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One of the best loved of all Oscar winners, Leo McCarey's deeply sentimental film makes no great claims to seriousness nor is it particularly cinematic, (the studio sets are clearly studio sets), but it's well-written and has a deeply likable performance from Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley, (the Academy liked him enough to give him the Best Actor Oscar and to nominate him the following year for playing the same role). He's the young priest sent to St. Dominic's, a parish down on its luck, to whip it back into shape and to replace the curmudgeonly old priest responsible for its present state. The older priest is the leprechaun-like Barry Fitzgerald and he plays the part shamelessly. The Academy gave him an Oscar, too, and it marked the only time when an actor, (Fitzgerald), was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for playing the same role in the same film in the same year. (The rules were subsequently changed so it wouldn't happen again). The Mickey Rooney role of the street-wise older kid who makes good is played here by Stanley Clements. If the film has a fault it's that it gave us one of the most annoying of all Oscar-winning songs in 'Swingin on a Star'.

If you are looking for something thoughtful, dramatic, or even controversial, go somewhere else. But if it's a light-hearted comedy you're after, then pull up a chair and check out "Going My Way".

Bing Crosby stars as Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley, a newly-ordained priest assigned to take over St. Dominic's, a New York City church with a mortgage currently run by veteran priest Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). Both Crosby and Fitzgerald give good performances in this movie, as attested by the fact they each won an Oscar (and Barry Fitzgerald was nominated TWICE, for Actor and Supporting Actor, a move that necessitated a rule change at the Academy). If you ask me, between the two of them, I would go with Barry Fitzgerald. His portrayal of the crusty, yet kind-hearted Father Fitzgibbon was a role he was born to do, and it shows.

This movie also features the talents of soprano Risë Stevens, who plays Jenny Linden, an old friend of Father O'Malley's, in town performing at the Metropolitan Opera House as Carmen. Though her acting is somewhat wooden (it was only her second role), she shines all three times she sings. Which leads me to the title of the movie itself.

"Going My Way" is not a story about the Catholic Church, nor is it about old friends reuniting, or even about two young lovers (James Brown and Jean Heather). It's about a song. That's right. A song, written by Father O'Malley, and upon which its success determines the very future of St. Dominic's. Like I said, this is light comedy; nothing too serious is happening here.

At the time of this movie's release in 1944, World War II was at its crescendo. The newsreels and the papers were full of reports of the war. Some war veterans had made their way back home after getting wounded in battle. Major offenses like Operation: Overlord (D-Day) had succeeded, but at tremendous cost. At a time when the world was at its grimmest, this was the perfect escape. The only reference to the war in the entire movie occurs when landlord Ted Haines Sr. (Gene Lockhart) discovers his son, Ted Jr. (Brown) quit his job and eloped with a young singer named Carol James (Heather). Just when he thinks his son has lost all sense of reality, he turns around and sees Ted Jr. in an Army Air Corps uniform. Only then, Ted Sr. realizes his son hasn't gone mad; he is off to join the war.

If you are a fan of the "Road" movies Bing Crosby did with Bob Hope, you most likely remember the occasional aside in which either Bing boasts about his Oscar, or Bob grumbles about it. Well, this is the film that gave Bing his Oscar. And he was nominated again the next year for playing the same character in the the sequel "The Bells of St. Mary's". Obviously, he must've been doing something right! "Going My Way" was a little ray of sunshine cast upon a pained world and, even now, it will still put a smile on your face.

It's an easily underrated movie, particularly because it flatly refuses to do most of the things that people expect movies to do today; there's a defiant unwillingness to slip into easy melodrama (though I often like melodrama), or to spend too much time on comedy, etc. The movie won't pigeonhole itself, and I think this leads to its secret - at heart, it really intends to be about what it's like to be a priest. You CAN'T pigeonhole yourself in that role, because you can't possibly know what's coming up, or really keep perfect track of all the different threads of a community at the same time. You have to take things as they come, and this movie really does that all the way through.

