Tiny bit disappointed...

I've read the Cohan biography "The Man Who Owned Broadway" and the real Cohan story would have made a great bio-pic. What was left out in the movie was the fact that Cohan was considered by his peers to be a fine non-musical actor as well. One of his greatest triumphs was in Eugene O'Neill's "Ah Wilderness". Cohan mentored Spencer Tracy, and those who saw Cohan act, say that his style was very much like Tracy's.

Cohan was a theater genius. In addition to acting, directing and writing plays & songs, Cohan also could take someone else's mediocre play and update it. he owned and managed theaters.

Cohan had his dark side; if you crossed him, you had an enemy for life. He was thin-skinned and overly sensitive to criticism. There was a very nasty feud with the Actors Equity Union, bad feeling on bith sides, and Actors Equity hated Cohan even after Cohan's death.

Cohan went to Hollywood to star in his only sound movie "The Phantom President" with Claudette Colbert and Jimmy Durante. The experience was so unpleasant, he never did another movie.

Cohan was not a great dancer and his singing voice was very nasal and without much range. Cagney was the perfect fit to play Cohan.

Cagney could also have played Cohan's dark side, but since Cohan was still alive when the movie was made, there was no way Cohan was going to sign off on an accurate bio-pic.

You MUST be WAY under 40 years old.

In 1942, there was no such word as "chauvinist."

"Cagney is not a good singer and as a dancer, well let's say he's good but he ain't Fred Astaire nor Gene Kelly."

You obviously don't know who George M. Cohan was. He was not the best singer, just the best songwriter. So Cagney was portraying him properly.
Mr. Cohan had a distinct style of dance and Cagney studied him and did it to perfection. He was not supposed to be Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly.

I guess what all of you naysayers need to do is realize this was made in 1942.
It was made during WWII. It was made for the soldiers and the country.
That is why it is so very good. I have met people who remember WWII. This movie brought hope in a very troubled time.

The songs are classics and are still sung today. Unfortunately only on Patriotic Holidays, but still remembered. If you know an older person, ask them about "It's a Grand Old Flag, Over There," and most of the songs in the movie.







10/10

Cagney is a bad dancer?! TROLL COMMENT OF THE YEAR!

In response to your comment about Jimmy Cagney's dancing, he is considered one of the best tap dancer's of his generation. In addition to your other comment, not many people are as good as Astaire and Kelly.

Are you retarded? Or are you just trolling? Cagney was one of the greatest dancers and singers who ever lived! Seriously? The staircase scene? That wasn't good dance scene? No one can dance down the staircase like cagney did. Cageny was famous for his dancing! He danced with both Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly! You are a *beep* moron!

Cohan picked him! AND, he does singing and dancing in Cohan's style!

Cagney was a song-and-dance man from his youth! Of course, he could do both and had his own style besides being able to duplicate someone else's!

So, Cagney can't dance?! Check out these!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT0Cvzfh38E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28



(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC

1.) The movie was in the process of being filmed when Pearl Harbor was bombed;
there was plenty of flag-waving patriotism in the air at the time (remember the
atmosphere during the first few weeks following 9/11?)

2.) The movie premiered during the early months of America's involvement in
WWII, when audiences were in the mood for patriotic themes

3.) George M. Cohan was noted for his rah-rah patriotic music; film bios of
the time tended to focus on the positive side of their subjects, unlike today,
when the more downbeat, unstable, neurotic sides of a noted figure is more
likely to be highlighted in that person's bio

4.) Cagney, a liberal Democrat who was often involved in "lefty" activities
such as organizing union organizations in Hollywood, which often angered
studio executives, was anxious to make a film which focused on pro-American
patriotism so that he could silence any critics who might accuse him of being
an anti-American "pinko"

5.) Even in the more liberal, "self-hating American" years of the '70s, this
film was regarded by most audiences as a bona fide classic, no matter what one's
politics were

6.) Any movie in which Cagney sings and dances is a winner, since he's adorable.



I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Everyone who thought this movie was boring would not thought it boring and would have loved this movie giving it high praises if they had seen this movie in 1942 when it came out. Those you think this is boring are those who prefer a fast paced action movie. rather than a real thought out movie. I for one enoyed and is one of my all-time favorite movies.

If being anti-American meant being anti so-called "Americans" like you, with your lies, fake charges, racism and hatred, then we'd all be anti-American.

True Americanism entails being tolerant, honest and respectful of people's differences. You're a perfect example of how the extremist right in this country is giving decent, honest conservatives a bad odor. Talk about having to wash out a stench.

By the way, Yankee Doodle Dandy is on DVD, not CD.

Of course you have to have the patriotism in this film -- it was mainly what the movie, as well as much of Cohan's career, was all about. Add to this the fact that it came out at the start of U.S. involvement in WWII, it was exactly the sort of "patriotic" entertainment people needed at the time.

By the way, joeparkson, I wanted to tell you that a couple of posts you made earlier on this thread, about the "dark" side of Cohan, and details of his real life and career, were thoughtful, interesting and well said. You provided a nice balance to the myths in the movie.

One can still enjoy a film even though it strays far from the truth. YDD can be criticized for this, for its sometimes heavy-handed patriotic displays, and other shortcomings, but it also has to be understood in its context.

Unfortunately, not everyone on this thread has a forthright notion of what "patriotism" means. Luckily, even at its most overbearing moments, the patriotism exhibited in YDD was inclusionary, in the best tradition of America. That may be the most important lesson to take away from this film.