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Directed By
Michael Curtiz
Written By:
Robert Buckner, Robert Buckner
Cast:
James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf, Rosemary DeCamp, Jeanne Cagney, S.Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett, Frances Langford, Eddie Foy Jr., George Tobias, Michael Curtiz, Irene Manning
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Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
November 23rd, 2007
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It is strange that James Cagney won his only Oscar for his most light-hearted performance, in 'Yankee Doodle Dandy', a biopic about George M Cohan, the son of Irish immigrants, who writes a number of famous patriotic songs, including Grand Old Flag and Over There. Cagney, famous as a gangster in The Public Enemy, Angels with Dirty Faces, and White Heat, plays Cohan with a whimsical energy and charm, dancing and singing, both of which he does well, which I found surprising, but then I realized he had been in Footlight Parade, a musical from 1933. He had worked with director Michael Curtiz, of Casablanca fame on a little movie called Jimmy the Gent, from 1934 (and also on Angels with Dirty Faces in 1938).
I have seen all (or nearly all) of Cagney's films, and 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' is certainly one of his more memorable, though not his best. I would nominate White Heat for that honor, or The Public Enemy, Angels with Dirty Faces, one of his trademark crime dramas. Walter Huston is George's father, Jerry, and Rosemary DeCamp is his mother, Nellie. The movie covers George's childhood, but focuses more on him as an adult, and on his career, which results in him getting a Congressional Medal of Honor, being exempted from the draft (for which he is more than willing to volunteer, both his fame and his age are reasons why he is rejected), and he dances down the stairs of the White House in one particularly fun sequence. DeCamp was 11 years younger than Cagney, so you have another example of improbable parent-child pairings. Huston is excellent, as always, in yet another superlative supporting role.
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