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Good story, Not enough for a whole film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

....but the film, not so much. "Yankee Doodle Dandy" is one of those rare instances where a superlative individual performance does not automatically translate into an exceptional movie.Plot in a nutshell: the show-business career of George M. Cohan, "the man who owned Broadway," is dramatized in this exorbitantly fictitious biography. James Cagney won his only Oscar for his portrayal of Cohan. Quick quiz...and be honest with yourself...who reading this had ever heard of Cohan's musical "Little Johnny Jones" before seeing this film? How about "George Washington Jr.?" Anyone? I'm guessing 'no.' I certainly had not. Let that sink in for a moment. Cohan is lauded in this film, and indeed portrayed as the man who owned Broadway...and maybe that was true 100 years ago. But fame can be fleeting, and that is very much the case here. Several reviewers revealingly stated they had never heard of Cohan before. Certainly the musicals he wrote (like the ones mentioned above) have not aged well and do not have staying power. Even many of his songs, so popular at the time, are extremely dated today. Think of "Over There," arguably Cohan's most famous tune. It's a song about Americans marching off to Europe to fight in World War I. What resonance does that have in today's world? Virtually none. To put it bluntly, Cohan is a dated figure who has been relegated to the dustbin of early 20th century history. He's just not a very compelling subject in this day and age. Likely no one under the age of 40, surely 30, has ever heard of him....and there's a good reason for that.Cohan was still alive in 1942 when this film was produced AND the United States had just been drawn into World War II...making "Yankee" relevant for the time. Indeed, they even recycled Cohan's WWI hit "Over There" for this film's finale, having soldiers pass by FDR's White House singing the tune as they marched off to fight another war. Good luck finding a modern-day soldier who knows the words to "Over There" today.As for Cagney, he puts his 'all' into this role and surely deserved winning for Best Actor. He sings, dances, and shuffles his way through the highs of Cohan's life (no lows are shown, like his first wife divorcing him for adultery). It's a virtuoso performance that certainly became one of the highlights of Cagney's career. Roger Ebert, in his 1998 review of "Yankee," wrote - 'the greatness of the film resides entirely in the Cagney performance.' He's right about that. Cagney was great. But that's also a telling comment which sort of alludes to what I mentioned earlier - 'the greatness of the film resides entirely....' In other words, CAGNEY was great, but the film isn't.Why isn't it great? Here's why. It tells the story of a boy, then man, who grows up in a show business family; first performing in vaudeville-type shows, then writing, producing and starring in them. Eventually he gets his big break on Broadway and pens a few famous patriotic songs, like "Over There" and "You're a Grand Old Flag." Then he gets old and retires to his farm. Then he comes out of retirement to do another show and is given a Congressional Medal for his life's work. The end.There's nothing great or amazing about this. It's a musical with several patriotic songs sprinkled throughout. That's nice. But why is that great? As I watch older films and read reviews, there is sometimes a robotic, non-thinking response from people. They are told by someone that a film is great and they just rubber-stamp their approval without thinking critically. The fact that "Yankee Doodle Dandy" has several flag-waving numbers decidedly adds to that feeling. It's almost like you're being unpatriotic if you don't love a film with those elements in it. Well, I'm not going to fall into that trap."Yankee Doodle" is a fine little fictionalized biography about a minor figure in Americana. And James Cagney gave the role his all for sure. But that's about as far as I can go on this one. It's certainly not essential viewing by any stretch. The fact that as of this writing, "Yankee Doodle" has about 12,000 votes and "Casablanca" (which came out just a few months later in 1942, and is a certifiable classic by almost anyone's standards) has over 450,000 votes on this website, speaks volumes. Only one of these should be regarded as essential.6/10. Cagney's song-and-dance routine, while noteworthy, cannot save this from being anything more than a passable two hours. Would I watch again? (Y/N): Not likely.

