Hail the Conquering Hero

Hail the Conquering Hero
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Preston Sturges
Produced by	Preston Sturges Buddy G. DeSylva (uncredited)
Written by	Preston Sturges
Starring	Eddie Bracken Ella Raines William Demarest
Music by	Werner R. Heymann Victor Young Preston Sturges Frank Loesser Robert Emmett Dolan
Cinematography	John F. Seitz
Edited by	Stuart Gilmore
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	August 9, 1944
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) is a satirical comedy/drama written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Eddie Bracken, Ella Raines and William Demarest, and featuring Raymond Walburn, Franklin Pangborn, Elizabeth Patterson, Bill Edwards and Freddie Steele.

Sturges was nominated for a 1945 Academy Award for his screenplay. Many critics consider the film to be one of Sturges' best. It was the eighth film he made for Paramount Pictures, and also his last, although The Great Moment was released after it. Sturges later wrote about his departure "I guess Paramount was glad to be rid of me eventually, as no one there ever understood a word I said."

In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) is a small town boy whose father, "Hinky Dinky" Truesmith, was a Marine who died a hero in World War I. Woodrow has been discharged from the Marine Corps after only a month owing to his chronic hay fever. Rather than disappoint his mother (Georgia Caine), he pretends to be fighting overseas in World War II while secretly working in a San Diego shipyard.