WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

utgard14 Jimmy Cagney reunites with his White Heat co-star Virginia Mayo in a very different kind of movie - a musical comedy about a Broadway director who goes to the West Point military academy to put on a show. Cagney is the Broadway director and Mayo is his singing and dancing girlfriend. The two have a banter and chemistry that I enjoyed a lot. Doris Day is Cagney's movie star protégé he ropes into helping with the show. She falls for West Point cadet Gordon MacRae and the two sing quite a bit. It's an enjoyable film, although the songs are mostly forgettable. I think this was meant as more of a showcase for rising stars Day and MacRae but it's Cagney and Mayo who keep the film interesting. Added bonus is seeing Alan Hale, Jr. act alongside Cagney. Jimmy was in several movies with Alan Hale, Sr. who died earlier this same year.

jacobs-greenwood As opposed to a story about the United States Military Academy, this musical romance comedy gave James Cagney a chance to return to the genre since his Best Actor Oscar performance as George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), though one does get a sense of West Point's storied history and tradition. Ray Heindorf's Score received an Academy Award nomination. It was directed by Roy Del Ruth with a screenplay by Charles Hoffman, John Monks Jr., and Irving Wallace that was based on Wallace's story.Cagney plays 'Bix' Bixby, a dance director that once worked for Cohan and Ziegfeld but, because his argumentative personality has alienated everyone over the years with the exception of his girlfriend come fiancée Eve Dillon (Virginia Mayo), now works on cheap off-Broadway shows and gambles away everything he makes. Enter producer Harry Eberhart (Roland Winters) who, despite his turbulent past with Bix, is willing to give his old collaborator another chance on the annual show at the Academy. However, his reasons are not altruistic: Eberhart wants Bix to help convince his talented nephew Tom Fletcher (Gordon MacRae) that he can make a lot more money in show business than as an officer in the service of his country. Since Eve had just become fed up enough with her fiancé's gambling and reluctance to walk down the aisle with her to leave for Las Vegas, near penniless Bix decides to accept Eberhart's offer of $10,000 to do the show.Cagney plays the part as a hothead, a near parity of his earlier tough guy roles, that can't keep from punching the producer or anyone else who causes him to boil over. Once at West Point, he punches the beefy male officer that's playing the female lead - Alan Hale Jr. as Bull Gilbert - in the show, which causes the commandant (Frank Ferguson, uncredited) to propose that Bix, who'd been a decorated yet troublesome soldier during World War II, enter the Academy as a plebe in hopes that he can be better controlled.This is just one of the many preposterous plot elements within this film, others include leggy Mayo dancing on the stage and among the all-male cast without causing testosterone overload and a riot among the disciplined cadets, and Doris Day as Jan Wilson, a popular young actress singer dancer that has a past with Bix such that he can convince her to drop her studio's promotional tour to play the princess role in the West Point show; he also hopes that she'll help him to influence the talented singing Tom into leaving the Academy to sign with him for future productions.Naturally, Jan falls for Tom when the two explore flirtation walk and the kissing rock together. Gene Nelson plays Hal Courtland, a peer of Tom's with a talent for dancing who gets injured in time for the finale so that Cagney can demonstrate more of his unique hoofing abilities. Jerome Cowan appears ever so briefly as a Hollywood studio head that's frustrated by Jan's activities and plans to marry Tom.

classicsoncall The movie would have been a lot more entertaining if there was a consistent story line. The romance angle in particular between cadet Tom Fletcher (Gordon MacRae) and Jan Wilson (Doris Day) appeared to have an on/off/on again quality that had you questioning just how committed they could have been to each other. And why Cagney's character had to become a cadet himself was just the strangest stretch for a plot element to take that I had to wonder how this story was put together. But hey, Cagney is one of my favorite actors of any era, and it was a hoot catching him here with the strange gyrations wigging out over some poor dancer's inability to express themselves favorably with their feet. When he did get into the act himself, it was cool to see some of that old time Yankee Doodle Dandy exhibit itself in a handful of numbers. With the West Point backdrop, the story has it's share of patriotic gestures and tributes to the American spirit to offset some of the inconsistencies in the story. And when push came to shove, it was a genuine relief not to have to endure Alan Hale Junior as a Princess.

gkeith_1 Cagney punching. The former boxer. The master tap dancer. Showing Doris Day how to that time step with tap steps in the air. Wonderful. Loved seeing them dance together. Loved seeing Jimmy dancing with Virginia Mayo. Loved the singing, especially of Gordon MacRae. Loved Gene Nelson's master dancing. Enjoying seeing Alan Hale, Jr. in a role that was not on Gilligan's Island. Good to see versatility of Alan. Loved Jimmy's dance in B'klyn. Saw it before; did not realize Virginia was in the same dance, but that was wonderful, too. They were great together. Doris Day one of the few alive from this movie. I always enjoy her singing and dancing. Different and great to see Gene Nelson not dressed as a cowboy in Oklahoma!, even though I love that movie, too. Great that Bix could take over the B'klyn number from injured Gene Nelson, whom Bix/Jimmy punched out.