Bryan
“What's the matter, old timer? Don't you remember this song?”
I was happily surprised by Yankee Doodle Dandy. I wrote in my last post, about Toy Story, about how our culture tends to be shallow, and easily forgets where aspects of our culture come from. This was a great example of how I am guilty of the same.
I had never heard of George M. Cohan going into the film. The scene where the pain in the neck kids bother George and have never heard of them rang true with me. His songs are part of American society. “She’s a Grand Old Flag,” “Over There,” and “Yankee Doodle Dandy” are tunes that permeate patriotic events, and I was the young kid who had no idea where they came from.
I can find plenty of faults with the movie, but as I tried to write this review I was reminded of a musical theory class I took. The teacher went through the technical approaches of musical composition that catch an audience, how to establish expectations and then defy them in a pleasing manner, more things than I can remember. He would then play an awesome selection from Beethoven that broke every rule that he had just delineated. His explanation was that some music was simply magical. At the time his explanation simply seemed to reinforce my opinion that he was crazy, and yet I remember that lesson more than any of the methodological instruction.
I like Yankee Doodle Dandy, but I can’t place my finger on exactly what resonated with me. I started writing complaints about many things- the lack of a problem meant a climax wasn’t particularly distinguishable from the rest of the movie, the songs sometimes went longer than I wanted without adding too much to the plot, the emotions seemed too overly upbeat and happy to be real. But none of these really detracted from my enjoyment. I’m glad this was on the list.
The fact that AFI didn’t provide reasoning for their list bothered me, and was part of why we are embarking upon this project. And yet only 3 movies in I find myself struggling, because my opinion seems to be “It’s just good, but I don’t know why.” Hopefully everyone else has more concrete thoughts.
Final Thoughts–This belongs on the list. Its magical appeal and cultural impact guarantee it gets a spot. My inability to rant and rave over its wonderful facets means it belongs low on the list, so the position 98 seems appropriate.
Jason
We'll be o-ver, we're com-ing o-ver, and we won't come back 'til it's o-ver O-ver There!
As I hit play and the title credits started rolling for Yankee Doodle Dandy I said "this is going to be the first movie on the list that I am not going to enjoy". I assumed this was a musical based on some of the things that I had read at various websites, and I am not a fan of musicals. There are a select few that I enjoy very much, but most others I just can't get into. Fortunately for me this movie was not a musical like I had originally thought. It was a film that had some song and dance numbers, but they were not there to move the story along. All they did was show off how talented James Cagney was at dancing and the brilliance of George M Cohan's music.
This movie is a prime example of why I wanted to do this project in the first place. If someone told me I had to check out this movie about the guy who wrote Yankee Doodle Dandy, I probably would have laughed in there face, and missed out on a movie that can only be described as magical.
Like Bryan said its frustrating that AFI doesn't include a reason why they decided to put a movie on the list, but after watching this I get it. There is no reason why this is a great movie. Its just is.
Final Thought- This movie is great. I enjoyed 99% of it. The only flaw it had was that it didn't have much of a climax. It basically plateaued an hour in, which for me didn't really take anything away it just made me keep expecting some horrible thing to happen as it approached the ending. I actually think this movie should be higher up the list. I've seen about half of the 100 and it is much better then at least half of those so if I had to pick a place for it I would say this movie should be at least 75.
Alfredo
My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you.
Yankee Doodle Dandy was a surprise for me. Again I had no real expectations of being wooed by the film and again I fell flat on my face.
Yankee Doodle Dandy is the story of George M. Cohan as portrayed by Hollywood. During World War II. So let’s be clear here. It’s a propaganda film. As event’s occurred during the film and the film’s climax became apparent we kept expecting as one would some kind of fall for the film’s protagonist of endure. It never came. It just sort of plateaued. And would easily have become my feel good movie of the decade. You know, had I lived through the second World War.
Despite it’s lack of “proper” structure, the movie was actually rather entertaining. Granted I don’t know if that’s because of it’s dated humor or what. But I can honestly say we all had fun watching this film.
