Mat here.
'Going My Way' won Best Picture in 1944, and is a pleasant, but ultimately forgettable, star-vehicle for Bing Crosby. Bing plays Father Chuck O'Malley, a young, hip Catholic priest sent to help a failing New York church.
Father O'Malley has some wacky ideas, like turning the local delinquents into a choir to keep them off the streets. His new-fangled ways don't sit well with old-fashioned Father Fitzgibbon (played by Barry Fitzgerald, who was nominated in both the lead and supporting actor categories for this role, and won best supporting - the rules have since changed so that this can't happen any more), but Father O'Malley's success gradually wins him over.
The songs are definitely a highlight of the film, with Bing & Co. breaking into song often. The classic 'Swinging On A Star' comes from this film, and right picked up it's own Best Song Oscar.
Between songs it tended to be a little dull, and the film is almost half an hour too long - there's a scene where the collection plate is going round and it's clear the church is going to be OK, then there's all this other stuff, including a giant church fire, that was all unnecessary. Cut from the collection plate scene to Bing packing up to go help another church in need and it would have scored better.
I gave this one 54/100 and Danielle gave it 61/100.
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