{"id":12180,"date":"2010-08-25T13:50:03","date_gmt":"2010-08-25T20:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12180"},"modified":"2021-01-09T16:11:32","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T23:11:32","slug":"going-my-way-1944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12180","title":{"rendered":"Going My Way (1944)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;This young man and I differ; we don&#8217;t see eye to eye.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster-202x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"202\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-62546\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster-202x300.jpg 202w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster-86x128.jpg 86w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster-182x270.jpg 182w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Going-My-Way-Poster.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 202px) 100vw, 202px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA progressive young priest (Bing Crosby) is sent to assist an ailing parish run by elderly Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barry Fitzgerald Films<\/li>\n<li>Bing Crosby Films<\/li>\n<li>Do-Gooders<\/li>\n<li>Generation Gap<\/li>\n<li>Leo McCarey Films<\/li>\n<li>Musicals<\/li>\n<li>Priests and Ministers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary is quite a fan of this genial box-office hit (directed by Leo McCarey), which he refers to as &#8220;a wonderful, warmhearted film&#8221;. While he acknowledges that &#8220;some of the scenes are a bit forced or corny&#8221; (and, in his <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> book, concedes that it&#8217;s &#8220;flawed, with subplots better suited for the reject basket than the screen&#8221;), he cites a number of &#8220;delightful&#8221; scenes, including many between Fitzgerald &#8212; &#8220;who tends to play the martyr&#8221; &#8212; and Crosby (who Peary describes in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em> as &#8220;genial, wise, humble, unpretentious, [and] quietly authoritative&#8221;). He seems impressed by the film&#8217;s attempt &#8220;to show that priests are human too&#8221;, and argues that the &#8220;finale in which Fitzgerald is reunited with his old, old mother after about forty years ranks with [the] greatest of tear-jerking reunion scenes&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>These days, opinions are decidedly mixed on whether <em>Going My Way<\/em> has stood the test of time. Crosby (the &#8220;No. 1 box-office draw&#8221; of the time) is certainly charismatic, and sings as nicely as ever, but the meandering storyline &#8212; in which &#8220;Crosby helps out a young woman (Carol James) who has left home and wants to be a singer, turns the tough neighborhood kids (all of whom say &#8216;fodder&#8217;) into angelic choirboys, looks up his opera-singer friend (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rise_Stevens\">Rise Stevens<\/a>) &#8230;, gets money for the church by selling one of his songs, and wins over Fitzgerald&#8221; &#8212; lacks focus, and feels patently crafted to allow either Crosby and\/or Stevens (who&#8217;s charming but smiles too much) &#8220;natural&#8221; opportunities to sing. With that said, if you&#8217;re in the mood for a feel-good film with some fine ditties sprinkled throughout (my favorite is Crosby leading the boys in &#8220;Swinging on a Star&#8221;), then this is certainly worthy viewing. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Despite his claim that <em>Going My Way<\/em> was a &#8220;deserved Best Picture winner&#8221;, Peary actually gives the award to <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6738\"><em>Double Indemnity<\/em><\/a> in <em>Alternate Oscars<\/em>, noting that <em>&#8230;Indemnity<\/em> was &#8220;more deserving&#8230; if only because it has been much more influential.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Barry Fitzgerald as Father Fitzgibbon<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-fitzgerald.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-fitzgerald.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12203\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Bing Crosby as Father O&#8217;Malley<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-crosby.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-crosby.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12204\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Several enjoyable musical sequences<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-music.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/going-my-way-music.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12205\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, for its historical importance as a multiple Oscar winner.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oscar Winner or Nominee<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0036872\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1944\/05\/03\/archives\/going-my-way-comedydrama-with-bing-crosby-and-barry-fitzgerald-at.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/76588\/going-my-way#articles-reviews?articleId=87968\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;This young man and I differ; we don&#8217;t see eye to eye.&#8221; Synopsis: A progressive young priest (Bing Crosby) is sent to assist an ailing parish run by elderly Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Barry Fitzgerald Films Bing Crosby Films Do-Gooders Generation Gap Leo McCarey Films Musicals Priests and Ministers Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Peary is quite a fan of this genial box-office hit (directed by Leo McCarey), which he refers to as &#8220;a wonderful, warmhearted&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=12180\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12180"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62548,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12180\/revisions\/62548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}