. However, between Hachi and Yanks I am finding out he is just too beautiful inside and out not to watch his movies. In this movie he shows such a wide range of emotion and I was shocked to see just how well he can relate sensitivity on the screen. I loved this movie because the story was so interesting and I got to see his gorgeous face so many times. He really is able to convey emotion better than anyone else on the screen. It is a very touching movie and the sets are so well done that you actually feel you are back in time. I really loved it and will go ahead and purchase the film so I can watch it again and again.