Wonderful character development!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

What you see in this movie , you have seen before a thousand times. This doesn't mean that this film ain't enjoyable, not when the cast includes James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. As expected , James Cagney plays the tough guy while Brien , as expected, plays a priest. Now i can't speak about how this film relates to American civil war as i never studied anything from that specific topic. Instead i'll rate this film by how it stands out amongst other war films.Not that may be unfair as this film is all about patriotic and flag waving not some serious , meaningful film with a moral understanding. Instead it about the 69th going out to war to fight the Germans. The story is about a tough guy who turns yellow on the battlefield in which by the end , redeems himself. Well, it does sound similar to angles with dirty faces and i know many think that this film is AWDF but with grenades but it not entirely that. Sure he a tough guy who turns yellow but at least we can certainly say he died a hero in this film.The battle scenes for it day are brilliantly shot and the performance from Cagney is outstanding. The guy can act out anything. he can make you believe he crying, make you believe he the toughest guy in the world. No wonder why he is regarded one of the best actors ever.For today's standards, this film does contain many corny scenes but it what you expect from a film made in that era. overall The fighting 69th was a enjoyable film to watch

Jerry Plunket is a street brawling, tough as boots rebel from Brooklyn, he has no time for the traditions of the all Irish 69th New York Regiment, and he has even less time for his army superiors. But as Jerry is about to find out, War has a knack of making or breaking a man......It's not hard to see why The Fighting 69th was a very popular movie back on its release, coming out as America was about to enter WWII, it's flag waving patriotism targeted its audience with gusto supreme and lashes of Irish sentiment, furthering the cause was in having James Cagney in the critical lead role of Plunkett. Yet oddly, Plunkett is the made up character here, for the story is based on actual characters that the film wishes to honour. Father Duffy {Pat O'Brien} & Wild Bill Donovan {George Brent} being two highly respected men from this actual {and highly acclaimed} fighting unit.The story follows a now well trodden path, brash cocky man learns lessons the hard way, is there to be redemption come the finale ?, respect, bravery and indeed salvation are all given the once over by the makers here, there are few surprises but the film gets in there, does it's job, and leaves without lingering either side of the good or bad fence. The direction from William Keighley is vigorous, and the supporting players are solid, if unspectacular {haven't we seen this O'Brien turn before?}, but all and everything is second fiddle to the perfectly cast Cagney, bullish and stoic, his turn as Plunkett lifts the film above average, because without him the film would be instantly forgettable.Enjoyable enough 6.5/10

Based on true facts. Of course Hollywood takes its liberties. Some scenes are a bit cornball; but still an interesting war flick. A loud mouth street tough Jerry Plunkett(James Cagney)joins the all-Irish 69th regiment, but seems to mock its military history. Plunkett barely makes it through training; alienating his superiors, but is befriended by Father Francis Duffy(Pat O'Brien). Frontline action in France causes the self-loving Plunkett to turn coward; but eventually redeems himself and dies a hero. Full of action with intermittent humor.This WWI war drama is loaded with stars featuring: Dennis Morgan, Alan Hale, George Brent, Frank McHugh, William Lundigan, Jeffrey Lynn and Dick Foran.

Cagney is often an Irish-American on screen but in his personal life he was proud of his Norwegian grandfather ("Nelson"). The problem with casting him was that he LOOKED and ACTED so Irish. He was so often a cocky bantamweight, as he is in this movie. He had a unique style. A bouncy half-psychotic body language, the kind that befits an ex-dancer. In this movie, watch him literally bounce from foxhole to foxhole. And his working-class New York accent was always singularly clipped and informed by some inner characterological melody. The style, unmistakable, was adapted to different genres -- to comedy ("One, Two, Three") and with a complete absence of success to Westerns. My God, "The Oklahoma Kid" in painful to watch.That's the Cagney we think of when we think of "Cagney," and yet the guy may have been under-rated as an actor. For instance, I can't really imagine another actor doing Cagney's breakdown scene in the big house in "White Heat." And whatever one might think of "The Gallant Hours" as a film, Cagney cannot be blamed for anything that's wrong with it. The same can be said for "Come Fill the Cup." Cagney's performance here is pretty much his street-wise tough guy character transported to France by the U. S. Army, shows his cowardice, and then is redeemed by some kind of epiphany known only to Hollywood screenwriters. During those few scenes when he's not making wisecracks in Yiddish or insulting priests ("Oh, Hi, St. Francis. How's all 'em monks?") he does a decent job, even an engaging one. His terror during combat, his remorse before he dies, is as convincing as his bravado on the sidewalks.But this movie is a product of its times and a viewer has to go with the flow. Mischa Moskovitz, for instance, assumes the alias of Mike Murphy in order to go overseas with the 69th. He's a flat-out stereotype, a clever guy with a Semitic face. In one of his earlier movies his character was called something like Freddy Bignose. And yet he dies honorably and is prayed over in Hebrew by Father Duffy in a moving scene.The action scenes look stage bound and of course the effects are primitive by today's standards, but the movie plunges along at such a pace that a viewer is likely to be drawn into it. The only slow scenes are those that drag in religion more or less by the heels. Kind of like Padre Alan Hale talking to Dennis Morgan while both fly through a thunderstorm. Of course anyone might think religious thoughts during extreme stress, but this movie makes it so relentlessly obvious.Those dull moment aren't enough to make it unwatchable. It's kind of fun. You just need to work a little harder to get past some of the more dated stuff.