OVP: Going My Way (1944)

Film: Going My Way (1944)
Stars: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Frank McHugh, Jean Heather, Rise Stevens
Director: Leo McCarey
Oscar History: 10 nominations/7 wins (Best Picture*, Director*, Actor-Barry Fitzgerald, Actor-Bing Crosby*, Supporting Actor-Barry Fitzgerald*, Original Motion Picture Story*, Adapted Screenplay*, Cinematography, Original Song-"Swinging on a Star," Film Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

The Oscar Best Pictures during America's involvement in World War II are different than almost any other era.  Vietnam had films as diverse as Midnight Cowboy and Oliver! winning back-to-back, while during the early days of the War on Terror, we saw the Academy go from fanciful fare (Chicago, Return of the King) down to darker pictures such as No Country for Old Men and The Hurt Locker.  But the four films that won Best Picture during World War II are decidedly similar.  How Green Was My Valley, Mrs. Miniver, Casablanca, and Going My Way are all films with clear good guys (even if the good guys are sometimes pretending to be bad guys), obvious bad guys, and good triumphs even if that means sacrifice (especially if that means sacrifice).  This is not a slight on any of these pictures (Casablanca, many days of the week, is my all-time favorite movie and a classic by any measure, and I also loved Mrs. Miniver though it's been years since I've seen it), but an acknowledgement that the Academy didn't want to give Oscars to movies that showed social decay or acknowledged the struggles of everyday Americans.  This is not because the Academy didn't have options to do so-movies like Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Kings Row, Double Indemnity, and Gaslight competed against these movies, were hailed at the time, and feature far seedier aspects of everyday life; one could plausibly argue that a few of these films are far more revered than every actual Best Picture winner save for Casablanca.  The Academy quickly changed from this lens after the war, with the next three Best Picture winners tackling alcoholism, PTSD, and anti-semitism, but as the war was still going on in early 1945, Going My Way becomes the fourth and final of the "Rah, Rah, Rah!" pictures of this era.

(Spoilers Ahead) Unlike Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca, this movie has almost nothing to do with the actual war (there's a small side character who does join up with the army, but that's about it).  Instead, it's about Father O'Malley (Crosby), a young priest with "new ideas" who has been hired to replace Father Fitzgibbon (Fitzgerald), a stuck-in-his-ways clergyman who has struggled to maintain the mortgage on the church, and is being harassed by collectors.  To save Fitzgibbon his dignity, O'Malley pretends to be the elder priest's "assistant" even though he is in fact being hired to replace him.  The two encounter a series of misunderstandings (that Crosby's O'Malley always seems to have a firmer grasp upon), whether that be local residents who can't pay their rent or a young woman who is running away from home to become a singer or the petty vandalism spree that is being instigated by neighborhood boys.  O'Malley's wholesome but new way of thinking opens up Fitzgibbon's heart and mind, and the two become friends.  The film ends with O'Malley moving on to another church, and Father Fitzgibbon, enlightened, staying at his old church.

What sets this film apart from the other three movies that won Best Picture is it's really low stakes.  Miniver and Casablanca are about the war effort, and Valley doesn't shy away from the harshness of life in a mining community, but Going My Way seems to not know how to handle conflict.  Every argument between O'Malley & Fitzgibbon is surface-level (O'Malley never loses his temper), and uncomplicated.  This was a huge hit in 1944, and it's very easy to see why.  A country ravaged by war, seeing hope in not only a young priest (Crosby is in his early 40's but looks a decade younger here) bringing positive change to an economically-challenged community, but also in the church as a place to bring their doubts and fears while their sons were risking their lives...it makes sense this was popular.  Throw in Crosby singing a ballad every 15 minutes or so, and you've got yourself a pleasant two hours.  It's just not a particularly good or even succinct movie.

The film won ten Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director.  The editing and cinematography aren't that noteworthy.  The film is more vignettes than anything else, making the editing easier than you'd think (and less necessary), and the cinematography is not inventive at all, even in a scene with a fire.  Screenplay & story don't have many one-liners, great turns-of-phrase, and the story itself is repetitive & mostly meant to be pleasant.  The Original Song is one that you know by heart, but one of several used in the film with only mild effect (and feels kind of ridiculous-after all, how many priests can sing like Bing Crosby?).

And then there's the acting.  Crosby won an Oscar for this, and honestly-I'm at a loss who I'm going to pick for the OVP when we get to this field because man is this a thin lineup (no performance has even gotten 3-stars from me, and I'm only missing Alexander Knox in the notoriously overlong Wilson).  He's effective, sure, but this isn't so much acting as being congenial.  Fitzgerald became the first and so far only person to ever be nominated for two different acting prizes for the same role (they changed the rule after that-who do we think would have gotten this distinction in the future, as the only reason they changed it was because they didn't realize it could be a problem...maybe Anne Baxter in All About Eve?).  Fitzgerald is also nice enough, but this isn't great acting, and considering that Supporting Actor had great work from Clifton Webb & Hume Cronyn, makes it a bit more upsetting that he won.  All-in-all, as I cross another Best Picture winner off of a thinning list of ones I haven't seen, I'm struck by how I totally get why a movie like Going My Way would win Best Picture...even if it seems ludicrous that someone would prefer this to Double Indemnity or Laura in hindsight.