This biographical musical drama, that displays life and work of versatile Broadway author and performer George M. Cohan, deservedly won 3 Oscars out of 8 nominations and it is considered to be one of the best movies of all time. It is not kind of musical where a story is told through song and dance, but a regular movie with some theatrical musical scenes that are needed to represent his career. So this movie could be acceptable and enjoyable even for those who hate musicals. Personally, I am not a fan of musicals and I am strongly irritated by any type of pro-American or any patriotic propaganda, which this movie certainly is, but it has so many other qualities that it left really strong positive impression on me and I really enjoyed it.8/10

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" is one of those pictures that define "Classic Film". It is amazingly watchable and re-watchable. No matter how many times you see it, it seems fresh and fun. It will make you laugh and cry and just plain feel good.Cagney is at his dancing best ! Watching him duplicate the intricate foot (and leg) work of George M. Cohan dancing up the walls and dancing down the White House staircase just cannot be beat. He rivals the efforts of such as Astaire and Kelly (not a small feat, that.) There is a clip of the real George M. available for viewing and Cagney's matching is amazing.The story is not historically perfect but that's the way Hollywood biographies are. The story as presented is just right for this viewer.The songs, singing, ensemble dancing, acting by all and sundry = A+++. If you've never seen it, remedy that situation ASAP. Watch the Black and White version not the pink and baby blue "colorized" one. You will swear that you saw it in color anyway. Warning : You will find yourself humming and singing the songs for days afterwards.

The amazing piece of timing here is when Warner Bros. began work on this biography of entertainer George M. Cohan, WWII had not yet broken out. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred the day before shooting began. When the film opened people on the home front badly needed some morale boosting, and this film gave it to them. It's just a joyous musical costume piece from start to finish with nice comic touches balanced with some sentimental moments (supposedly Walter Huston's deathbed scene had even taskmaster director Michael Curtiz crying). There's nothing in the way of real conflict or even much heavy in the way of romance between Cohan and his fictitious film wife "Mary", who was modeled after Cohan's actual second wife in some ways. Cohan was actually married twice. Oddly enough, it was Cohan who said he wanted as little romance in the film as possible.The more I learn about Cohan the more I realize that Cagney was perfect to play him - both Irish Americans, both about the same size and build, and George Cohan's style of dancing and singing were about the same as Cagney's. It's hard to believe that Fred Astaire was Cohan's first choice to play himself. Astaire was a great talent, but I don't think he could have conveyed the combination of mischief, optimism and energy that was Cohan the way that Cagney ultimately did. Several people criticize Cagney's dancing here, but that eccentric style was Cohan's, who always considered himself more of an overall entertainer than a dancer in the first place.If you're "date conscious" as I am, there are some matters of plot that might bother you. Cohan was born on July 2 or 3, not July 4. Cohan's mother outlived his father by eleven years and Cohan's father was not "very old" when he died as is said in the film - at least by today's standards. When Cohan's father died in 1917, he was only 69. Cohan's sister did die young - she was only 39, dying in 1916, plus she was not his little sister. Instead Josie was a year older than George. The film has Josie marrying when she would have been close to forty, when she actually married at the beginning of the 20th century and thus was the one to break up the four Cohans, not George. Also, Cohan received his Congressional Medal in 1936, not as WWII began as shown in the film. However the plot device of having George M. recount his life story to FDR, receiving his Congressional medal in the Oval Office, and then dance joyously down the White House stairs and into the streets joining a group of marching soldiers in a chorus of "Over There" was probably a great way to bridge Cohan's patriotic past with what was then an uncertain time that certainly needed a dose of his optimism.The one thing that I did find a little odd - and one thing isn't much in a two plus hour long movie - is that it is hard to spot the actual point in the film where Mary becomes George's wife. There is quite a bit of domesticity shown before the two were married. Mary is cooking for George, staying in his apartment alone waiting for him to come home from the show, and acting very much like they are already married. The only way you know they are not is that George very subtly pops the question to the point that I'm surprised even Mary knew what he was asking! I know this doesn't seem like much in today's world, but considering that they were trying to paint Cohan in the most positive light possible and that the living arrangements might be misunderstood, I am surprised that the censors of that time never raised the issue.At any rate, I highly recommend this one. You'll have a great time, at least in part because you can see that Cagney is having a great time. He always said this film was his favorite, and it shows in his performance.

