The Fighting 69th Movie Review 1940

Cornball but entertaining WWI drama with lots of action. Cagney is a Brooklyn street tough who joins the all-Irish 69th New York regiment but could care less about its famed military history. He promptly defies his superiors and barely scrapes through his training. Sent to France, the swaggering Cagney turns coward when confronted by the horrors of war but eventually redeems himself. O'Brien is the famed regimental chaplain Father Duffy, while Brent is commander "Wild Bill" Donovan, who would later found the OSS in WWII. Lots of heart-tugging emotion backed with a fine supporting cast.

Distribution

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Available on VHS
Running time 90 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

World War I, Screen Teams: Cagney & O'Brien

Screenplay

Fred Niblo, Norman Reilly Raine, Dean Franklin

Cast

James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent, Jeffrey Lynn, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, Dennis Morgan, William Lundigan, Dick Foran, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Henry O'Neill, John Litel, George Reeves, Frank "Junior" Coghlan, Sammy Cohen, Joseph Crehan, Eddie Dew, William Hopper, Frank Mayo, Herbert Anderson, Byron Nelson, Harvey Stephens, Charles Trowbridge, Roland Varno

Cinematography

Gaetano Antonio "Tony" Gaudio

Director

William Keighley

Music

Adolph Deutsch

Producer

Jack L. Warner, Hal B. Wallis, Warner Bros.