Yanquis

Those of us who have seen some of the more recent wartime romance movies (e.g., Pearl Harbor) will be eternally grateful for this well-done picture with its ensemble cast. I liked it so much that I bought a copy on DVD.

This was the first time that I had seen William Devane and Lisa Eichorn in a movie, and I believe their performances were excellent. When William Devane, as the Captain, busts the NCOs for their conduct, it was the height of wartime realism at a human level.

I loved the little nuances ... the mother wrapping the string around her hand after she receives the gift of a cake from Richard Gere ... the little boy and the bicycle ... the steam rising up around the train at the end ... excellent touches ...

My children were just babies when I saw this movie at the theater in 1979. I really loved it and have all these years. I guess the romance and the finality of goodbyes, not knowing what could happen made it all the more intense. The racism scene was hard to watch, very hard. I am sure things like that went on though. It is a treasure in my huge movie collection. I hope someday to visit England and be able to see some of the towns that were in this movie.Richard Gere is a wonderful Actor and this was the very first time I had heard about him or had ever seen him in a movie.He brought a realism to this part, he was a perfect guy to play an American soldier! Talking about it has made me want to look at it tonight!!

Just watched this film again for at least the tenth time since it's release and never fail to be impressed by the accuracy of its portrayal of Northern England. In fact this is the England I remember growing up in in the 1960s and it really only started to change around the 1970s when we finally seemed to recover from post war austerity. Shops looked like that when I was a kid in suburbs of Newcastle. Several people mention the power station mistakenly suggesting it was out of place as it was nuclear. Most power stations in the UK are coal powered and still look exactly like this and as the film was made in and around Stalybridge and the pennine towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire it may well have been Stalybridge which was built in 1926 and definitely never a nuclear plant. Lovely film and exactly as wartime was described in countless family discussions with our mams and dads. This was often the only adventure in their lives so it came up over and over again.

John Schlesinger returns to the land of his early, wonderful "A Kind Of Loving" and "Billy Liar" for a cross-cultural love story with a critical but undoubtedly affectionate eye. Richard Gere, pre-"American Gigolo" is terrific as Matt, the cook who falls for Jean, the local English rose played beautifully by the splendid American actress, Lisa Eichhorn. The Americans posted in the North of England felt truly abroad, they could hardly understand the lingo. For the locals it was a different story, they understood the American GI's because after all, they spoke like Gary Cooper. The elders look at the abrasive newcomers with politeness but also with a tinge of suspicion. There was a catch phrase at the time to describe the American troops: "They're overpaid, oversexed and over here" The cultural differences go beyond language and in a masterful writing stroke tells us why. Richard Gere tells Lisa Eichhorn about his dreams for the future - building a chain of Motels across America - while her British boyfriend dreams of getting married and building their home above his parents shop. Lisa Eichhorn's Jane is the perfect "man in the middle" attached to her parents (the wonderful Rachel Roberts and Tony Melody)world, and at the same time, she is fascinated by Richard Gere's look at the American dream - the "everything is possible" mentality. The film is a gem. Unfairly overlooked in its day but now on its 30th anniversary risks to be rediscovered and and re-evaluated. It certainly deserves another life.

Was sad to see the passing of Tony Melody this summer. He was such a good yet under sung character actor. His performance in Yanks was excellent and the mischievous smile he cracked when he said there would be 'no danger' of the bottle of whisky remaining unopened was brilliant as oppose to his wife's refusal to eat the cake that Geres character had prepared.

I wonder if the picture of his character he showed Gere when he was talking about his war service was actually his real father as he had served in the Guards during the first world war - just a thought.

Lisa Eichorn had me fooled for many a year - that Lancashire accent is spot on.