Copyright 2 January 1943 by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Hollywood Theater: 29 May 1942. U.S. release: May 1942. U.K. release: 19 September 1942. Australian release: 30 September 1943. Sydney release: 24 September 1943 (Tatler Theater). Australian length: 11,563 feet (128½ minutes). U.S. length: 126 minutes.SYNOPSIS: George M. Cohan — from birth to Broadway to "President".NOTES: Initial domestic gross: $4,800,000. In addition to his Academy Award, James Cagney also won the New York Film Critics award for Best Actor (he walked away with the award, receiving 13 votes to 2 on the very first ballot!). Curtiz was nominated for Best Director but dropped out after the second ballet. (The award was eventually won by John Farrow for "Wake Island"). When I interviewed Jimmy Cagney, there were two films he was especially fond of. One, of course, was "Footlight Parade" (1933) which took Cagney out of the noir aura of thieves and gangsters and into the song-and-dance world of musical comedy. His other favorite film of course was "Yankee Doodle Dandy" which Cagney felt did such important work as a wartime morale-booster that any liberties the script took with the real facts of George M. Cohan's birth (he was actually born on July 3, not July 4) and life story were totally unimportant. COMMENT: ?Yankee Doodle Dandy" was obviously filmed on a blank check as a war-time propaganda gesture. Cohan himself died a few months after the film's release. He was ill at the time and took no part in the production which, as might be expected of Hollywood, takes considerable liberties, both major and minor with his career. Although he regarded July 4th as his birthday, Cohan was actually born on July 3rd which makes total nonsense of the entire first ten or fifteen minutes of the film. A nauseating performance by Walter Huston – actively abetting this lie – doesn't help either. Another equally outlandish falsehood occurs in the later stages of the film when Cohan denies having made any movies whereas he made several, including two sound films — The Phantom President (1932) and Gambling (1934).Oddly, and to my great surprise, Cohan himself hated the movie, which is surprising in view of the fact that it so vigorously abets the lie that he was born on July 4. The problem no doubt is that the movie lies on such an enormous raft of other details as well. It is really a fairy tale rather than a genuine "life".Nonetheless, this is rousing, bouncy entertainment, with Cagney flashily hoofing and singing such Cohan standards as "Give My Regards to Broadway", "I Was Born In Virginia" and "Over There".One of the highlights of the film are the two long scenes from the stage presentation of "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Cagney deserved his Best Actor Award. He dominates the entire film. He tells the story in flashback and appears in just about every scene, except of course the early ones with the child actors. Aside from his opening scenes, Huston is effective, also sings his own songs and does his own hoofing, but the other principal players are either colorless or put in the shade by Cagney, particularly Jeanne Cagney and to a lesser extent De Camp, Leslie and Whorf. Irene Manning tends to over-act and does not come across too attractively though she sings in her own voice. As in "Lillian Russell", Eddie Foy does his father again to perfection, but alas has only one unimportant scene with Cagney. What could be omitted is a lot of the routine domestic trivia with which the director seems as bored as we are. Curtiz comes to life during the parades and songs and Siegel has provided a couple of lively montages, including an extremely elaborate one of the neon lights of Old Broadway. Production values are superlative.AVAILABLE on a superb Warner DVD.

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

Was there anything James Cagney could not do? Well known as a crime-drama actor, here he sings, dances and delivers some incredibly funny lines, to great effect.I had never heard of George M Cohan before, though after watching the movie I find it hard to believe that I hadn't. Thus, I watched this with low initial interest, thinking it is just another musical (and I generally dislike musicals). The interest for me was to see how James Cagney fares in a musical.Turns out it is much more than a musical. It is a great biopic, with the story of the life of George M Cohan very well told. Most biopics some across as dry History Channel documentaries - this was nothing like that. The scene sequence is innovative, the dialogue very fresh, snappy and often funny, the music entertaining. I even liked the dancing (very rare for me!). Despite being over two hours long, the movie moves at a very fast pace. Not a dull moment at all.As mentioned, James Cagney is superb in the lead role, and well deserved his 1943 Best Actor Oscar (his only Oscar, it would turn out). Well supported by Walter Huston and Joan Leslie, and the remainder of the cast.Only negative is that it is a tad jingoistic. Then again, it was produced in 1942, thus was made as a US war propaganda movie, as the US had just entered World War II.