Say One for Me

I'm sure that during his career in his later years Bing Crosby was offered the chance to repeat playing Father O'Malley as an older priest and at one point that would have been a natural fit for him. Unfortunately after this film, Bing was done with the clergy.

He tries his best with Father Conroy and his best moments are musical ones especially with Debbie Reynolds, but the story is not convincing. Try as I might, I just can't believe that Robert Wagner turns from opportunistic heel to good guy just to win Debbie Reynolds.

In fact the main problem with the movie is Robert Wagner. A good actor he just doesn't have any talent musically. His big number in the movie was You Can't Love Them All was recorded by Dean Martin and had a modest success. Now if Dino had played his part, he might have overcome the script.

Bing's best number is The Secret of Christmas. In addition to recording it for the cast album of this film, six years later he recorded it for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label in a joint Christmas album with Old Blue Eyes and Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians. That is the superior version to the one he did in Say One For Me.

Say One For Me features a great cast including Bing Crosby, Debbie Reynolds, Ray Walston, Frank McHugh, and Connie Gilchrist. The tunes are engaging, especially the title number and The Spirit of Christmas. Debbie Reynolds sings and dances with engaging verve and Bing Crosby croons with all his customary flair and charm.

Unfortunately, this misbegotten cross between White Christmas and Going My Way suffers from a leaden, self-righteous script which not even its talented director, Frank Tashlin, can rescue. Great comic character actor supports like Walston, McHugh, and Gilchrist are utterly wasted in this nauseating, pointless story of a hip priest in New York's theater district who puts on a show. In fact, there aren't many laughs in this pious piece of sentimental claptrap, which seems incredible given Tashlin's involvement (he was an alumnus of Looney Tunes).

Debbie Reynolds' love interest is portrayed by Robert Wagner, cast against type (in a role originally intended for Frank Sinatra) as an undiscovered musical talent with underworld leanings running a low class dive who first tries to seduce Reynolds' virginal good girl, then engages in a badly written relationship with her which forms the core of this tedious story. Although Wagner can carry a tune reasonably well, he is hopelessly outclassed by Crosby and Reynolds; in addition, Wagner's dancing is unfortunate but happily kept to a minimum (including an inexplicable solo turn performed with athletic mediocrity), leaving Reynolds to carry most of the production numbers by herself. Wagner's acting performance is acceptable if distasteful... but that's the script's fault.

At one time, this film was considered to be one of the 50 worst movies ever made, but recent abominations of much greater magnitude have ousted it from the Hall of Shame. I personally feel that the film is worth a viewing simply for the pleasant songs and musical performances, but you've been warned. The storyline itself is contrived, confused and stomach-turning. In an amusing side note, the opening credits have the same appearance as those in The Sound of Music, over a similar religious opening... One could only wish that this film were half as entertaining!

At the time this film was made, there was actually a Catholic parish in the New York theater district (maybe there still is). Since films rarely depict the religious life of theater people, this was a potentially interesting background for a musical comedy-drama. Unfortunately it goes off in many wrong directions. Even Bing Crosby, in his third screen outing as a priest, seems to have lost a lot of his charm and humor. This cleric is much sterner and more sanctimonious than Father O'Malley.

Frank Tashlin directed some good comedies that took irreverent pokes at various 1950's institutions, but I don't think he was the type for the kind of sincere, schmaltzy Christmas fare this movie was apparently supposed to be.

There are some nice moments, some good tunes and performances. If you can lower your expectations, it's not altogether bad entertainment, but it's a shame it wasn't better, given the interesting premise.

The cast that tries to breathe life into the hackneyed show is a pretty good one, with Debbie Reynolds coming off best. Robert Wagner isn't altogether believable as a song and dance man. He's actually surprisingly good in the song numbers. It's just that he's playing someone who should be terrific. (I think the part was intended for Frank Sinatra, early on.) He handles the heel-like tendencies of the role pretty well.

The movie is watchable, relatively entertaining, professionally produced...not a total bomb. The songs are good. So you could do worse.

Not sure why the "critics" disliked this movie that much. I first saw it as a kid and even now--in my 30's--I still find myself enjoying the simple story of a "bad seed"--Wagner's character--going good.

Top-notch music and dance numbers with Debbie Reynolds add that special spark to keep the story fresh and full of energy. The talents of an emsemble cast including the great Bing Crosby, dashing Robert Wagner, and versatile Ray Walston contribute greatly to this film's appeal.

Your best bet to see this fine film would be cable since as of this writing SAY ONE FOR ME is not available on vhs or dvd.

As the saying goes--try it, you'll like it! See SAY ONE FOR ME sometime soon! It's worth it!

I have always enjoyed this movie and the songs from it! I always thought of Ray Walston as Uncle Martin, but after viewing this movie many years ago, I have seen him in a new light. Singing and dancing is not one of Robert Wagner's strong points but in this movie he's not bad to look at. It's a shame that the sound track to this movie and others are not available in CD format.