Singing Father O'Malley (Bing Crosby) bails out crusty Father Fitzgibbon's (Barry Fitzgerald) financially... (Learn more)
Starring: Bing Crosby, Rise Stevens, Barry Fitzgerald (View All)
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Starring: Bing Crosby, Rise Stevens, Barry Fitzgerald
It took some doing to persuade the staunchly Catholic Bing Crosby to play a happy-go-lucky priest in Going My Way; luckily he acquiesced, winning an Academy Award in the process. Crosby is cast as Father Chuck O'Malley, newly arrived at rundown, heavily in debt St. Dominic's Church. Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), the cranky, set-in-his-ways curate of St. Dominic's, is none too pleased with O'Malley's breezy, "modernistic" methods. Fitzgibbon is content to adhere to the policies he has followed for nearly 45 years. Without overtly challenging Fitzgibbon's authority (he likes the old buzzard, and the feeling is mutual), O'Malley sets about to win the confidence of the local street toughs, organizing the boys into an angelic church choir. He also forestalls the plans of St. Dominic's mortgage holder Ted Haines (Gene Lockhart) to evict Fitzgibbons by arranging a fundraising choir tour, to be headlined by O'Malley's childhood friend, opera star Genevieve Linden (Rise Stevens). When he's not coming to the rescue of St. Dominic's, O'Malley is smoothing the path of romance for Haines' son (James Brown) and orphaned Carol James (Jean Heather), and arranging for a reunion between Fitzgibbons and his nonagenarian Irish mother. There is sentiment by the bucketful in Going My Way, but director Leo McCarey sagaciously tempers the treacle with moments of genuine hilarity and several delightful (and seemingly spontaneous) musical interludes. In addition to Crosby, Oscars went to Barry Fitzgerald, Leo McCarey, screenwriters Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, and Burke and Van Heusen's song hit "Swingin' On a Star." Bing Crosby repeated his father O'Malley characterization in McCarey's 1945 sequel The Bells of St. Mary's. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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US Release Date
1/1/44
MPAA Rating
Not Rated
Running Time
130 mins.
Language
- English
Awards
- Winner of the Best Actor award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the 10 Best Films award at the 1944 Film Daily [Festival/Award] Awards.
- Winner of the Best Actor award at the 1944 New York Film Critics Circle [Festival Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the 10 Best Films award at the 1944 New York Times [Festival/Award] Awards.
- Winner of the Best Song award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture award at the 1944 New York Film Critics Circle [Festival Awards.
- Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture award at the 1944 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1944 New York Film Critics Circle [Festival Awards.
- Winner of the Best Original Story award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Actor award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion award at the 1944 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Winner of the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Acting award at the 1944 National Board of Review [Festival/Awa Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Picture award at the 1944 National Board of Review [Festival/Awa Awards.
- Winner of the Best Director award at the 1944 Hollywood Foreign Press Association [F Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Editing award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the Best Picture award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Nominated for a Best Black and White Cinematography award at the 1944 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie Awards.
- Winner of the 10 Best Films award at the 1944 Photoplay [Festival/Award] Awards.
Distributor
- Paramount
- Paramount Pictures
- Universal Studios Home Entertainment
