Going My Way (1944) or, Benign Father O'Malley

3/06/2021

Going My Way (1944) or, Benign Father O'Malley

♥♥♥

A very red-dressed woman and a man in a black frock amid different other elements make up this disheveled poster for Leo McCarey's Going My Way

A Catholic priest from Illinois gets sent to a New York parish in financial troubles, but his modern, fresh attitudes give rise to difficulties with the church's aging father, who built it.

Going My Way is written by Frank Butler (Untamed (1940)) and Frank Cavett (Rulers of the Sea (1939)), from a story by co-writer/producer/director Leo McCarey (Society Secrets (1921)).

Bing Crosby (Variety Girl (1947)) is appealing with his gleaming eyes and boyish manners, but it is Barry Fitzgerald (The Sea Wolf (1941)) as the aging Father Fitzgibbon who is the heart of the film and its ace, giving a warm-hearted and deeply funny, awards-worthy supporting performance.

Going My Way is troubled by labored length and two sub-plots that don't really work: Best is the one about the young girl who marries a young janitor; worse is the more central one about Father O'Malley's (Crosby) old friend and sort-of love interest Linden (Risë Stevens (Carnegie Hall (1947)). - Despite Stevens being a real-life opera singer, her opera-miming in Going My Way comes off as highly unbelievable.

Going My Way is edifying and full of warm optimism more than anything else, obviously greatly sought after in its day, when it became a sensational smash hit.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 16.3 mil. $ gross/6.5 mil. $ rentals (North America only)

= Uncertain - but likely a mega-hit

[Going My Way premiered 3 May (New York) and runs 126 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, from August - October 1943. IMDb lists a 16.3 mil. $ US gross for the film, and Variety listed a 6.5 mil. $ North-American rental for the film in 1950. It was the highest-grossing film of 1944. The 1945 sequel was reportedly made for 1.3 mil. $, and so the cost for Going My Way was likely not more than 1 mil. $, making it a mega-hit. The film was nominated for 10 Oscars, winning 7; for Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor (Fitzgerald), Director, Original Story, Screenplay, Original Song (Swinging on a Star by Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke). It lost Best Actor (Fitzgerald - nominated both as Actor and Supporting Actor, a unique feat that would be made impossible soon after by a change in the rules), Cinematography - black/white (Lionel Lindon (The Final Hour (1965))) to Joseph LaShelle for Laura and Editing to Wilson. It also won 3 Golden Globes and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. McCarey returned with Crosby for mega-hit sequel The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). McCarey returned with The Bells of St. Mary's (1945). Crosby returned in The Road to Victory (1944, short) and theatrically in The Princess and the Pirate (1944). Going My Way is fresh at 81 % with a 6.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Going My Way?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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3/06/2021

Going My Way (1944) or, Benign Father O'Malley

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