Going My Way (1944)

Written by Frank Butler & Frank Cavett

Directed by Leo McCarey

After five films of deep drama (which, let’s face it, it’s more likely for a Best Picture winner to be big on drama), I was really excited for this film, billed as a Musical-Comedy-Drama. It’s our third musical of the list, and our third comedy. So, I was anticipating this film.

*sigh*

It’s not that the film is bad. It’s just not...entertaining. Let’s explore each of its three genres:

Bing Crosby

As a musical, this is the first Best Picture musical to not be completely centered around Broadway (but, to be sure, there’s a touch of that still). We still haven’t reached a Best Picture winner with non-diegetic musical numbers, as all the songs here actually happen in the context of the story. Essentially, this film is crafted as a vehicle for star Bing Crosby, in a role that earned him a Best Actor Award. It’s not that Crosby is a poor actor; he does a fine job, but it becomes increasingly clear that the film exists so that Crosby can sing, a lot. Don’t get me wrong, Crosby is a good singer, but his deeply distinctive voice is a lot for two hours. Additionally, the numbers themselves aren’t all that entertaining, mostly being ballads, and only three of them are originals (listen, I love Crosby’s version of “Silent Night”, but when it started, I let out an audible groan). One of those numbers is a full number from Bizet’s Carmen, which was just completely unnecessary. This last point brings up the biggest issue of the film, overall: it DRAGS. It takes over thirty minutes to reach our first number, and that slow pace permeates the film as a whole.

If you want to watch Bing Crosby sing, THIS IS THE FILM FOR YOU

The pace is a killer to the next genre. Comedies are snappy, zippy, fast-paced. This film is not that. There’s also nothing particularly funny about the film in general: no physical comedy, no bantering quips, just a couple of one-liners, given to a character who doesn’t really need to be funny.

Barry Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby

That character is Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald. His opposition to Crosby’s Father O’Malley is the main source of drama in the film, and of the two of them, it’s Fitzgibbon who has the character arc. Crosby’s character has no driving arc, no central problem: he’s essentially a Mr. Rogers for the neighborhood, always there with just the right piece of advice or activity to help whoever crosses his path. It’s nice, but not dramatically interesting. Fitzgibbon is being replaced by O’Malley, without his knowledge, which starts to feel like there could be dramatic tension there, but it’s resolved in about five minutes. Fitzgerald gives, in my opinion, a fairly one-note performance, save for the last few minutes, but apparently the Academy loved it, as he was actually nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role (the standards were rewritten after this to avoid that happening again).

Is this film terrible? No. Is it enjoyable? Yes, I suppose it is. Would I willingly watch it again? Ehhh...probably not. Some times, there’s just no accounting for taste, and this film just doesn’t do it for me. Sorry, Bing. I’ll just stick to your Christmas albums from now on.

FINAL GRADE: C