"Going My Way" was released in May 1944 - a month before the D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches in war-torn Europe. This down to earth and homey comedy and drama, with music, struck a chord with audiences in the U.S. I couldn't find anything about its release in England. It was released in Sweden in December of that year, but not in France, Austria and Denmark until after the war - in 1946. It was released in Australia on Feb. 2, 1945. The film received great reviews and was the highest grossing movie in 1944. It won seven of 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor and supporting actor. Its U.S. box office of $16.3 million would be more than $225 million in 2017. There are just two scenes with anything about the war that was going on at the time. The first of those is lighthearted and the second has comedy. The film is regarded as one of Bing Crosby's best, if not the best. He and Barry Fitzgerald strike a warmth of collaboration as two men that no other film or performance matches. For modern audiences, the film may seem a little slow, especially in the early scenes. But the interest should pick up as the plot builds about a third of the way into the movie. Most people know the story, so I'll close these comments with some favorite lines of a clever, crisp and chipper script. Ted Haines Sr., "Where have you been the last two weeks?" Ted Haines Jr., "Well, dad, I've been in a blue heaven dancing on a pink cloud. She came in on a moonbeam." Ted Haines Sr., "That's a lie. I had you followed." Ted Haines Jr., "That wasn't cricket, dad. When you were my age, I didn't follow you around." As Father Fitzgibbons goes to chip a golf shot out of a sand trap, Father Chuck O'Malley says, "Keep your head down now, father. And watch your language." Father Fitzgibbons, "Hope? You know, Chuck, when you're young, it's easy to keep the fires of hope burning bright. But at my age, you're lucky if the pilot light doesn't go out."Father Fitzgibbons, "Well, did you make your parish calls?" Father Chuck O'Malley, "Oh, yes. Mrs. McGonigle's rheumatism is kicking up again. I told her to bury a potato in the back yard." Father Fitzgibbons, "That's for warts." Father Chuck O'Malley, "That's what she said."

While I would hardly call this the best film of 1944 (my choices are conflicted between "Double Indemnity", "Wilson", "Since You Went Away" and "Laura", with honorable mention to "Meet Me in St. Louis"), I can see why Academy voters chose this. Without even mentioning that pesky war plaguing the world, the film dealt with everything that was presumably great about America in the mid 1940's. There was a strong faith, a determination to make the best out of bad situations, and the capability of admitting wrong doing when one made mistakes. It's the gathering together of different generations to make things better, and the strength of family connections, even when separated by thousands of miles.As the founding father of St. Dominic's Parrish, aging priest Barry Fitzgerald has lost control of what has changed in his neighborhood. The aging neighbors are out of touch with real spirituality, and one neighbor in particularly is a nasty gossip, even if she attends mass twice a day. Rowdy kids roam the streets, stealing holiday turkeys, while an atheist neighbor wants the Parrish to close. Young women with a sullied reputation needs a place to stay. Unbeknownst to Fitzgerald, the diocese Bishop has brought in a younger priest (Bing Crosby) to bring the community together, planning to slowly phase Fitzgerald out. It's religious politics without being ruthless as well as the same story that would obviously influence the "Sister Act" films 50 years later. Crosby makes subtle changes from the start and upsets Fitzgerald's status quo but it is inevitable that somehow Fitzgerald will realize that he's considered obsolete. So rather than fight, the two priests come to work together to make things better, and blessings flow for both of them.A sweet performance by aging veteran character actress Eily Malyon is one of the highlights, quite a difference between this character and her nasty aunt in "On Borrowed Time". Veteran comic actor Frank McHugh is amusing as Crosby's old pal, a priest from another local Parrish who obviously rubs Fitzgerald the wrong way. Carl (Alfalfa) Switzer is one of the local roughnecks who is amusingly referred to as having a deep singing voice. This is so well presented that director Leo McCarey could have cast the Bowery Boys and not have impacted the story. Popular opera diva Rise Stevens has a great moment as an old friend of Crosby's, singing a delicious version of"Habanera" from "Carmen". There's several Christmas songs here including the tear inducing "Ave Maria" which Stevens joins Crosby and his newly created choir in singing. When they break into "Swinging on a Star", you might even join in. Grab some Kleenex for the finale. You will definitely need it.

