--- title: "Going My Way" year: 1944 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/going-my-way" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 80 critics_reviews: 4 published: "2026-09-20T01:12:19.325799+00:00" updated: "2026-09-20T01:12:40.206379+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Going My Way (1944) Directed by Leo McCarey · 2h 06m · MPA NR · Drama, Comedy, Music **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 80 (early) from 4 reviews *In a sentence:* Two priests, one mortgage, and a street gang who turn out, when asked nicely, to hold a tune > Leo McCarey’s parish comedy is gentle, unhurried and about twenty minutes too long. Bing Crosby coasts agreeably, but the film belongs to Barry Fitzgerald, whose stubborn, mended-cassock Father Fitzgibbon is the best reason to give it an evening. ## Synopsis Father Chuck O’Malley (Bing Crosby), a young priest who writes songs on the side, is sent to St. Dominic’s, a poor New York parish behind on its mortgage. He is there to take over quietly from Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), who built the church, has run it for most of his life and has not been told. The mortgage belongs to Ted Haines Snr. (Gene Lockhart), who wants his money. O’Malley rounds up the street gang led by Tony Scaponi (Stanley Clements) and sets about turning them into a choir, takes in Carol James (Jean Heather), a runaway who wants to sing, and finds his old friend Father Timothy O’Dowd (Frank McHugh) at the parish across town. ## Review Father Chuck O’Malley (Bing Crosby) arrives at St. Dominic’s in a straw hat and a St. Louis Browns sweatshirt, carrying a golf bag, and is taken for a tramp. Leo McCarey, who wrote the story, produced and directed, wants us to laugh at the priest who does not look like one and then be won round by him, and for two hours that is more or less the whole plan. It works, in a soft, unhurried way, and it would work better at a hundred minutes than at 126. This is a good film with a fine performance in it, and the performance is Barry Fitzgerald’s. Crosby does not act so much as turn up. He leans in doorways, calls everyone by their first name and never raises his voice, and the script, by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, arranges for every problem to soften on contact with him. The mortgage-holder, Ted Haines Snr. (Gene Lockhart), softens. The gang led by Tony Scaponi (Stanley Clements) softens the moment O’Malley sings them *Swinging on a Star*, which is the best scene Crosby has and the only one in which the persuading happens in front of us rather than between scenes. He is likeable, and he is meant to be. But he is given nothing to lose, and a man with nothing to lose is restful to watch rather than interesting. Fitzgerald has everything to lose and knows it. His Father Fitzgibbon built this church, has said Mass in it for most of his life, and cannot understand why a young man with a golf bag has been sent to help him. Fitzgerald plays him small and exact: the way he shuts a tobacco tin, the way he says “curate” as if it were a diagnosis, the nightly glass of whisky that has to be discovered afresh each evening. The scene that got us comes when he walks out into the rain, comes back soaked and ashamed, and O’Malley tucks him into bed and sings him an Irish lullaby. We had braced for treacle and were moved anyway, because McCarey holds on Fitzgerald’s face under the blanket and lets him listen. Nothing is said. The old man simply stops fighting for a minute. Lionel Lindon lights the rectory with lamps and keeps every face out of shadow, which is right for a film with no villains in it. Edith Head dresses O’Malley’s civilian clothes a size too young for him, so he looks like a college boy at a fancy-dress party, and puts Fitzgibbon in a cassock that has plainly been mended more than once. Troy Sanders’s underscore stays low and gets out of the way for the songs, of which there are more than the story needs. LeRoy Stone cuts patiently, letting the two priests talk across a dinner table for as long as they like; we would not have minded him being less patient after the interval. The second half is where the padding shows. Carol James (Jean Heather), a runaway with a voice, and Ted Haines Jr. (James Brown), the landlord’s son, are handed a romance that exists to tidy up the mortgage, and Heather is given a wardrobe and a problem and not much else. Genevieve Linden (Risë Stevens), an opera singer O’Malley knew before he took orders, arrives and stops the film dead for an aria that is beautifully sung and attached to nothing. Frank McHugh, as Father O’Dowd, gets to be Crosby’s audience. And there is a calamity in the last half hour that we will not describe, except