Award Winning Good Feelings

Where The Pig Saves The Parish!

Going My Way (1944) – A young priest is sent to a declining parish by the bishop.  He will have to maneuver through the challenges of a quirky congregation, an irascible long-time parish priest and some unruly street kids.  With their help (and a song), he might be able to turn things around.

Directed by Leo McCarey

Starring Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Gene Lockhart, Jean Heather

Why I Liked It – Just old-fashioned fun at its finest.

It would be easy to dismiss this one.  There’s no great romance, no action worthy of the name. It has music, but it’s not a musical. The drama is muted, as is the conflict.  There’s a song that the producers picked to be a hit that flopped, and a song that no one liked much that became Bing Crosby’s biggest hit.  Toss in a star-crossed baseball team that no longer exists, just for a little spice. It’s lightweight in every way you can imagine.

Other than fun from a quality cast.

In the middle of all that lightweight stuff, you find eight Oscars for this movie.  With Best Movie, Actor, Supporting Actor, Story, and Song leading the way.  The song is “Swinging On A Star”.  Everyone from Crosby on down didn’t think much of it, but it became the singer’s signature tune.  He’s backed here by the Robert Mitchell Boy Choir (who double as the street kids). They worked with the crooner many times in the years that followed.  Barry Fitzgerald has the unusual honor of being nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role in the same movie.  He would lose the Best Actor trophy to his co-star Crosby.  They changed the rules shortly thereafter, so it’s a one of a kind bit of history.

The role of Father Fitzgibbon is a classic for the veteran character actor.  Crusty, planted firmly in the old way of doing things and highly suspicious of any newfangled suggestions.  But underneath it all is a heart of gold.  He and Bing play off one another to perfection.  Everyone else is background for the two stars. I half expected some impossible romance for Father O’Malley (Crosby), but the romance plays a small part in the story line with a bank loan.  There’s the comic relief of O’Malley’s buddy from the old neighborhood who is now that priest at the next parish down the road.  The parish busybody plays her part, as does the stern but befuddled banker (played by Gene Lockhart, who played a similar character as the judge in “Miracle of 34th Street”).

Veteran director Leo McCarey uses the lightest of touches to keep the movie going.  The final product is an old-fashioned heart warming family movie with just a bit of a tearjerker ending.  You won’t many like it today, and that’s kind of sad.  There should be a place for a movie that makes us feel good, without requiring us to feel bad first.

“Going My Way” is streaming on Prime, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, and on disc.

Rating – **** Recommended