17th Academy Awards · 1945
Going My Way
Directed by Leo McCarey
“When the St. Louis Browns lost Bing, the Cardinal got a good singer!”
The story
Youthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining the Roman Catholic clergy. After being appointed to a run-down New York parish, O'Malley's worldly knowledge helps him connect with a gang of boys looking for direction, eventually winning over the aging, conventional Parish priest.
What critics & audiences say
Tomatometer85%Fresh#78 of 98 winnersFamous lines
A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors.
Hope? You know, Chuck, when you're young, it's easy to keep the fires of hope burning bright. But at my age, you're lucky if the pilot light doesn't go out.
Keep your head down now, father. And watch your language.
Father Chuck O'Malley: Mrs. McGonigle's rheumatism is kicking up again. I told her to bury a potato in the back yard.
Father Fitzgibbons: That's for warts.
Father Chuck O'Malley: That's what she said.
He convinced me I have a heart. And, after all, it wouldn't be a church without a mortgage.
Ted Haines Sr.: Son, never loan money to a church. As soon as you start to close in on them, everybody thinks you're a heel.
Ted Haines Jr.: Well, aren't you?
Ted Haines Sr.: Yeah.
I'm sure that the way to say what I'd like to say will occur to me after you've gone.
Father Fitzgibbons: I gave them both my blessing.
Father Chuck O'Malley: And they gave you the bird.
Father Chuck O'Malley: That'll keep the pilot light burning.
Father Fitzgibbons: Yes, it ought to. Tastes like it has kerosene in it.
Quotes via Wikiquote
Fun facts
- Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for the same performance, and won Supporting Actor. The Academy subsequently changed its rules to prevent it happening again.Wikipedia · Accolades
- After World War II, Bing Crosby and director Leo McCarey presented a copy of Going My Way to Pope Pius XII at the Vatican.Wikipedia · Introduction
- "Swinging on a Star" from the film topped the Billboard charts for nine weeks during a 28-week stay.Wikipedia · Soundtrack
- Going My Way was the highest-grossing picture of 1944, and its success helped make Bing Crosby the year's biggest box-office draw, a title he held for the rest of the 1940s.Wikipedia · Introduction
- Risë Stevens, seen performing Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in the film, really was a Met performer, and a few years later she became the leading Carmen of her generation.Wikipedia · Production
- Going My Way won seven Oscars from ten nominations, and its record of six above-the-line wins was not matched until Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2022.Wikipedia · Accolades
- The sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's, was released by RKO rather than Paramount in 1945, with Crosby back as Father O'Malley opposite Ingrid Bergman as Sister Mary Benedict.Wikipedia · Adaptations and related films
- The film inspired a 1962–63 ABC television series of the same name starring Gene Kelly as Father O'Malley, which ran for 30 episodes.Wikipedia · Adaptations and related films
- St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California, stood in for the film's St. Dominic's, while the golf scenes were shot at Lakeside Country Club in Toluca Lake.Wikipedia · Production
- Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called Barry Fitzgerald's priest "one of the warmest characters the screen has ever known" and said it was a "cruel slight" to suggest the film was Crosby's show alone.Wikipedia · Critical response