Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Commentary: I've been wanting to own a copy of this movie forever ... well, since my mother died in 2008. You see, when she took off for parts unknown, I ended up quickly disconnecting our cable subscription in order to manage expenses on one source of income. I didn't think about it, I just did it; and suddenly realized how much I was giving up in the way of movies. This is one of those movies that Mom and I watched every time I could ferret it out on TCM or one of the many other cable-subscription-only channels that ran this audience favorite. Still, the disconnect had to be done.
Since then, I've checked it out of our public library system more times than I can remember. It's a crowd pleaser (as well as one of Roger Ebert's Great Movies; his review of it is attached to the title of this post, above) so it circulates far and wide and I usually can't get it without putting a hold on it and waiting for notice that it's waiting for me. Often, the copy I receive has glitches in playback or, in one case, simply wouldn't cooperate with my disc player. As of right this minute, our library has seven copies, either loners or in collections, and all are checked out! Enough, I decided today. I need a copy of this movie in my collection. It'll arrive tomorrow.
This movie brings me such joy no matter how many times I view it. Thank you, Hollywood, and James Cagney, for creating such a zesty, delightful, perennially infectious sweet. I'm surprised it's taken me this long to add it to my collection.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role James Cagney George M. Cohan Joan Leslie Mary Cohan Walter Huston Jerry Cohan Richard Whorf Sam Harris Irene Manning Fay Templeton George Tobias Dietz Rosemary DeCamp Nellie Cohan Jeanne Cagney Josie Cohan
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1942
Directed by Michael Curtiz.
Labels: biography3, me-favorite4, mom-favorite2, musical2
