Going my way

Today is my first birthday in 66 years without my father and I planned on watching the Pebble Beach golf tournament and simply relaxing, with an occasional thought about the many times we teed it up together.

I woke up, walked Ollie Yoda, the dog, and then had Eggs Benedict while watching golf on the Golf Channel. At 11:30 the coverage ended and there was a half hour break before it resumed on CBS. I flipped the channels and just starting on TMC was the 1944 Best Picture....GOING MY WAY.

The first three minutes of viewing included a few very quick observations that resembled critical opinionated behavior that centered on certain thoughts such as......corny, childish, trivial, mundane and then one small scene with Barry Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby and instantly the thoughts changed to classic, timeless, wonderful and "why can't they make movies like this anymore?"

Within the next hour I found myself crying three different times and by the end of the film I was simply stunned at how my birthday had been reduced to a celebration of nostalgia and wonder.

Seriously......where are the modern day versions of Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald and where are the stories that simply appeal to a higher part of our nature?

I totally realize that that last statement puts me in the old foggy category but one must remember that I started the day by planning on reminiscing about rounds of golf with my dad while watching the Pebble Beach tournament.....which used to be called the Bing Crosby Clambake.....so any old foggy implications can actually be blamed on my father.

While watching Going My Way I also realized that they filmed it at St. Monica's which happens to be my high school and also sits about 300 yards from my front door.

In 1944 Americans were extremely ready for bad times to end and good times to begin, and it took another year before that actually happened....but a film like Going My Way really paved the way for a new attitude in the United States that would start in 1945. An attitude that would last until 1963.

An attitude of WE CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.

Going My Way was simply a preview of how people could recover from a tragic experience by working together, being kind and of course singing and creating new music.

The music that would be introduced from 1946 to 1970 changed the world...and it took a voice like Bing Crosby to get the ball rolling. Of course Elvis really got the ball rolling but Bing was also one of a kind.

I fully understand the stretch taken with that last statement.....but seriously there's never been another Bing Crosby and I doubt if there ever will be. Life had to be represented in black and white and it had to be represented by kindness and simplicity and I'm sorry to say those two tangents are truly things of our past when it comes to modern film making.

Of course I could be totally mistaken....but it's my birthday and a little negativity is to be expected after watching myself cry over a movie that could never be made today.

The Black and White dealio has been given a shot in the arm with this year's Best Picture nominated film "The Artist," so maybe an occasional touch of the past can be experienced from time to time, but most likely that film is simply an anomaly.

Now that I've stopped being a baby and started thinking about things.....I realize that my favorite movie of 2011....MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.....is also an anomaly.



A FEEL GOOD MOVIE WITH AN INNOVATIVE THEME THAT SIMPLY COMPELS ONE TO WATCH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

I wonder how many times the average American, over the age of 60, has watched Going My Way?

I highly suggest getting a group of people together and make a party of watching it......and make sure you include some young people in the group because their observations will really make the experience worthwhile.

Or Not........

I truly have no idea but I have a feeling it will be a very interesting evening.

Make it a dinner party with Going My Way showing after dining.

Then have everybody sing Silent Night before saying goodnight.

What a fun evening!

Thanks for
Going
My
Way.


Michael Timothy McAlevey