The Fighting 69th (1940)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Norman Reilly Raine (original screenplay) &
Fred Niblo Jr. (original screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 July 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Biography | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Jammed With Action ! . . Loaded With Excitement ! . . . And Every Thrill-Packed Word Is True !

Plot:

Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove himself in the end.

Plot Keywords:

Chaplain | Cowardice | Braggart | Faith | Poet

Cast

James Cagney	...	Private Jerry Plunkett
Pat O'Brien	...	Father Francis P. Duffy
George Brent	...	Major 'Wild Bill' Donovan
Jeffrey Lynn	...	Sergeant Joyce Kilmer
Alan Hale	...	Sergeant 'Big Mike' Wynn
Frank McHugh	...	Terence 'Crepe-Hanger' Burke
Dennis Morgan	...	Lieutenant Oliver Ames
Dick Foran	...	Lieutenant 'Long John' Wynn
William Lundigan	...	Private Timothy 'Timmy' Wynn
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Paddy Dolan
Henry O'Neill	...	The Colonel
John Litel	...	Captain Mangan
Sammy Cohen	...	Mike Murphy, an alias of Mischa Moskowitz
Harvey Stephens	...	Major Alex Anderson
William Hopper	...	Private Turner (as DeWolf Hopper)
Tom Dugan	...	Private McManus
Frank Wilcox	...	Lieutenant John Norman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Herbert Anderson	...	Private Casey (uncredited)
John Arledge	...	Second Alabama man (uncredited)
Trevor Bardette	...	First Alabama man (uncredited)
Jack Boyle Jr.	...	Chuck (uncredited)
Richard Clayton	...	Tierney (uncredited)
Frank Coghlan Jr.	...	Jimmy (uncredited)
Joseph Crehan	...	Doctor giving inoculations (uncredited)
John Daheim	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Eddie Dew	...	Regan (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Medical captain (uncredited)
Edgar Edwards	...	Engineer officer (uncredited)
Frank Faylen	...	Engineer sergeant at cave-in (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Supply sergeant (uncredited)
Jerry Fletcher	...	Telephonist (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	German officer (uncredited)
Edmund Glover	...	Fourth Alabama man (uncredited)
John Harron	...	Carrol (uncredited)
J. Anthony Hughes	...	Healey (uncredited)
Layne Ireland	...	Hefferman (uncredited)
Donald Kerr	...	New recruit (uncredited)
George Kilgen	...	Ryan (uncredited)
Jacques Lory	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas	...	Doctor checking eyes (uncredited)
Frank Mayo	...	Captain Bootz (uncredited)
Frank Melton	...	Third Alabama man (uncredited)
Elmo Murray	...	O'Brien (uncredited)
Byron Nelson	...	Soldier (uncredited)
George O'Hanlon	...	Eddie Kearney (uncredited)
Jack Perrin	...	Major (uncredited)
George Reeves	...	Jack O'Keefe (uncredited)
John Ridgely	...	Moran (uncredited)
Frank Sully	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Roland Varno	...	German officer (uncredited)
Emmett Vogan	...	Doctor giving physicals (uncredited)

Directed by
William Keighley

Writing credits
Norman Reilly Raine		(original screenplay) &
Fred Niblo Jr.		(original screenplay) and
Dean Riesner		(original screenplay) (as Dean Franklin)

Produced by
Louis F. Edelman	....	associate producer
Hal B. Wallis	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Adolph Deutsch		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Tony Gaudio		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Owen Marks

Art Direction by
Ted Smith

Makeup Department
Perc Westmore	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Frank Heath	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Charles Lang	....	sound

Special Effects by
Byron Haskin	....	special effects
Rex Wimpy	....	special effects

Stunts
Harvey Parry	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buster Wiles	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Leo F. Forbstein	....	musical director
Hugo Friedhofer	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Captain John T. Prout	....	technical advisor (as Capt. John T. Prout)
Mark White	....	technical advisor
George Boothby	....	technical advisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Pictures (as Warner Bros.-First National Pictures Inc.)

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1940) (USA) (theatrical) (as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc.)
• Warner Bros. Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Entertainment (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Bros. Television (2004) (USA) (TV)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Finland (1950) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1949) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy (200?) (Finland) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (Japan) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vidéo (2001) (France) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vidéo (2007) (France) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Father Duffy of the Fighting 69th (USA) (working title)
The Old 69th (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min | Finland:84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hebrew | Latin | Yiddish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-15 (new rating: 2001) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #5756)

Filming Locations:

Providencia Ranch, Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Actual archived war combat footage was used in the film, as was footage of soldiers marching through the Arch of Triumph.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After the skirmish in the woods, an "unconscious" German prisoner obligingly stands on his feet prior to being carried back to the American lines.

Quotes:

Sergeant Joyce Kilmer: [reading his own poem at the site where many of the men had been buried alive] Perhaps their brave young spirits hear the bugle sing, go to sleep, go to sleep. Slumber well where the shell screamed and fell. Let your rifles rest on the muddy floor; you will not need them any more. Danger's past now at last, go to sleep. And up to Heaven's doorway floats from the wood called Rouge Bouquet...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Projectionist (1971)

Soundtrack:

Old Black Joe

Their raking the whole line! Will be next!

(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.