Hail The Conquering Hero (1944)

Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum's summary:

Preston Sturges's last feature for Paramount (1944) takes on wartime patriotism with a brio and vengeance that may take your breath away. Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) gets discharged from the marines due to chronic hay fever, but some service buddies decide to present him to his hometown as if he's a returning war hero. As usual, Sturges's stock company of wonderful bit actors—including William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Raymond Walburn, and Jimmy Conlin—is orchestrated and conducted like a pop symphony, and Ella Raines does duty as the love interest. A scathing delight.

A movie that is now 75 years old, I really found this to be a good satire about lauding a wartime hero. The movie is rather sentimental but it's amusing to see everyone in this town praise this guy who doesn't deserve any of it. One of the biggest problems I have with it is the frequent utterance of the word "Jap" that bothered me. I know it was common for films of that era to use that term but it's really cringe inducing to hear today. Sturges was so prophetic and forward-thinking in many of his scripts but it's unfortunate that those slurs were left in for all time.