I like musicals and I like James Cagney, so naturally I wanted to see Yankee Doodle Dandy. Apart from a slightly sloppy ending and the odd moment of corn and sentimentality, this is an almost perfect movie and one of Cagney's best movies. Cagney himself is just superb in his role, and looks as though he is having the time of his life.

And he is helped enormously by some wonderful songs, an engaging well-paced story, amusing dialogue(apart from the odd moment where it does descend into the corny territory),likable characters, spirited direction and choreography and lavish photography, costumes and sets.

Overall, this is a great movie and worth seeing for Cagney. If you are a fan of his and haven't yet seen it, when you do I think you'll love it as much as I do. 9/10 Bethany Cox

James Cagney won his only Oscar for his recreation of George M. Cohgan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Already terminally ill, Cohan lived long enough to see the film and no doubt he would have approved of it because it sure is how he would like to have been remembered.

In 1942 when Yankee Doodle Dandy premiered there was a whole generations of people left alive who saw George M. Cohan perform. Watching the film today Cohan is like a figure from antiquity. But Warner Brothers was lucky to have James Cagney with the studio who's dancing style closely paralleled Cohan's. If it is ever run on Turner Classic Movies, make sure you see George M. Cohan's sound film The Phantom President. You will be astonished to see how closely Cagney captured his style. In the same way that Philip Seymour Hoffman captured Truman Capote and Joaquin Phoenix became Johnny Cash.

Cohan's contemporaries are also like names from antiquity. But a century ago when Cohan was just hitting the big time performers like Fay Templeton, Nora Bayes, and Eddie Foy were very big stars and in 1942 plenty of people saw them also. I wish we had some film of them to see how Irene Manning, Frances Langford, and Eddie Foy, Jr. did in their recreations. I'm sure Foy, Jr. did a smashing job with his Dad.

The background stuff is true enough. Cohan was born to a pair of vaudeville performers Jerry and Nellie Cohan played here by Walter Huston and Rosemary DeCamp. Later on a sister was added to the Cohan family and here Josie Cohan is played by Jeanne Cagney. They did do all the towns, big and small, in America. Cagney meets wife Joan Leslie at Shea's Theater in Buffalo, New York and Shea's survives to this day. And his first real success was Little Johnny Jones which score included American classics, Yankee Doodle Dandy and Give My Regards to Broadway.

What's left out is the fact Cohan had two wives. His second wife survived him and died in the early Seventies. As his songs became popular in patriotic/rightwing circles, Cohan's personal politics reflected that. He fought hard and lost in the battle for Actors Equity. Cohan thought a union of players was tantamount to Communism. But such was his standing among performers that Cohan was granted the unique privilege of being allowed to appear on stage without having to join Equity once the union was recognized as the bargaining agent for players.

Cohan is shown in Yankee Doodle Dandy as gracefully having retired when other trends in popular music took over. Far from it, he was a very bitter man and when he did that final comeback in I'd Rather Be Right he fought with Kaufman and Hart over the book and Rodgers and Hart over the songs.

But Yankee Doodle Dandy presents the public musical face of George M. Cohan and does it very well. To this day, some forty years after first seeing Yankee Doodle Dandy on television, I love the recreations of Yankee Doodle Dandy, Give My Regards to Broadway, and You're a Grand Old Flag as they were first seen on stage. Plus some of the snatches of the lesser known Cohan songs as performed by the players portraying the Cohan family and others.

When all is said and done, George M. Cohan was a great force of nature in the American musical theater. And we thank his father, mother, and sister, and George M. himself for what he left us.

I have seen this film several times--including just recently. However, somehow I forgot to review the movie--and I noticed this today.

This is a difficult film to rate, as it's so unique. After all, seeing Jimmy Cagney in the lead is a bit surreal. You don't expect to see this tough-guy performing as a hoofer. You also don't expect to see his style of tap dancing. It is NOTHING like Fred Astaire--full of grace and style. Instead, it's pure energy and is, at times, a bit gangly. Now this isn't to say it's bad--it just isn't subtle as Cagney throws EVERYTHING into the dances. His tapping is a bit more like stomping---but, it is still a marvel to watch.

The film is a VERY Hollywoodized version of the life of the writer/performer George M. Cohan. Much of the guy's life is in the film but also much of the film is pure fiction meant to entertain. This is VERY typical of a film of this era. However, despite the style of dance and liberties the film takes, it is also incredibly entertaining and fun--filled with unabashed patriotism and spirit. Well worth seeing.