#98 - Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) - Michael Curtiz

Yankee Doodle Dandy takes us back to a time when there were movies called Yankee Doodle Dandy. It’s hard to imagine that title being released in the last few decades. These days the story of entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer, and producer George M. Cohan would likely be called The and any one of those words. We’re serious about our titles these days – there are no more Dandies or Doodles or the gee-wiz, backslapping attitude that goes along with them. The difference in titles reflects the difference in times. The movie was filmed only a few years after the time period it depicts and both the filmmaking and the subject-matter reflect a bygone era of cheerful patriotism and innocent hope for the American dream.

The movie begins with Cohan being summoned to the White House, afraid he might be in trouble for the way he was impersonating the president in his current show. He walks there in the rain, knocks on the door, and heads up to oval office, easy as pie. He then sits down with the back of FDR’s head – who isn’t upset but is happy to see him – and begins reciting his life story. It’s a fairly absurd way to frame the biopic, but the implausibility has a good-spirited innocence to it that echoes throughout the movie. It’s the age when visitors spoke to one security guard on their way to meet the president.

Cohan was born on stage. Not quite, but his parents and sister were performers and the family formed a touring show when the kids were very young. The film traces the group’s rise and progress across the still fresh-faced United States. Such a career path took plenty of dedication and perseverance from the parents, but it was the young George who had the most confidence, energy, and charisma, and it was only a matter of time before that fire would be channeled.

Most of the movie follows Cohan’s rise to fame – his pursuit of the American dream, pursued as it was on the back of feel-good patriotism and good-natured American pride. Cohan musicals with names like The Governor’s Son, Running for Office, You’re a Grand Old Flag, George Washington Jr., The Yankee Prince, and The American Idea stoked the flames of national pride and made Cohan a Broadway star. This was the age before patriotism and nationalism had a bad name. Whatever gave them their bad name – whether it was the World Wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam or Korean Wars, or the War on Terrorism – American patriotism has a different flavor now than it did then. Cohan’s America was bright-eyed and positive, and both his songs and the time period that gave rise to them reflect a more modest kind of patriotism – a pride in the country, but also a sturdy appreciation for all it provides. History has shown the ugly side of patriotism and it’s now left in an awkward position. Yankee Doodle Dandy shows a simpler time – a time when a man could tap-dance his way to the White House.

James Cagney plays Cohan with up-beat earnestness and cheerful self-confidence. He’s a charismatic rascal, full of gumption and energy. But he’s so likeable you just want to put him in a headlock and give him a noogie. Cagney’s apparently accurate way of half-singing half-speaking all Cohan’s songs seems like it should be irritating but actually makes him more endearing. And being a movie about the Song-and-Dance Man, Yankee Doodle Dandy has plenty of songs and dances. The songs are hokey but catchy and memorable. Most of the movie is a highlight reel of Cagney productions; the film is not so much a musical by choice but by accident. Some of the performances are longer than they need to be, but their production value is high and can be entertaining the way they would be on stage. It’s like Broadway on the screen.

Yankee Doodle Dandy is a positive movie about an era of hopeful positivity. It shows that with enough American spirit anyone can achieve the American dream. With hard work, perseverance, and old-fashioned family values, the son of Irish immigrants can become one of the biggest stars in the country. But all the flag-waving and parading that goes along with this message can become a little too much. The movie’s structure is also conventional and only surprising for its straightforwardness – it takes no turns and may actually be too positive. Cohan seems to have had few bad days and made few missteps, except for that time his father spanked him as a child. Maybe the real Cohan’s life was that smooth – if he had all the zest and energy that Cagney gives him it is possible. But despite its flaws and cheesiness, Yankee Doodle Dandy’s positivity remains contagious and genuinely uplifting and fun.

As President Roosevelt reminds Cohan, a man can give his life for his country in many different ways. And so as Cohan sings, send the word that the Yanks are coming, and it’s Yankee Doodle do or die.