Final thought: That’s twice now I’ve seen a movie on this list that I didn’t think I was going to like and that’s twice now that I’ve been wrong. And we’re only three movies into this list. I like where this is going. I’m fairly certain we’ve all come to the same conclusion with this film. It’s great. The movie is fun, and it’s great and it deserves to be on this list. The only problem is I can’t fucking tell you why. You’ll just have to see it and be as mesmerized as we were.
Angel
Whenever we get too high-hat and too sophisticated for flag-waving, some thug nation decides we're a push-over all ready to be blackjacked.
Let us start with the fact that for the most part I do not really care for black and white movies. For some reason the older I know a film is, the less interest I have in actually getting around to watching it. Regardless of whether or not it is actually a great movie or not. This is one of those films that, had it not been for our little project here, I would have missed out on.
The story of one person ride from anonymity to fame, and everything in between. The portrayal of George Cohan (the protagonist), made him seem like such a brat. The film very early on made me feel a sense of annoyance with George. His early rise created an ego and a sense of worth that never left the character.
As he grew and learned how his family had sacrificed their success just to keep him in the family that sense of ego he had seemed to work in his favor. The understanding that he was the one holding his family back tempered him. The fact that I once so very much disliked about the character became his saving grace. He became famous and brought his family with him.
It seemed that no matter what play Cohan made it became a hit. Each play also played off of a love for the country. There were flags waving everywhere, because of the time period it fit and felt real. The fact that the film was so incredibly patriotic made the film MORE believable instead of less.
Final Thoughts: This film was a complete surprise to me. The deep sense of patriotism and love for the USA in concert with a person rise through hard work determination and a touch of luck made this a film that I truly enjoyed. I can not wait to see more of these films because I want to see how those films stand up to this one. I might just vote to move this one up the list.
Yankee Doodle Dandy was a surprise for me. Again I had no real expectations of being wooed by the film and again I fell flat on my face.
Yankee Doodle Dandy is the story of George M. Cohan as portrayed by Hollywood. During World War II. So let’s be clear here. It’s a propaganda film. As event’s occurred during the film and the film’s climax became apparent we kept expecting as one would some kind of fall for the film’s protagonist of endure. It never came. It just sort of plateaued. And would easily have become my feel good movie of the decade. You know, had I lived through the second World War.
Despite it’s lack of “proper” structure, the movie was actually rather entertaining. Granted I don’t know if that’s because of it’s dated humor or what. But I can honestly say we all had fun watching this film.
Final thought: That’s twice now I’ve seen a movie on this list that I didn’t think I was going to like and that’s twice now that I’ve been wrong. And we’re only three movies into this list. I like where this is going. I’m fairly certain we’ve all come to the same conclusion with this film. It’s great. The movie is fun, and it’s great and it deserves to be on this list. The only problem is I can’t fucking tell you why. You’ll just have to see it and be as mesmerized as we were.
Angel
Whenever we get too high-hat and too sophisticated for flag-waving, some thug nation decides we're a push-over all ready to be blackjacked.
Let us start with the fact that for the most part I do not really care for black and white movies. For some reason the older I know a film is, the less interest I have in actually getting around to watching it. Regardless of whether or not it is actually a great movie or not. This is one of those films that, had it not been for our little project here, I would have missed out on.
The story of one person ride from anonymity to fame, and everything in between. The portrayal of George Cohan (the protagonist), made him seem like such a brat. The film very early on made me feel a sense of annoyance with George. His early rise created an ego and a sense of worth that never left the character.
As he grew and learned how his family had sacrificed their success just to keep him in the family that sense of ego he had seemed to work in his favor. The understanding that he was the one holding his family back tempered him. The fact that I once so very much disliked about the character became his saving grace. He became famous and brought his family with him.
It seemed that no matter what play Cohan made it became a hit. Each play also played off of a love for the country. There were flags waving everywhere, because of the time period it fit and felt real. The fact that the film was so incredibly patriotic made the film MORE believable instead of less.
Final Thoughts: This film was a complete surprise to me. The deep sense of patriotism and love for the USA in concert with a person rise through hard work determination and a touch of luck made this a film that I truly enjoyed. I can not wait to see more of these films because I want to see how those films stand up to this one. I might just vote to move this one up the list.
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