As history, Yankee Doodle Dandy was a pretty bad movie, starting with the fact that George M. Cohan was not born on the Fourth of July. Furthermore, the film invented a largely-false narrative of his life, making him seem like a helluva great guy when, in truth, not a lot of people who knew and worked with him felt that way. Corny? Predictable? Full of a shallow kind of patriotism? Yes to all three.
But I don't care. James Cagney is terrific in it and even when you know what's coming, the story is irresistible. Just writing this and posting the trailer makes me want to watch it again. Here's that trailer…