And there's also a sense of the wistfulness that comes from giving up that "plot-driven" style of living - in the scenes where Crosby visits his old girlfriend, there's a tangible awareness on both sides that they don't really know what happened to the "plot" of their relationship - they just took things as they came, and it really turned out OK for both of them. Most of the movie's separate narrative threads are left off, and returned to, almost at random - and the main focus on the relationships between the characters is what ends up shining through as intended.

A lot of the film is spent on scenes that seem kind of inconsequential at the time (like most of everyday life), but they invariably lead to a payoff later in the film. There's a shot of Gene Lockhart watching his son leave - a silent shot that just holds on a medium shot of the father, watching his expression for about 10 seconds - that I found absolutely sublime in its effectiveness. To me, that single shot justifies the half dozen scenes that led to it. Ultimately, the movie is almost happy to laugh at the audience for being so eager to expect more of a story. As one character aptly says,"Schmaltz is in this year"; the people behind this movie KNOW that a lot of people will want to dismiss it, but won't let them off the hook so easily. It's looks deceptively simple to make a film this easygoing and yet moving. (Capra tried it later in his career, sometimes with Crosby, and yet he couldn't pull it off.)

The Oscar win is OK, though I think Double Indemnity should have won, and I also like The Miracle of Morgan's Creek a lot more as well (THE SPOTS!!!); but Going My Way belonged in the top 5 that year, along with Laura and I'm-not-sure-what-else. (Gaslight, maybe?) And I'll note that I do like the "sequel," The Bells of St. Mary's (actually written first), a little better, too.

But as I wrote in the summary, this one really sneaks up on you; the last scenes prove much more moving than you expect, and the ending of the film - while initially seeming abrupt - leaves you suddenly saying, "Of course - it's perfect." Just moving on.......

9 of 10

P.S. Is it really set in New York? That's never said, and there's so much talk of St. Louis that I think that more accurate a guess. The "Metropolitan Opera House" is mentioned, but that's a generic-sounding name. Honestly, I think they went to great effort to make it as unrooted in a single locale as possible.

A very enjoyable film starring Bing Crosby as a progressive Irish Catholic priest who comes to St. Dominick's, a church that is struggling. Initially, he's not very welcome by most, including old Father Fitzgibbon...but with his charm and the song in his heart, he manages to slowly grow on the folks as he finds subtle ways to solve everyone's problems. This is a heartwarming movie without being over-sappy.

*** (Out of 4)

Bing Crosby plays a young priest with progressive methods who is assigned to a dwindling parish. He finds himself faced with many wonderful characters, especially the grumpy old Irish master of the church (Barry Fitzgerald) who doesn't see "eye to eye" with the new guy. The interplay between Crosby and Fitzgerald is delightfully funny.

This best picture winner of 1944 at the Oscars is one of the all-time greatest movies. Crosby was as warm and benevolent an actor as he was a singer as his performance in "Going My Way" proves.

The film shows eventually that it is necessary in life to learn to accept everyone around you, regardless of faults and flaws of character, and to help your fellow people find their strengths and develop them in order to serve humanity. But, believe me, this film is anything but pedantic; issues such as these do not drive the film but arise from situations (often light-hearted) that arise naturally in the story.

An example of this is that there were some "juvenille delinquents" that the Crosby character rounded up, not to pass judgement or scorn but to organise them into doing something constructive that made them enjoy life and give up theft as a means of dealing with boredom - he turned them into a choir. Sounds a bit like "Sister Act"? I'm sure "Going My Way" had some influence on this more recent effort, but it is much superior in many ways. It reminded me also of Michael Landon's "Highway to Heaven" series (without the supernatural components).

If you are looking for an old classic with lots of spirit and warmth (such as around Christmas time) for your whole family to gather around and watch by the fire, I recommend "Going My Way". It is a must-see. (10 out of 10).