Cagney: The Fighting 69th

My all time favorite movie - and the one that inspired my hobby to collect all movies starring James Cagney - is The Fighting 69th. Cagney plays Jerry Plunkett, a punk with a tough-guy act and cowardly soul who ultimately redeems himself through a final act of valor on a WWI battlefield. Among the cast are such stalwarts as Pat O'Brien (as Father Duffy), Alan Hale (the father of the actor many of us watched on Gilligan's Island), Frank McHugh, and Dennis Morgan (Christmas in Connecticut) as Lt. Ames. I treated myself this afternoon to watching this old favorite.

The movie as a whole pays tribute to the 69th Infantry Regiment, and in particular to Father Francis Patrick Duffy. Duffy Square, the northern half of Times Square, is named after him. The poet Joyce Kilmer was a sergeant in the 69th, and died on the battlefield in 1918. The movie includes a spoken excerpt of his poem "Rouge Bouquet," written to commemorate the loss of 21 soldiers of the 69th. So while the movie is a fictionalized account that centers around Cagney's character, many of the periphery events are factual.

I was first introduced to this movie in a high school history class. I'm not sure why it captured me and birthed a fascination with Cagney. A couple of years ago, I even went so far to buy online a piece of movie memorabilia from this film, an authenticated still photo of the scene where Cagney and Hale first face off as Cagney receives his uniform (below).


I think part of what drives my love of this movie is my appreciation for the roles Cagney and O'Brien play. Cagney's Plunkett is a malcontent who has major problems with authority, who despite his bravado finds himself making a huge mistake, resulting in the deaths of several of his comrades. Later, while on a recon mission, Plunkett panics and tries to run away, crying out and giving away their position to the enemy. After a court martial that results in an execution order, a major battle ensues that gives him a final chance for faith, courage and redemption, all of which he takes. O'Brien's Father Duffy, however, really captures my attention. The scripture he quotes and the prayers he utters all throughout the movie, although delivered in typical 1940's movie stiffness, nevertheless ring authentic and true. Duffy goes after Plunkett as he would the lost sheep, leaving the other 99 for the sake of the one gone so far astray. Nobody is beyond hope, despite all appearance and evidence to the contrary.

The movie ends with O'Brien reciting a prayer, as faces of the fallen march by. I cannot find the scene online, and don't have my system setup to capture it myself at the moment. Nevertheless, the words are powerful, and are a fitting end to both the movie and this post:

Oh Heavenly Father,
Here I beseech you the prayer of this America's lost generation.
They loved life too, O Lord,
It was as sweet to them as to the living of today.
They accepted privation, wounds, and death,
That an ideal might live.
Don't let it be forgotten, Father.
Amid turmoil and angry passions,
When all worthwhile things seem swept away,
Let the tired eyes of a troubled world rise up,
And see the shining citadel of which these young lives
Form the imperishable stones, America.
A citadel of peace. Peace forevermore.
This I beg of you,
Through Christ our Lord, Amen.