Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good concept, poorly executed.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Conflict is the essence of great entertain¬ment. Here we have not only conflict between young and old, but between go-ahead and conservative, between the money-grubbing and idealistic. The characters are cleverly shaded, their opposing points of view made more palatable and sympathetic by giving them human qualities with which audiences can identify. The old priest may be a bit crusty and cantankerous, he may be over-set in his ways, he may be naive and even simplistic, but his heart runneth over with pure gold. All the same, he is somewhat refreshingly removed from Hollywood's usual conception of the do-gooder priest. His young colleague is much more the smilingly humanitarian stereotype - though even he is allowed a few unusual quirks. For instance, he sings, (You have to remember that although we now completely accept Crosby in a priestly role, such casting was a major deviation from the norm back in 1944. Although time has now diminished the dramatic impact of this mind-boggling break with tradition, McCarey deserves a great deal of credit for pushing ahead with this unthinkable innovation despite the strenuous objections of Paramount executives).The casting of Crosby and Fitzgerald could not have been more felicitous. Although Crosby's career was already in full swing (in 1943 he was voted by U.S. exhibitors as the country's number four box-office star), Going My Way catapulted him into super-star status. From 1944 to 1948 he was the most popular star in America (and Australia as well), only dropping into second position in 1949 due to the huge success of Bob Hope's The Paleface. In fact, Going My Way was second only to The Paleface as Paramount's most popular Australian release of the 1940's.For Fitzgerald, Going My Way lifted his career from the character-player league to major star.The other players lend excellent support, although the film failed to make any appreciable impact on their overall careers. It is Crosby's and Fitzgerald's movie. Although Stevens takes time out to sing Carmen, she doesn't stay in the memory. It's Crosby's jaunty air, his crooning of "Too-ra-loo-ra", his swinging on a star and his breaking down of Fitzgerald's distrust and antipathy that we remember.As might be expected, the movie is superbly crafted in all departments. In fact, in his book on The Films of Bing Crosby, Robert Bookbinder wisely points out that the very excellence of Crosby and Fitzgerald in his picture's leading roles tends to overshadow McCarey's contribution. Some critics would argue that this is as it should be: the more perfect a director's work, the more unobtrusive. On this basis, McCarey certainly deserved his Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' award for Directing as well as his award for Original Story.

When Leo McCarey won the Best Director award for The Awful Truth in 1937, he said they gave it to him for the wrong film, referring to the heart-wrenching Make Way For Tomorrow of the same year. I don't know what better film he made in 1944, but it must have been very good to earn Going My Way 7 Oscars. This is far from his best work, but admittedly there's little wrong with it, it's just inoffensive and harmless to a fault. It's damn near void of meaningful conflict outside of its opening and closing 10 minutes. It tries to start an argument about the old vs. the new and independence vs. guidance but neither idea is fully fleshed out besides briefly in a titular song. Instead it opts for toothless pleasantness, ideal to cater to soft hearts during the end of World War II. In that case, I guess it would have been decent company in a volatile world.But today, it's just far-fetched that a bunch of ragtag boys would suddenly reform into a church choir without much disagreement. That's more or less the bulk of the film so to have it so undeveloped leaves it unsatisfying. The film hinges on Bing Crosby's warmth and familiar songs and I can see how it can be intoxicating, but it can't exist on that plane alone. Barry Fitzgerald gets a lot of credit for the film's enduring success - and he's famous for being the only actor nominated twice for the same performance at the Oscars - but his mannerisms were more irritating than heartwarming. The film is handsomely shot for its time at least, but it didn't win an award for that department somehow. It's a shame it hasn't had the staying power of other Best Pictures that resonate like All Quiet on the Western Front and Casablanca, but it was the Academy's early days.6/10

Another great movie from Bing Crosby. Here a worldly man who has chosen to become a Catholic priest comes to a church that is failing and tries to turn it around. The resident, older priest played very capably by the great Barry Fitzgerald, is at first very reluctant to embrace the newer ideas that the younger priest brings up. He does come around when the church is under threat of closure. They eventually save the church with the help of some street kids that Bing turns into an excellent church choir. I also like when Bing takes the young aspiring women under his wing so she does not end up on the mean streets. Overall this is an extremely well done and acted movie.

First of all, to watch this movie and get anything out of it, one has to set aside the jadedness of 2012, and go back to the perhaps more innocent times of 1944. Yes, World War II was raging, but society was different, and this movie was a product of that society. It's a simple, rather hopeful movie, filled with basically decent characters who perhaps have to have their hearts and souls stirred to connect with that decency. It's up to Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) to find that innate decency in all of them and to bring it out.Essentially the movie revolves around the sometimes tense relationship between O'Malley and Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald.) Fitzgibbon has been the parish priest of St. Dominic's for 45 years, and now things aren't going well. The church is in financial trouble and is in danger of defaulting on its mortgage. The bishop sends O'Malley in to take charge - but without upsetting Fitzgibbon by telling him that O'Malley is in charge - a rather delicate balancing act. Along the way, O'Malley deals with the church busybody, a gang of street boys, a wayward young woman and the holder of the mortgage, and he reconnects with some old friends along the way.There was maybe a little bit too much going on. I realize that in all of these interactions the theme of O'Malley helping the various characters turn their lives around and develop heart and soul is present - perhaps, though, we didn't need so many story lines to keep hammering the theme away at us. Yes, I know I argued that we have to let go of jadedness, but this does seem somewhat unbelievable. For example, I doubt that - even in 1944 (except in Hollywood) - it would have been so easy to turn a boys' street gang into a church choir! Having said that, it's a nice movie to watch.It's most famous I suppose for its 10 Oscar nominations (and 7 wins - including Best Picture.) I honestly don't see it as being that good. In fact, I enjoyed it less than its sort of sequel in 1947 - "The Bells of St. Mary's," in which Bing Crosby reprised the role of Father O'Malley. That movie, I thought, was more focused; this one seemed to wander a bit much. It's also noteworthy for 2 of its nominations in particular - Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor (which Crosby won) and Best Supporting Actor (which Fitzgerald took)! That had never happened before and it can never happen again, because the Academy changed the rules afterward to prevent an actor from being nominated for two awards for the same role, so it's a noteworthy bit of background to the movie.I thought the movie was surprisingly (and I'm sure unintentionally) honest in having music producer Max Dolan (played by William Frawley) reject O'Malley's song "Going My Way." As the title song of the movie, I really didn't think it was that good either! The tug at your heartstrings moment at the very end of the movie (which I won't give away) worked surprisingly well. It was emotional - and I didn't see it coming. I like being taken by surprise, so a point for that! If I thought that the movie itself was a bit overrated, I thought that Crosby and Fitzgerald were both quite good in their respective roles. It's a little bit too long (probably because it does seem to lose its essential focus by trying to follow too many of O'Malley's relationships) but it's a pleasant, enjoyable film. (6/10)