Going My Way (1944)

Director:

Leo McCarey

Writers:

Leo McCarey (story)
Frank Butler (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 October 1944 (Brazil)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical

Tagline:

Sing, Bing . . . . You're A Grand, Gay Guy In Your Greatest Picture !

Plot:

A new priest shows up at the parish of a crusty old priest named Father Fitzgibbon. The new man, Father O'Malley...

Plot Keywords:

Irish Catholic | Music | Catholic Church | Church | Famous Song

Awards:

Won 7 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Thur. July 17

6:35 AM

MAX

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Father Chuck O'Malley
Barry Fitzgerald	...	Father Fitzgibbon
Frank McHugh	...	Father Timothy O'Dowd
James Brown	...	Ted Haines Jr.
Gene Lockhart	...	Ted Haines Sr.
Jean Heather	...	Carol James
Porter Hall	...	Mr. Belknap
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Tomaso Bozanni
Eily Malyon	...	Mrs. Carmody
The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir	...	Choir
Risë Stevens	...	Genevieve Linden

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:o.Al. | USA:Approved (PCA #9613)

Filming Locations:

Lakeside Country Club - 4500 W. Lakeside Drive, Toluca Lake, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The first public showing, on 27 April 1944, was at 65 military locations, "from Alaska to Italy, and from England to the jungles of Burma..." (but mostly in Europe).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: Obvious lip syncing during "Going My Way".

Quotes:

Father Fitzgibbons: I'm sure that the way to say what I'd like to say will occur to me after you've gone.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Leonard Nimoy Demonstrates the Magnavision Videodisc Player (1981) (V)

Soundtrack:

Going My Way

"Swinging On a Star"

A fairly old-fashioned film even when first released, Going My Way is probably a tough sell these days compared to other 'feel good' movies of its time. It's a little too long, a little too sweet, a little too casual, and has more than a little too much music. Then again, it also has Bing Crosby; and a Crosby picture without music is like a fish-tank without fish.

Bing plays a young, progressive priest assigned to the parish of an aging, stubborn, much older priest (Barry Fitzgerald) who desperately needs help in dealing with his church and congregation, and is too proud to ask for it. At first the old priest distrusts the younger one and regards him as too 'modern' in his outlook. In time the two men come to get along famously, but with a few bumps in the road along the way. The movie is a comedy and a sermon, a musical and a drama. It is at times painfully and at other times hilariously realistic. When it sticks to its central story it's just fine. But it zooms off in dozen different directions and at times seems to lose its way. In the end everything comes together neatly, but it takes an awful long time for the movie to get there.

Going My Way is literally the opposite of film noir. It is bright and sunny, and aggressively optimistic in tone. Yet it is set in the slums of New York in a parish surrounded by poverty and crime. Director Leo McCarey does not minimize the negative aspects of the parish community; if anything he emphasizes them,--in order to offer a cure, or rather cures: faith, hope and charity. The movie's sensibility can be summed up in the face and demeanor of its star, Bing Crosby, who manages to be smart, open, breezy, charming, sly and decent all at the same time. One can't help but be reminded, after seeing this film, that life's problems, heavy and complex as they are, can be addressed in other ways and in other vocabularies than those of social scientists and existential philosophers, and that simplifying matters, cutting them down to their essentials is perhaps as important as verbalizing them. Most people do not read the great books or discuss the great ideas, and for most of us complexity is a burden, simplicity a virtue. Without resorting to any theory or idea, Going My Way makes this point quite nicely, and offers some pleasant songs in the bargain.