A Major Disappointment

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I finally made it to the end of this movie. I have tried for 50 years. I can forgive sappy. I enjoy lighthearted but this movie is simply stupid. It's funny how at least "The Bells of St. Mary's" had some dramatic conflict. Bing is okay, boring, and Barry is too cute for words. And this script has not a clever or unexpected scene. I understand that in the 1940s there was a need for some escapism, but there was "Meet Me in St. Louis" that year. And though I never cared for "Cover Girl" at least it moves. This is maybe the worst Best Picture winner, though "Gladiator" comes close. I am not Catholic, perhaps that is it. And I am also not an atheist though this movie seriously makes me reconsider that.

Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald both won well-deserved Oscars for this gem, as did the film for best picture and Leo McCarey for best director. Unfortunately, this great film has been forgotten by most of today's movie fans. It also won best song for "Would You Like to Swing on A Star?" The cast includes Rise Stevens, the GREATEST Carmen ever. One scene features Maestra Stevens singing "Habanera" staged at the Metropolitan Opera. Bing also sings "Ave Maria" and "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra".The supporting cast also features Frank McHugh and Gene Lockhart, and Bowery Boy Stanley Clements and Little Rascal Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer Watch for this one on stations that feature old films. You'll love it.

Every time I revisit this delightful and heartwarming masterpiece, it seems to move me even more. Perhaps because it triggers so many memories of growing up in the church and of family members and priests and nuns who have passed on. It was also one of my mother's favorite films and I think of her whenever I see it again.The cast is just wonderful and the interplay between Crosby and Fitzgerald is a joy. McHugh is also great and the golf and checkers scenes are terrific bits of comedy and highlight this marvelous supporting actor's qualities. There's no doubt though, that this is a Crosby vehicle all the way and whether he's singing "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral" or spreading Fr. O'Malley's Christian good cheer, he is simply fantastic. It also has some great songs and music as well as one of the most emotional and moving final scenes in the history of film. This terrific picture will always have a special place in my heart and it is no wonder that it is a favorite of so many others as well.

When Leo McCarey won the Best Director award for The Awful Truth in 1937, he said they gave it to him for the wrong film, referring to the heart-wrenching Make Way For Tomorrow of the same year. I don't know what better film he made in 1944, but it must have been very good to earn Going My Way 7 Oscars. This is far from his best work, but admittedly there's little wrong with it, it's just inoffensive and harmless to a fault. It's damn near void of meaningful conflict outside of its opening and closing 10 minutes. It tries to start an argument about the old vs. the new and independence vs. guidance but neither idea is fully fleshed out besides briefly in a titular song. Instead it opts for toothless pleasantness, ideal to cater to soft hearts during the end of World War II. In that case, I guess it would have been decent company in a volatile world.But today, it's just far-fetched that a bunch of ragtag boys would suddenly reform into a church choir without much disagreement. That's more or less the bulk of the film so to have it so undeveloped leaves it unsatisfying. The film hinges on Bing Crosby's warmth and familiar songs and I can see how it can be intoxicating, but it can't exist on that plane alone. Barry Fitzgerald gets a lot of credit for the film's enduring success - and he's famous for being the only actor nominated twice for the same performance at the Oscars - but his mannerisms were more irritating than heartwarming. The film is handsomely shot for its time at least, but it didn't win an award for that department somehow. It's a shame it hasn't had the staying power of other Best Pictures that resonate like All Quiet on the Western Front and Casablanca, but it was the Academy's early days.6/10