Going My Way - The Oscar Project Part XVII

Released in 1944, “Going My Way” was a return to the feel good movie for Oscar. The film features little in the way of dramatic tension or romantic subplots and instead focuses on music and letting Bing Crosby be Bing Crosby.

The plot for the film revolves around Bing Crosby’s character coming to a parish as a new priest that will be looking over the affairs of the church to begin the replacement of the older pastor that the church currently has. The film focuses on the differences between the two of them and on the actions that Crosby’s character takes to unite the local youth. Eventually the church faces hard times and is saved through singing. This feel good plot marked a departure from the more serious films that had won the previous few years. In my opinion this is due to the want in America to be able to feel better and not worry as much about the war that was being fought.

From a production standpoint there wasn’t anything that was wrong, it was a solid movie. But nothing really stood out as memorable either. The movie was a Bing Crosby film. He showed up, acted like Bing Crosby, sang a few songs and that was it. It helps that Bing is cool and I don’t mind watching him act or sing, but the movie could really have used something more than this.

The film just doesn’t hold up to today’s standards. It would most likely not be nominated for an Oscar and at best would be a plot in an episode of Glee. It gets 2 out of 5 stars.