Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler. The film was originally released with no screenwriting credit because Wilson was on the Hollywood blacklist. His credit was restored in 1996. The film tells the story of a pacifist Quaker family in southern Indiana during the American Civil War. The father of the family is gradually converted to supporting... the war. The protagonist of the story is Jess Birdwell the patriarch of the Birdwell family whose worldliness is forever coming in conflict with his being a Quaker. Jess's wife Eliza is a deeply religious woman and is steadfast in her refusal to engage in violence of any sort. Jess's daughter Mattie wants to remain a Quaker but has fallen in love with a dashing cavalry officer , a love that is against her mother's wishes.
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| Release date: | November 25, 1956 |
| Directed by: | William Wyler |
| Runtime: | 137 Minutes |
| Producer: | Robert Wyler, William Wyler |
| Editor: | Robert Swink, Edward A. Biery |
| Screenplay by: | Michael Wilson, Jessamyn West |
| Estimated budget: | $3,000,000 |