to say that it arrives because the film needs one, and we could feel the mechanism turning. McCarey had already made [*The Awful Truth*](https://film.one/film/the-awful-truth), a sharp screwball comedy, and *Make Way for Tomorrow*, a sad film about old age, and this is softer than either. It is a wartime picture that says everything will come right if people are decent to one another, and it says it so mildly that arguing feels rude. Crosby played O’Malley again the following year in *The Bells of St. Mary’s*, opposite Ingrid Bergman, and we prefer that one a little, because Bergman’s nun argues back. Watch this on a wet afternoon with someone older than you. They will know the songs, and you will find you know more of them than you expected. *Fi1m score 74, published 20 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (4) - **Los Angeles Times**, Edwin Schallert (90/100, inferred): Humanness wells up abundantly in this simple story of two parish priests battling setbacks with faith and ideals in a turbulent city; it is inspiring and expresses the phenomenon of good deeds, with standout performances especially from Fitzgerald. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/story/2022-09-07/from-the-archives-new-film-human-and-inspiring) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (90/100, inferred): The film presents Catholic priests in a human and unaffected light, delivering a rich, warm story of two priests in a poor parish who clash and connect through wit and character. It is praised as one of the rare delights of the year for its natural humor, charming incidents, and strong performances by Crosby and Fitzgerald. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1944/05/03/archives/going-my-way-comedydrama-with-bing-crosby-and-barry-fitzgerald-at.html) - **The New Yorker**, David Lardner (70/100, inferred): The picture benefits from Crosby's likability and Fitzgerald's performance but features unsubtle comedy and an extraneous fire scene that tugs at the heart; it offers a simple, not improbable account of parish problems that should appeal broadly despite its Catholic focus. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1944/05/13/1944-05-13-066-tny-cards-000014114) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): Bing Crosby gets a tailor-made role and, with strong support from Fitzgerald and Stevens, provides topnotch entertainment; it is a warm, human drama with bright episodes and excellent characterizations under McCarey's fine direction, though overlong. [Read](https://variety.com/1944/film/reviews/going-my-way-3-1200414366/) ## Details - **Director:** Leo McCarey - **Director:** Leo McCarey - **Screenplay:** Frank Cavett, Frank Butler - **Story:** Leo McCarey - **Cinematography:** Lionel Lindon - **Editor:** LeRoy Stone - **Music:** Troy Sanders - **Costume design:** Edith Head - **Producer:** Leo McCarey - **Cast:** Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley; Barry Fitzgerald as Father Fitzgibbon; Frank McHugh as Father Timothy O'Dowd; James Brown as Ted Haines Jr.; Gene Lockhart as Ted Haines Snr.; Jean Heather as Carol James; Porter Hall as Mr. Belknap; Fortunio Bonanova as Tomaso Bozanni - **Runtime:** 2h 06m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 16 August 1944 - **Genres:** Drama, Comedy, Music - **Box office:** $16 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cGqBXb3QVQ ## Where to watch in the US - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-20.* Also available in: AU, CA, GB, IE, IL, NZ, SG, TH, US, VN. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1945: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Actor (won); Best Director (won); Best Picture (won); Best Story (won); Best Supporting Actor (won); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (won) ## If you liked this - *The Bells of St. Mary's* (1945), Fi1m 64: Crosby’s O’Malley again, and Ingrid Bergman’s nun gives him something to push against — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-bells-of-st-marys.md) - *Make Way for Tomorrow* (1937): McCarey without the songs or the comfort; an old couple nobody has room for - *The Quiet Man* (1952), Fi1m 78: Barry Fitzgerald at his most mischievous, in an Ireland made entirely of Technicolor — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-man.md) - *Of Gods and Men* (2010), Fi1m 84: French monks in Algeria; faith as a daily job, quietly and seriously done — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/of-gods-and-men.md) - *Calvary* (2014), Fi1m 81: Brendan Gleeson’s good priest in a parish that has stopped being grateful — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/calvary.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/going-my-way