1942 – James Cagney
Yankee Doodle Dandy
James Cagney did it all here, and I guess I can understand why he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. The role was both topical and historical. It allowed him to sing, well, kind-of, and dance, and be both comedic and dramatic. And after doing a little reading, my opinion is even stronger that the right man won the Oscar. He was pretty darn good, better than I remember him being the first time I watched the film several years ago. He was amazing, and here’s why.
As I was watching the movie, I was thinking that I didn’t care for the way Cagney spoke his way through the songs without really singing much. And I didn’t care for the way he danced. His legs were too stiff and his movements seemed jerky. But apparently, the real George Cohan wanted Fred Astaire to play the part. Astaire refused to play it because Cohan’s stiff-legged style of dancing didn’t go with his personal style. Bring in Cagney who was able to mimic Cohan’s style beautifully. And I picked up on it, not even aware that it was something to be picked up on. And even the critics agreed that Cagney’s impersonation of Cohan was spot-on.
And it was 1942. WWII was in full swing and war time films full of hyper-patriotism were needed. And as an interesting anecdote, I going to quote Wikipedia. “The New YorkTimes printed a front-page allegation that Cagney was a communist. Cagney refuted the accusation and Martin Dies Jr. made a statement to the press clearing Cagney. William Cagney, one of the film’s producers, reportedly told his brother “We’re going to have to make the goddamndest patriotic picture that’s ever been made. I think it’s the Cohan story.” So they did, and it worked.
In light of all that, I think Cagney knocked this out of the park. He proved that he could sing and dance with the best of them. He even had a fairly dramatic scene in which his father dies, and he cries over his death-bed. And he also played the romance with Mary, played by Joan Leslie, quite well. He was charming and handsome, and he was a delight to watch on the screen. Many people only know Cagney from his gangster roles in film, but here, he proved that he was much more than that. Well done, James!