Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

edwagreen Average musical where James Cagney goes to West Point to get graduating senior Gordon MacRae out of the military so that he can pursue a show business career.Virginia Mayo and Doris Day are 2 ladies or cohorts in this scheme and go know that Day falls for MacRae causing many complications.As always, the musical productions are nicely staged as Cagney dances away 8 years after his Oscar-winning turn in "Yankee Doodle Dandy."There is some uneven moments as Cagney is castigated for being out and then is promptly honored. In fact, he gets "honored" several times in the film and it can be annoying.The songs Military Polka and the ending Brooklyn are memorable.Mayo and Cagney proved that they could dance up a storm here. When Day gets excited with Cagney, would she ever think that 5 years later the two of them would be in probably the best picture of their respective careers-"Love Me or Leave Me."Due to the weak plot, some may have wanted to leave West Point prematurely.

slymusic Starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Gene Nelson, and Alan Hale, Jr., "The West Point Story" is a very enjoyable musical comedy, even if the plot is somewhat convoluted. It's about a Broadway song & dance man named Elwin "Bix" Bixby (Cagney), who lately has been down on his heels, if you'll forgive the pun. Bix and his tart-tongued but faithful assistant Eve Dillon (Mayo) make a trip out to the famous military academy at West Point in order to help cadets Tom Fletcher (MacRae) and Hal Courtland (Nelson) put on their spring musical known as the 100th Nite Show. Tom is a great singer and Hal is a marvelous dancer, but the show definitely needs some doctoring up. For one thing, there are to be no women in the show; all the female parts are to be played by the male cadets(!!). The crafty Bix solves that problem by finagling spots in the show for not only Eve but also a successful Hollywood star named Jan Wilson (Day).My favorite scenes from "The West Point Story" include the following (DO NOT read any further if you have not yet seen this film). Bix is quite amusing with all his kinetic energy as he jumps up & down to voice his displeasure at a dance routine, or when he decks a theatrical producer (Roland Winters) in order to close a deal. At the cadets' Saturday night hop, Jan thrills the dancing crowd with her lively, bouncy, head-bobbing rendition of "The Military Polka". Hal does an unbelievably fascinating dance (featuring a fine orchestral accompaniment) before getting pelted with straw hats. The West Point glee club sings "The Corps" as Tom solemnly recites a patriotic monologue about the history of West Point and of the heroic Americans who dreamed to make this outstanding military academy a reality. Bix and Eve are a singing/dancing sensation with "It Could Only Happen in Brooklyn", and they are equally wonderful with the quirky "By the Kissing Rock", of which Tom Fletcher & Bull Gilbert (Hale) only give an adequate performance moments earlier. And finally, upon Jan Wilson's first appearance in this movie, she sings the delightfully swinging novelty number "Ten Thousand Four Hundred and Thirty-Two Sheep".Featuring music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn, "The West Point Story" was apparently an attempt to recreate the success of James Cagney's Oscar-winning performance in the musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), but at this I don't think the film succeeded. Nevertheless, despite the incomprehensible plot and the inappropriate romance between Jan Wilson & Tom Fletcher, I still find "The West Point Story" to be highly entertaining. I especially admire the delightful performances of James Cagney, who gives his role of Elwin Bixby every bit of the gusto it needed, and Alan Hale, Jr. as "Bull" Gilbert. (Who would have thought that a skipper would begin his seafaring career portraying a princess in the musical theatre?!)

TxMike My young friend Emily, as I type this comment, is in basic training as a new cadet at West Point. To give me a feel for West Point and its traditions, I saw this movie on DVD. It is a very nice presentation, and a nicely entertaining movie, with quite a bit of footage at West Point.James Cagney is former Army man, now almost 50, Elwin 'Bix' Bixby. He is the best on Broadway in producing shows, but has an anger problem and a horse betting problem. He is asked to go to West Point to help them produce a springtime musical, but his real mission, for which he will get paid well, is to convince a young man with a great voice that he would be better off leaving the Army and becoming a star.Gordon MacRae is that young man, Tom Fletcher, who indeed sings beautifully, but seems dedicated to his Army career, about to graduate. A young Doris Day as Jan Wilson, already a star, is brought in to help convince Tom.The movie is a musical, with characters regularly breaking into song or dance. I had not seem much of Cagney as a song and dance man. While his singing is only passable, he was quite a good dancer.SPOILERS. The plan works too well, Tom and Jan fall in love right away, and he plans to leave the Army to marry her. In a series of developments he manages to both preserve his Army commission and get the girl.

kyle_furr James Cagney stars in a not very good musical that is set at West Point. James Cagney is good as usual but the script isn't very good. Doris Day is Ok but she was better in Young man with a horn. Virginia Mayo is gorgeous and the best thing in the movie.