NAME — Leeann Sausser
AGE — 14
Going My Way (1944) |
Director: Leo McCarey; Length: 126 minutes; List price on DVD: $14.98 |
NOT RATED |
On a scale of 1 to 5 YPs, Y-Press recommends: YP YP YP Y |
Holiday Inn was one of Bing Crosby’s best movies. He was also fabulous in White Christmas. In Going My Way, his performance stands out too, and he won a best actor Oscar for it. Crosby's performance was about the only thing that stood out for me in this movie.
This mediocre film does manage to start off on a high note with Father Chuck O’Malley (Crosby) walking down the street of a small town. Along the way, the young priest is reprimanded, accidentally breaks windows and is splattered by window washers. These merry mishaps are great fun for slapstick comedy fans.
When O'Malley meets old Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), the elderly priest takes an intense dislike to him. The question lingers in the air throughout the movie whether Fitzgibbon's opinion will ever change.
Despite this shaky relationship with his boss and the neighborhood calamities, O’Malley manages to work his magic, and reforms the neighborhood gang and a runaway.
The movie begins to go downhill after O’Malley assists the young runaway. The conflict quickly switched after the first was solved, and suddenly I was seeing a completely different movie -- like a sequel. I was confused whether this movie was a about a priest helping an old church or just an excuse to let Crosby sing.
Crosby was excellent in this movie, even if the plot wasn’t. His voice rang true throughout the film and really brought his character to the story. Barry Fitzgerald, however, had a raspy old voice that was hard to understand and frustrated me, even though he won the Oscar for best supporting actor. Opera star Rise Stevens, who played Genevieve Linden, brought a wonderful and entertaining voice to the show. Gene Lockhart, although not one of the main characters, really played his part as an old-timer banker well.
The songs in this movie were well performed. The best song of the movie is “Swinging on a Star”, which was sung by Crosby and rightfully earned an Academy Award and went on to become a stand-alone hit song. “Ave Maria,” a duet by Crosby and Stevens, was beautiful, and “Going My Way” was a feel-good song.
While in the 1940s this may have been a hit, in 2008 Going My Way would hardly bring in any money at the box office. In today’s world, we’re looking for a funny movie that will keep us entertained. Going My Way had too many slow moments and a confusing plot.
Copyright 2008 Y-Press