It was the Best of (movie) times... Yankee Doodle Dandy

(Again, I am playing with the format these entries will take.  I will focus less on the summary and more on my feelings, and see how that works)

Yankee Doodle Dandy is a musical movie about the life of George M Cohan, considered to be the father of the American musical comedy.  The movie opens on George backstage after a performance of I'd Rather Be Right in which he played FDR.  A telegram arrives for him and as it is from the president, himself, asking for a meeting, George is nervous.  At the meeting, FDR gets George talking about his life.  We are shown the entire span of his life to date, from his birth in flash back as he talks with the president.  In the end, he apologizes for rambling on and asks what the president wanted with an "old song and dance man" like him.  The president awards him the Congressional Gold Metal for keeping moral up during World War I with his rousing music (especially the song Over There).  The movie ends with George joining a parade of soldier singing Over There as an anonymous citizen supporting the troops.

I am a bit nostalgic when it comes to this movie.  I remember sitting in my grandparents basement watching this on their console TV every year it aired on network TV (I believe right around now because of Memorial Day or July 4 for obvious reasons).  I didn't remember many scenes from back then, but this viewing really put me in a happy place.  And it's timed just right as Monday is Memorial Day.

This movie has a brilliant musical format, as every musical number is performed on a stage, portraying the performance of a musical that George M Cohan Either wrote or in which he performed (and in most cases, both).  I know the main beef many people have with musicals is the random bursting into song the characters do.  This format eliminates this problem.  Even someone who hates the musical format can enjoy this.  It's also very cool to see James Cagney playing a song and dance man.

Speaking of Cagney, it is surreal to see him dancing.  He's pretty darn good.  I was taken aback because (since I have become an adult) I am more familiar with his work in movies such as Angels With Dirty Faces and Taxi!  It is really fascinating to see him dancing in the big production number of Yankee Doodle Dandy. And the stunt that he performs dancing down the stairs in the White house in the finale of the movie just makes me wonder how he didn't break his neck.  He also has a fast talking conman charm, best exemplified in the scene where he teams up with his life long partner, Sam Harris.  Earlier, Sam meets and is (also) turned down funding from a wealthy investor.  George runs into him in a bar where Sam is trying to hook another investor.  Poor Sam has no idea what is happening when George completely blindsides him, HOPING that he will play along.  George asks Sam if he is talking about their new project (implied nudge and wink).  Sam quickly catches up and starts to play along.  George continues to tell Sam that he changed the song Yankee Doodle Dandy, to which Harris replies "You shouldn't have done that, it was perfect as it was!"  (keeping in mind, of course that Sam only SAW George once, never met him officially).  This intrigues the investor who wants to hear the song, and, of course, wants to throw money at the musical after hearing this one song.  After a hasty introduction, Sam and George become lifelong partners.  I don't know if this story is true, but Cagney really sells it.  In fact I am still in stitches watching.  Cagney's comedic timing is dead on, his dancing is pretty amazing, and his George M Cohan is cocky, yet likable.  I gotta say, Cagney was a much more versatile actor than I ever knew.  His performance in this movie won him an Oscar for Best Actor.  So, it's defiantly worth a watch for him alone.

George M Cohan's life story is pretty amazing.  He is credited with songs numbering over 500.  Many of them still standards today (Give My Regards to Broadway, You're a Grand Old Flag, Only 45 Minutes From Broadway, Mary's a Grand Old Name).  And he also wrote or collaborated on more than 50 productions on Broadway (starring in many of them).  So, his life is the story of a self-made man, climbing from the lowly start with a family vaudeville act (The Four Cohans) to James Cagney winning an Oscar for the portrayal of him in this movie.  He really achieved the American Dream.  I will stop the history lesson here... I guess I just really like this story!

I really don't have anything bad to say about Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Perhaps it's the nostalgia lenses, perhaps it's just a good movie.  The story, the performances, the look of it, it's all really entertaining.  Maybe it's a tad long, but it held my attention as a kid and still does now.  Not many movies can claim that.

Enjoy your holiday weekend everyone!

GGC