And this week's Friday night movie has been... Yankee Doodle Dandy!
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Another trip to the classics, with this flick hailing all the way from 1943. I first heard of this movie over twenty years ago when I read of it in a book. There, it said that the lead, James Cagney, took a departure from the gangster roles that made him famous to playing a biopic of theatre giant George M Cohan. This intrigued me: On paper it seemed like a great way to a) dodge typecasting and a way to show one's versatility. In fact, could you do something like that now? Like say, John Travolta going from a dancing guy to a tough g......never mind.
More recently, I watched a DVD Kiera has detailing the history of Broadway and I came to know who George M Cohan was. So I guess now is a good time as any.
Given this is a film that's nearly eighty years old, it would be easy to dismiss it for it's age. And while it may be dated in places, the strength of this movie purely lies in telling the story of Cohan's life . Sure it may be easy to dismiss any biopic for inaccuracies, but it does do an effective job of showing a life lived and introduces a lot of his music. And some of his music I did recognise even if they were adapted for AFL Team theme songs.
So yeah as a celebration of both Broadway and the life of a man who revolutionised it, this film still holds up.
And of Cagney? Well, he scored an Oscar for Best Actor, he singled out this movie as his favourite performance and apparently came up with the tap-dancing routines on the spot.
And I don't doubt him in the slightest.
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