Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

alexanderdavies-99382 This film deserves a much higher rating than what it has as it portrays war on a much more realistic footing. The soldier characters aren't depicted as being "he-man" types or as being more brave than the average person. They are simply put into a grave situation where they have to learn to kill the enemy and to endure all kinds of horrors along the way. "The Fighting 69th" is such a film and more. James Cagney plays an Irish street brawler who joins the war during 1917, along with many other men. They all form the 69th legion which has a reputation for producing some of the finest soldiers in the American army. Cagney proves to be a less than ideal soldier, via being insubordinate, arrogant and also a coward. Pat O' Brien as the priest who is posted with the 69th, offers Cagney some much needed guidance so that he may find his courage. We are spared nothing when it comes to the horrors of war as young men scream in agonising pain before their lives are snuffed out and others who bravely fight regardless. The writing is of a high calibre, so is the acting. Cagney is a bit different here as it wasn't often that he would retreat from a fight or convict of any sort. In the above film, he makes it apparent how much of a coward he is and tries more than once to run away from the German enemy. "The Fighting 69th" is a masterpiece from "Warner Bros."

John T. Ryan ONCE ONE REMEMBERS that this story, based on the career of Army Chaplain, Father Duffy, is very Hollywood, it can be properly evaluated and absorbed into the intellect. Although the story is highly fabricated and fictionalized, it nonetheless brings us in contact with a proud old Regiment and its tough, but saintly Catholic Priest Chaplain.THE STORY PRESENTS a stark contrast in characterization by pitting the "lost sheep", draftee/PFC Jerry Plunkett (James Cagney) against Father Duffy (Pat O'Brien), the Officers and the entire U.S. Army. Various characters are depicted in between the two extremes. The best character of this classification is "Crepe Hanger" Burke* (Frank McHugh); who also is a sort agent of comic relief.COURAGE UNDER FIRE is a central theme of the story. The behaviour of ordinary 'Citizen Soldiers', called "Doughboys" in World War I, is dramatized throughout the picture. The very action of taking a bunch of raw recruits from their lives in the 5 Bourroughs of NYC's Irish neighborhoods and transforming them post-haste into soldiers is an interesting subject in itself and one that provides so much of the interaction of the film.ONE VERY INTERESTING aspect of the film is the inclusion of the story of well known poet, Alfred Joyce Kilmer (18861918), who was portrayed by Warner Brothers' star, Jeffrey Lynn. Corporal Joyce Kilmer was killed in action with the NY 69th on July 30, 1918.AS A SORT of historical footnote to this story, those who visit NYC's Times Square should stop and take a look at the memorial to the Priest.ALONG WITH THE two other pictures of this period, Warner Brothers gave us a sort of World War I Trilogy. THE FIGHTING 69th is joined by SERGEANT YORK and THE ROARING 20's in giving us a cinematic picture of WWI and its effect on our way of life in the USA and the whole World.NOTE * The term "Crepe Hanger" is one of those vanishing terms that is largely unknown today. The meaning is one who is always a downer and displays a chronic pessimistic attitude toward everything. The origin of this comes from the old custom of draping the home of the recently deceased with Black Crepe Paper as a symbol of mourning.

PamelaShort The Fighting 69th is a fictional account of the heroics of the famed World War I Irish regiment. In this film, Cagney plays Jerry Plunkett, a scoffing, sneering rebel who mocks military tradition and has disregard for all authority. Plunkett is arrogant and cocky during training, but in his first battle he shows his cowardice, which results in a shelling from the enemy that kills a number of his comrades. Pat O'Brien plays Father Duffy, who helps the remorseful Jerry redeem himself, and Jerry becomes a hero. Warner Brother's regulars Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, George Brent and Dennis Morgan play their parts well in this large money-making film of 1940. The spectacular battle scenes inflated the film's budget, and an extensive promotional tour culminated in New York City's Time Square, where the real Father Duffy greeted the cast. He shook hands with Cagney and O'Brien as thousands of fans cheered. Some may find this film very hokey and dated while others may enjoy the entertaining James Cagney who always puts real character into his performances . I'll let the reader decide for themselves on this one.

sol1218 (Some Spoilers) The movie "The Fighting 69th" follows that mostly Irish 165th infantry combat unit, also known as the Fighting 69th, from Camp Mills in New York State to the bloody fighting in the final and climatic battle of WWI in the Argonne-Meus Forest in France. It was in the battle of the Argonne Forest that the US Expeditionary Force suffered its greatest losses in all of WWI: 130,000 casualties with some 27,000 killed or missing.The film centers around the beloved Chaplin of the Fighting 69th Father Francis J. Duffy, Pat O'Brien, and the arrogant and at the same time yellow-bellied Pvt. Jerry Plunkett, James Cagney, who despite his quick with his fists reputation was totally gutless when it came to put up or shut up under enemy fire. Plunkett earned the disrespect of everyone in his unit with his big mouth about he'll come home after the war with a chest full of battle ribbons and combat medals.It was when Plunkett and the men of the Fighting 69th came under fire by the Germans that he froze and tired to wimp himself out of fighting by putting on a act, which wasn't that hard for him to do, of cowardice that in fact cost the lives of over a dozen of his comrades. It was Father Duffy's faith in Pluckett's ability in being a soldier that kept him from being transfered out of the unit for good as well as , which Pluckett always wanted, far behind the battle-lines.Despite Plunkett's miserable record as a combat soldier Father Duffy got his commanding officer Major "Wild Bill" Donovan, George Brant, to give Plunkett another chance only to have him screw up again costing the lives of another half dozen of his men. Court-martial-led and sentenced to be shot at sunrise Plunkett is given a second, or is it his third or forth, chance to redeem himself when the Germans open up on the American forces with a deadly artillery and mortar barrage. This gives Plunkett the chance to escape and make his way back home, to Brooklyn New York, during all the confusion.Making it to the local church Plunkett sees Father Duffy conducting services for the man of the Fighting 69th there and something clicks in the terribly confused Pvt. Plunkett's head. It's then with the encouragement of Father Duffy that Plunkett turns over a new leaf and heads straight to the front lines not to show how brave he is but to make up far all the damage he caused in his cowedly actions up until then. With the help of his former combat company sergeant "Big Mike" Wynn, Alan Hale, Plunkett holds off a determined German offensive blasting a hole through the Germans lines and at the same time saving Sgt. Wynn's, who up until then had no use for Plunkett at all, life!Excellent men of war type of movie that shows that bravery and cowardice are motivated by one and same emotion:Fear. Pvt. Plunkett's bravado back in Brooklyn was short-circuited in the battle fields in France in that the worst that could happen to him back there, Brooklyn, was a bloody nose or a black eye. In France Plunkett not only was risking his life but the lives of his fellow soldiers in whatever, good or bad, actions he took. It took a lot of soul searching on Plunkett's part as well as Father Duffy's faith in him that brought Plunkett around and made a soldier as well as hero out of him. Something that Pvt. Plunkett never thought that he had in him until that one brief fleeting, as well as magical, moment in church that turned his entire life around.