Day 1: Best Picture Criteria and "Going My Way"

Oscar Best Picture Criteria

I am a researcher.  If someone asks a question and we can't come up with the answer, I am compelled to find out.  "Who was in that movie?" "What song is that?"  "How do you pronounce that?"  Google Search is my friend.  I love digging down to the bottom to find some little tidbit floating around with the flotsam and jetsam.  

I attempted to find a list of criteria that the Academy uses to vote on the Best Picture.  What I found from a few sites was that there isn't a published criteria anywhere.  I found an interesting description of how the voting works, but nothing like a rubric for the judges.  So, I decided to make up my own criteria.  I'm judging movies based on:

Plot

Acting

Timelessness 
Emotionality*

*Can we blame it on baby brain?  I can't think of a word to describe a movie that "pulls at your heartstrings" or you are so drawn in that you can't wait to find out what happens, but you don't want it to end.  So, I made up a word called "Emotionality".  I checked it in dictionary.com and it's a real word!  It means "Arousing or intended to arouse emotions." I'm smarter than I thought!

Going My Way* (1944)
17th Annual Academy Awards

Director: Leo McCarey
Actors: Bing Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald
Highest grossing film of 1944

I have a confession to make.  I was all gung-ho yesterday to watch my first movie in my quest, "Going My Way".  I fell asleep 52 minutes into the movie.  I am laying down, you know!  I am notorious for falling asleep during movies.  If it's after 9:00 at night, it is guaranteed that I will be dozing.  Maybe I chose the wrong idea for my blog.  I'm going to consider it a testament to the movie.  If it can keep me awake, then that's a bonus.


Summary:
St. Dominic's Catholic Church is in trouble.  It's behind on its loan payments and the bank wants to take it away.  Yes, there's the stereotypical fat, evil banker and the old Irish priest.  Father O'Malley, played by Bing Crosby, is a rebel.  You know how I can tell he's a rebel?  He plays baseball in the street, sports a baseball jacket, brings in a basket of puppies and *gasp* plays golf.  And, he wears a white bowler hat.  Barry Fitzgerald is Father Fitzgibbon, the old, forgetful priest with a chip on his shoulder.  Father O'Malley shakes things up and starts a boys' choir.  The neighborhood hoodlums are transformed into little singing angels.  Things start moving along swimmingly...everyone's getting along, they are out of debt.  Then, the church catches on fire!  But, don't worry good ol' Bing saves the day with a sparkle in his eye and a song in his heart! 

• Plot 
• The plot was simple, sentimental, bordering on corny.  It's considered a 'musical', but not in the way you'd expect.  The songs just seem to "happen" instead of moving the storyline along.  Thirty-three minutes into the film was the first song, but after that...they just kept coming... The film is over 2 hours long, which to me seems way too long!
• Acting
• Both Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald won Academy Awards for acting.   It's not the acting style that we're used to today.  It seems more formal and stiff.  It's almost like they are acting for the stage, instead of for the screen. 
• Timelessness
• This film feels dated.  I know, it's black and white and it's a musical.  But, so is From the opening titles, to the acting style, to the storyline it doesn't feel relevant today.  
• Emotionality
•  Considering I fell asleep...
  
• Fun Facts
• The kid who was Alfalfa in the Little Rascals was one of the choir boys
• Fred Mertz from "I Love Lucy" was in it too!
• Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same role.  This was the first and last time it happened.  The Academy changed the rules after that...big surprise!

*Every time I see that title, that song, "You Can Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac pops in my head.  I really think that I have some kind of musical OCD...songs pop into my head all the time, usually during mundane tasks.  And, to my husband's dismay I was a Girl Scout for 10 years and there's an arsenal of annoying campfire songs in my repertoire like "Black Socks" and "The Princess Pat". 

Tomorrow...Kramer vs. Kramer