Going My Way

Going My Way won Best Picture in 1944. It was the only comedy nominated that year against two darker movies(Double Indemnity, Gaslight), a patriotic film(Since you Went Away) and a biopic (Wilson). The movie is about a young Priest Father O'Malley(Bing Crosby) who helps and older Priest Father Fitzgibbon(Barry Fitzgerald) bring some life back into an old Church. Along the way Father O'Malley starts a boys choir, writes songs, and is very generous to those in need. Of course staring Bing Crosby there is lots of singing. He helps the boys get off the street and find something better to do then cause trouble, then he writes a song that he sells to a record company to make enough money to get the church out of financial trouble. He also helps the poor and the misguided. He is kind of like an Angel that comes and solves everyone's troubles then leaves everything better then he found it. It is a very uplifting story.

Similar to You Can't Take it With You, I feel you have to look at the mood of the country to see why this movie was so popular. In 1944 FDR got re-elected for his unprecedented fourth term. FDR signs the GI bill to help returning veterans financially. But the biggest story of 1944 was the continued fighting in WWII. On D-Day June 6Th 1944 the Allies invaded Normandy, France. This battle would change the course of the war. There was also the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.(Also in 1944 an important event for me personally. My dad was born).

You can see that with all the war news and battles going on, people were just trying to look for an escape. So, along comes this very inspiring movie that is not about war but about people looking out for other people. I don't know if its because I watched it after I didn't sleep well the night before or just because it's a different time we live in, but it really didn't do much for me. It does have it's funny parts and it does have the inspiration factor but I just wasn't feeling it. It is interesting how you are feeling when you watch a movie affects how you respond to it. Who knows if I watch it again on a different day I might like it better. For me I would have enjoyed the darker movies. Double Indemnity is considered one of the first and one of the best film noir movies. I would have enjoyed watching that again. But there is nothing wrong with Going My Way it is a good movie and it inspired a sequel(The Bell's of St. Marys) and a TV show and was well like at the time.

Interesting Oscar Facts
This was the first year that they standardized the Best Picture list to 5 at least until 2010.
For the first and only time the same person was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role. Barry Fitzgerald was so well liked as Father Fitzgibbons they nominated him twice because they couldn't decide if he was a lead or supporting actor. He ended up winning supporting actor then the next year the Academy changed their rules so it could not happen again.
Bing Crosby won his only Oscar for his Father O'Malley part. He was also nominated the following year for the same part in The Bells of St. Mary's.
Leo McCarey was the first person to receive three Oscar Awards for the same picture (as producer, director, and writer) It has only been done four other times. (Billy Wilder for The Apartment (1960), Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather, Part II (1974), James L. Brooks for Terms of Endearment (1983), and James Cameron for Titanic (1997).]