It is galling that this vintage Oscar BEST PICTURE winner (7 wins, including BEST DIRECTOR, BEST LEADING and SUPPORTING ACTORs) might be best remembered for the sole happenstance in the Oscar history when Barry Fitzgerald was nominated in both LEADING ACTOR and SUPPORTING ACTOR categories for the same performance (which he won the latter), although the Academy speedily changed the rules to stave off any future embarrassment, nevertheless, it belies the perpetually ongoing category placement controversy which has been widespread until today.Directed by the prominent comedy maestro Leo McCarey, and green-lit as a Bing Crosby showcase, GOING MY WAY tells the story of a young and forthcoming priest Father Charles O'Malley (Crosby), aka. Chuck, who is commissioned by the bishop to take over the parish in NYC from an elder pastor Father Fitzgibbon (Fitzgerald), who has presided over the church since day one, for almost 45 years, only now, the church has been in the mire of financial difficulties, and Father Charles is sent to straighten out the problem and make the transition as smooth as possible.So, a major plot device is that Father Fitzgibbon has no inkling of the function transference in the first place, Chuck is introduced simply as his assistant, so when the lid is blown off, a dramatic collision is what viewers would expect. However, against the hype, in McCarey's staunch execution, the revelation comes quite early in the storyline, and is rendered with utter aplomb and mutual understanding, as two mature clergymen, there is no need of making a scene, albeit their different approaches (the blasé traditional vs. unorthodox tug-of-war, only milder), they are fighting for the same honorable cause, it may sound like church propaganda on paper, yet in the film, the cordial atmosphere and contagious compassion is superbly tangible.There are no villain or whatsoever in the story, the parishioners, from a juvenile street gang lead by Tony (Clements) to a young maiden Carol (Heather), who has run away from home and resolves to find her footing in one way or another, music is wielded as the ultimate gospel, Chuck forms a boy choir and hones up their skills, eventually it will pay back lucratively to save the church from its dire situation. The romance between Carol and Ted Haines Jr. (Brown), the son of the church's mortgage-holder, Ted Haines Sr. (Lockhart), has also keenly and timely goaded through Chuck's music, the titular tune GOING MY WAY, into marriage instead of living in a sinful status. And a completely platonic friendship between Chuck and his old-time girlfriend Jenny (the mezzo- soprano Risë Stevens), never risks betraying any carnal attachment and Jenny's one-sided munificence can be only justified by her hail-fellow-well-met good nature.For my money, Fitzgerald and Crosby are the two co-leads here, and the former doesn't has recourse to singing bent to win over audience, on the contrary, Fitzgerald's performance is decidedly more evocative of sympathy, laughter and esteem than Crosby's pristine, but comparatively stale apotheosis of a stand-up guy who is aggravatingly flawless and is tailor-made to elicit nonjudgmental bonhomie, but the truth is, Crosby is such a nonpareil crooner, that's where lies the abiding charm of the picture if its gently preachy modus operandi tends to be rather impertinent and spoon-feeding by today's yardstick.In sum, GONIG MY WAY is a beatific but regressively antiseptic tribute of Catholic church's noble vocation and suggests a more liberal viewpoint in its progress, as though it were the cure-all for all our mundane problems, indeed, the biggest accomplishment of the movie is that it makes us wish only if it were true!

I have seen worse Academy Award films (see Cimmaron) although all of them have a certain quality despite often dated values.I anticipated this movie about a young priest restoring new life to an old priest's parish to show the young priest almost as a Christ-like figure.He does transform a gang of young ruffians into a choir (one that would rather sing than play baseball, which this former choir member found hard to believe). The young priest also rehabilitates the aging priest, making him more vital and more in tune with his congregation.The most perplexing story line is the young runaway woman. The young priest responds to this crisis by giving her a singing lesson. The old priest tells her to go home and get married. Despite an elaborate blind-robin implying that the girl has begun living in sin with a young man, it is eventually revealed that the woman has found a successful singing career, met and married the young man honorably and sinlessly, and the young man is a gallant pilot who by the end of the movie is honorably discharged after being accidentally hit by a jeep. At first viewing, it is hard to see where the young priest has had any effect on the girl's life (other than satisfying a few of her immediate needs with $10.) Perhaps the singing lesson gave her just the edge she needed to become a successful singer.Perhaps, as with many Bing Crosby movies, one shouldn't think too much—everything ties up nicely and morally, and the movie did well what most movies of the period were designed to do, provide a happy, moral escape from the unhappy, amoral world of war going on all around.