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I've seen it a dozen times, and I'm always amazed at how the movie doesn't fail to hold your interest the entire time. It's rousing, it's stirring, it's high energy, all the time!

I've not seen the colorized version, but the black and white is so appropriate to its time, I'm satisfied with the movie as it.

As many reviewers have mentioned, James Cagney is so perfect in this role, you can't imagine anyone else in it! He always considered himself a song-and-dance man, though you wouldn't know it if you were a fan of his many gangster flicks. Fred Astaire turned down the role, if you believe the many stories. And, as much as I love Astaire, the film would have suffered for it. The manic energy Cagney displays in the highlight musical numbers just brings his role to perfection.

If you are looking for a classic, never-to-be-topped movie about a songwriter, Broadway, great, rousing music, 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' is your film.

VERY HIGHLY Recommended! One of the top films of all time. (The American Film Institute lists it at 100th place, but it should be moved up much higher!)


Excellent Musical   May 11, 2004
With gloriously entertaining numbers and top notch direction. Among the best biopics of all time. A great, amazing, brilliant performance from Cagney; and excellent jobs from Walter Huston (Tresure of the Sierra Madre) and Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) who got help in the musical numbers by George M. Cohan himself. Watch for the marvellous performance from Cagney; but the musical numbers are great too. This is a good edition; Warner has been earning great merit in the DVD world lately.


My father thanks you . . . and I thank you   January 21, 2004
I was totally biased to love this film, because it was my late father's unabashed favorite. He adored Cagney, and this is truly Cagney at his best. But bias aside, this is a wonderful, wonderful movie. Yes, it's dated, and the flag-waving may seem over the top, but still it's one of the most enjoyable ways I can think of to kill two hours.

I can't help but think that Cagney's talents were largely wasted in his myriad gangster roles, because his athletic, acrobatic dancing in this film is beyond impressive -- I found myself thinking, "Were either Astair or Kelly this good?" And the sequence where he meets Mary, his future bride, is laugh-out-loud hilarious.

This is a must-own DVD. I've talked about the quality of film itself, but, happily, the transfer is also of exceedingly high quality. And all the extras are fun and interesting. First rate!


Yankee Doodle Cagney   December 6, 2003
I didn't expect to like this movie at all, as I'm not much of a flag waver and from the isolated scenes I had seen from this film, that seemed to be all that took place in it. It's still pretty cornball in its approach to American patriotism and fervour, and with the American government currently bullying its way around the world, the "let's be proud we're all Americans" broo-hah-hah on display in the film is even harder to digest. But don't avoid this movie if those are your only reservations about it.

"Yankee Doodle Dandy" has an energetic drive to it that many films lack. The 125-minute running time flies by, and the film is never once boring. This energy is due almost entirely to one thing: James Cagney.

Cagney tears into the role of George M. Cohan with everything he's got, and just try taking your eyes off of him whenever he's on screen. He can't sing at all, and he's really more of an acrobat than a dancer, but he pulls off the role of a Broadway showman effortlessly.

The rah-rah American sentiments are obviously a product of the time, and little more than World War II propaganda at moments, but I could swallow them easier in this film for some reason. Maybe because when they're at their most intrusive (the "Grand Old Flag" number, for instance), the spectacle is so rousing that I would have been just as moved if they'd been singing about cheese and crackers.

A deservedly beloved American classic.

Grade: A