Repeat after me: Yankee Doodle Dandy is NOT one of the Top 100 films of all time. Submitted for your consideration: 1. Filled with highly patriotic songs, this movie had the incredibly good fortune to hit the theaters shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked. 2. Despite the Pearl Harbor timing, the National Critics Review that year did not even rate Yankee Doodle Dandy in its Ten Best Movies of 1942. It was never mentioned by critics as one of the best movies of the year, until it received an Oscar Nomination for Best Picture. 3. 1942 has been ranked by a reviewer as the 71st best year, out of 82 years, for quality films. Even so, Yankee Doodle did not win the Best Picture Oscar, losing to Mrs. Miniver. 4. Yes, it has a string of great songs. Unfortunately, most of them are sung by James Cagney who is probably the worst lead singer in any major musical movie ever. EVER!! Cagney is a worse singer than Rex Harrison, he is even worse than Pierce Brosnan. Cagney is literally unable to sustain a note.Any note! How much better would those great songs have been if they had been performed by someone who could sing? Who could sustain a note?5. Yes, Cagney surprised everyone by showing a real ability to dance. But does that surprise make this a great movie? Or is it merely akin to discovering, after all these years, that Meryl Streep can sing - as in Mamma Mia ? or that Yoda can fight - in Star Wars 5? 6. We hear a song called "A Girl Named Mary" sung 4 or 5 times; it is important to the plot at one point and is repeatedly called a "great song" and "the best song ever written" by George M Cohan. However, no matter what the actors say, it is clearly a very ordinary song. Its just ridiculous -its jarring, its destroys the audience's suspension of disbelief, analogous to a movie scene in which Chris Farley or Danny Devito are hailed as one of the best looking hunks of all time. 7. Cagney is energetic and overbearingly cocky, but I did not find him likable. 8. The staging of many of the musical numbers was way below average. Repeatedly, there were too many dancers in too small of a space -no one could move. No competent stage director does that. And even if the women did move - you could hardly discern it in those butt-ugly dresses they wore in every number. This is world-class entertainment? I don't think so. 9. The acting? the dialog? A font of nuanced characterization? Of gradually realized humanity? Nope, indeed, every character is a one note stereotype. 10. Accuracy. in real life, George M. Cohan had two wives, neither was named Mary. In fact, virtually every aspect of the plot was made up by Hollywood.11. Overly long. 12. There is a long re-enactment of a scene from the theatrical production of Yankee Doodle Dandy. In this theater scene, our hero, Yankee Doodle (Cagney), has lost the horse race! and is in disgrace because he is accused of throwing the race. As the closing curtain is poised to come down, a lawyer-ly actor with a brief case runs up to Yankee Doodle and says something like "I'm trying to get a document that will clear you of throwing the race. The document will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you did not throw that race! I am getting on that boat and if I am then successful at obtaining the document,I'll signal you by setting off fireworks." Cagney, our Actor of the Year for 1942, nods dumbly without showing any apparent interest as to what this document could possibly be. (SPOILER ALERT) Of course, a few minutes later, fireworks go off and the show has a happy ending.So what exactly could those documents have been? What kind of content could a document possibly have so as to prove that Yankee Doodle did not throw a race? It defies comprehension. And who was this guy? And where did he have the fireworks hidden -in his pants? And what kind of moron sets off fireworks on a boat? (think fire safety.) Exactly how dumb, how completely stupid, does a movie need to be before you turn off the TV?Repeat after me: Yankee Doodle Dandy is NOT one of the TOP 100 Movies of All Time.