Yankee Doodle Dandy

It's 4th of July here in the US and Yankee Doodle Dandy is one of my favourite films for this holiday if not my full fledged favourite.

The movie is a 40's era biopic of composer and Broadway man George M. Cohan. He was born on the 4th of July and known for patriotic songs such as "Over There," "You're a Grand Old Flag," and the movie title itself, "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Many of his songs are still sung today.

I first saw bits of this movie back in the early 90's. I must have been about 10 or 11 at the time and didn't see all of it, but was rather enthralled. This movie really introduced me to James Cagney who did a great job as the man himself.

This movie also introduced me to the music of George M. Cohan, or at least where I learned who wrote the songs.

It's black and white and can be rather dry for those who don't watch anything before the 1970's that isn't a Disney movie or cartoon or other famous musical like Sound of Music and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It can be rather quiet (mostly dialogue with no incidental music or tunes) at times and isn't a musical but rather a movie with songs.

It also doesn't have all of the George M. Cohan story, but does tell a lot of his life from the early stage, vaudeville acts, and the like.

One of my favourite parts of the movie was Eddie Foy, Jr. playing his father. Don't worry, I had to look them up too.

I do love getting to see the old school, early days of Broadway. It's been such a part of my life that it's nice to see what it was when it started and was mostly vaudeville. I'm so used to musicals and plays that variety shows are more of a novelty to me now.

As long as you can stand black and white and a long movie (which I know you can; you probably have sat through Avengers or at least one of it's hero's movies). It's great history and a decent enough romp, especially for a bit of patriotism.