Kerri Battles the AFI’s Top 100 – #98: Yankee Doodle Dandy

 

Prior to spending all my waking hours studying the titles on the AFI’s Top 100 list (because that’s all I do now, obviously), I had never even heard of Yankee Doodle Dandy. Now, I consider myself something of a film buff and people may have, from time to time, in passing, referred to me as The Human IMDb (NBD). So how, exactly, did the American Film Institute add to their list a film whose title didn’t sound even remotely familiar to me, aside from that whole feather named Macaroni thing? And who the hell is this George M. Cohan character? AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN JAMES CAGNEY PLAYED SOMETHING OTHER THAN A GANGSTER?! Lest my universe become even more askew, I sat down to watch the thing. It turned out to be very appropriate Memorial Day viewing.

It would seem that George M. Cohan was, at one point, actually a pretty famous guy. He started out as a part of his family’s vaudeville act, the 4 Cohans, and, as an adult,  managed write, compose, produce, and act in more than three dozen musicals on Broadway. This was, of course, decades and decades before Andrew Lloyd Webber had that Broadway shit on lock down. Cohan penned that whole feather named Macaroni thing, along with “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “It’s A Grand Old Flag”, and every other American Patriotic Standard you’ve probably ever heard. He was also purportedly born on the 4th of July, which would explain the title of this musical biopic. If you think you can’t  stomach black and white or musicals, get off this page right now, you uncultured swine. Seriously, what are you even doing here? Go watch a Michael Bay flick already and stop wasting my time because I enjoyed every minute of this film and you are guaranteed to not give a single fuck as to why. give me a chance to explain what you’re missing.

The actors’ performances are awe-inspiring.The musical bits are reserved for stage performances within the film rather than having random characters burst into song like that’s a thing people do on the daily in real life. There is no gunplay, no explosions, no violence, and, really, no true villain to speak of within the full 2-hour movie. There’s just the (incredibly fictionalized) story of a talented guy who won’t give up on showbiz even when it tries to give up on him and, ultimately, impacts the American culture in a way we’ll never forget, even if we forgot – or never knew – his name. The whole thing leaves you with that Capra-esque feeling that everything is going to be okay. Still, as we all know, a good story alone doesn’t get you on the AFI’s Top 100. And that’s where I get confused. Because I think that’s what actually happened.

Yankee Doodle Dandy didn’t bring anything technical to the table that was particularly unique or innovative, but it did what it did with obvious expertise. It certainly wasn’t the first movie musical and it didn’t exactly break any records. It did, however, earn Warner Bros. a statistical fuckton of money when it was released in 1942. And, as I’ve discovered through casual conversation throughout the last week, plenty of people still love it today. It doesn’t matter that the events portrayed are the Hollywood-spit-shined version of the truth or that it neatly wraps the American Dream up in a little bow of Patriotism at the end — that’s basically any contemporary movie that’s released with the tag line of, “Based on a True Story.” Hell, that’s Forest Gump in a nutshell. Everyone knows that Forest Gump isn’t a real guy and he didn’t do all those neat things. That doesn’t stop us from connecting with the story and leaving it on every time we catch it on cable. Neither George M. Cohan or his life were as idyllic as Yankee Doodle Dandy would have us believe, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a captivating and beautifully told story that we all desperately want to watch. Frankly, as someone who spent her impressionable years watching Nick at Nite, AMC, and MST3K, I’m genuinely confused and upset about not having seen this movie until now.

Here’s what it all boils down to: Yankee Doodle Dandy unequivocally deserves a spot on the AFI’s list. It’s a film that will captivate that has captivated audiences for over 70 years and will continue to captivate them as long as previous audiences continue to spread the word. Film isn’t a new thing. It’s been around for longer than your grandparents have been alive. To disregard a film simply because it came out before technicolor is to deprive yourself of the possibility of watching true innovation occur in (almost) a live snapshot in time. Have you ever been forced to read an old book in an English class and been surprised by how much you enjoyed it? The same thing is possible with film. Just give it a shot.