Going My Way

Going My Way is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran. Crosby sings five songs with other songs performed onscreen by Metropolitan Opera's star mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens and the Robert Mitchell Boys Choir. Going My Way was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. Going My Way was the highest-grossing picture of 1944, and was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning seven, including Best Picture. Its success helped to make movie exhibitors choose Crosby as the biggest box-office draw of the year, a record he would hold for the remainder of the 1940s. After World War II, Crosby and McCarey presented a copy of the film to Pope Pius XII at the Vatican. Plot Father Charles "Chuck" O'Malley (Bing Crosby), an incoming priest from East St. Louis, is transferred to St. Dominic's Church in New York City. On his first day, his unconventional style gets him into a series of mishaps; his informal appearance and attitude make a poor impression with the elder pastor, Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald). The very traditional Fitzgibbon is further put off by O'Malley's recreational habits – particularly his golf-playing – and his friendship with the even more casual Father Timmy O'Dowd (Frank McHugh). O'Dowd tricks O'Malley into revealing that the bishop actually sent him to take charge of the parish's affairs, with Fitzgibbon remaining on as pastor. To spare Fitzgibbon's feelings, O'Malley acts as if he is simply his assistant.