MovieChat Forums > The Bells of St. Mary's (1946) Discussion > Does anyone else find Father O'Malley to...

Does anyone else find Father O'Malley too goofy?

posted 18 years ago by roghache
19 replies | jump to latest

I really liked this movie and try to watch it every Christmas. Also, I'm a fan of Bing Crosby, no one sings with such ease. But am the only one who finds Father O'Malley just too goofy? He's not simply a foil for the real star, Ingrid Bergman, to spar with but something of an idiot. Can you imagine any priest just declaring a holiday like that? He's kind & well intended, but couldn't care less about education, whether these kids actually learn anything or not. He's like a kid himself, wanting to make himself popular (the holiday!), not an adult.

I'm a former teacher myself who's had a principal pressure me to pass a student who flunked badly (and done not a tad of work), so naturally didn't find Father O'Malley terribly endearing when he encouraged Sister Benedict to pass Patsy after she failed her exams. Isn't he smart enough to realize that, home problems or not, this wouldn't really have done her any favour long term? He wants the boys to fight it out in response to bullying, a recipe for violent chaos in the playground. Does he ever use his brain? Personally, I feel the good father is likable but far too dumb to ever have passed the seminary!

Oh dear, I'm expecting a deluge of rebuttals! But it's Sister Benedict's movie, not Father O'Malley's. She's kind, loving, and concerned about her students, but responsible and has both educational & behavioural standards that mean something. SHE is an adult, and not concerned with ingratiating herself with her students at the expense of their best interests.

[–] MOHfreak 18 years ago

I do see some sense in what you say, what with the impromptu holiday and Patsy's passing. However, to counter Sister Benedict's rigidness and no-nonsense attitude, you need Father O'Malley becuase he's her polar opposite.

And now for something completely digital...

[–] roghache 18 years ago

Oh, you're right of course. Otherwise Sister Benedict can't make her points as well. I'm just pleased Father O'Malley isn't really at the helm of some parochial school. By the way, I don't hold it against him in the scene near the beginning where the sisters are all tittering at the cat in the hat. We can all look foolish at times. Readers must be thinking I should find someone more deserving of criticism than the wonderful late Bing Crosby! They'd be right!

[–] momlovesannie1998 18 years ago

No, but I get your meaning. I thought Sister Benedict was kind of bizarre to teach a kid to box, but in my house if I had smacked ANYONE, I would have caught major league hell. Yes, why do I keep reading your post!? He shouldn't have passed Patsy.

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[–] roghache 18 years ago

The point of having Sister Benedict teach the kid to box is to show she's really human and is anxious to see that bully get his comeuppance. Of course it makes for funny scenes watching the nun give boxing lessons and Ingrid Bergman plays them to perfection.

[–] hilde1951 18 years ago

You've got to be kidding??? You are?? Aren't you?? Because if you are not, I hate to say this but you really need to get some help....It's a M O V I E, can't you just enjoy the humor and love in it.

[–] roghache 18 years ago

I take no personal offense but don't think I need to see the psychiatrist just yet! I actually enjoyed this lovely heartwarming tale and no, I don't lose any sleep over this priest's portrayal. However, this film is considered sort of a classic icon and I simply wanted to make the point that Father O'Malley is something of a well intended but unrealistic goofy idiot and wondered if anyone agreed with me. It seems not!

I don't have a religious axe to grind, by the way. Quite the contrary! My own husband is Catholic and spent 9 years in parochial schools being educated by nuns, all of whom he speaks very highly of. He certainly didn't encounter any characters similar to Father O'Malley during his Catholic schooling, though he claims he "kinda likes" this priest! Well, who wouldn't LIKE him, but imagine putting this goofball in charge of poor old St. Marys! Thank goodness for Sister Benedict! I simply think the screen writers could have done something a little more interesting with the priest's role if they'd put more effort into it. They mainly want Bing to sing and come across as a nice guy.

I gave this movie 8 stars, higher than its average rating. I would have given it 9 or 10 if they'd done a better job with the good Father!

Comments are frequently made regarding other movies about this or that being unrealistic. Every aspect is super analyzed absolutely to death on these message boards. That's kind of the point of them, isn't it? And they're all just M O V I E s. It's a wonderful Christmas classic, but the Bells of St. Mary's should be as subject to scrutiny as all the others.

However, I will say in closing that it's infinitely preferable to modern movies which invariably cast the clergy in a disparaging, immoral, hypocritical, or otherwise totally unsympathetic light.

[–] carolyn_davis2 18 years ago

Yes, I agree. Priests' roles of the 1930s and '40s were often stereotyped, unreal-seeming "goofballs," but they were preferable to the images of trouble and perversion that are sometimes the lot of priests' roles today. There needs to be a balance struck.

[–] boxerrebellion 10 years ago

The point is made in the movie (right after the holiday incident, I believe) that although Father has been a Pastor before, he hasn't had experience with a Parish School. Not every church had an attached school. He has likely had to deal with a Rosary Society or a Ladies' Guild or whatever, but not a whole flock of women whose lives are completely devoted to the church. It's a new experience and he's bound to make mistakes. They sort of become the 'good cop/bad cop' team and learn from one another.

[–] darrinoberhofer 8 years ago

I am way late to this party, but thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I went to a Catholic grade school and we had a very similar set up. Sister Julie, the no nonsense, strict as could be, wishing she could still use a ruler, type nun ran the school. Our priest, Father Murphy, was the joking around, fun loving, almost a little senile, type priest. Everyone loved Father Murphy and was afraid of Sister Julie. She did a good job though.

[–] robschmidt 18 years ago

I think the idea was that neither Father O'Malley nor Sister Benedict are perfect, but together they make a good team. Where he's a little irresponsible (encouraging the bully boy, trying to give Patsy a free pass), she provides a gentle guiding hand.

[–] Brainy-2 17 years ago

When that one kid tripped the other kid, and then pounded the stuffing out of him, my jaw nearly dropped to the floor when Father O'Malley merely walked up to the kid that started the fight, held his arm in the air and declared "The Winner." In one fell swoop he not only gave a lesson to all the other kids that violence is a good thing, but that the person who starts the fight is the one who should receive all the kudos...and that winning the brawl he started is even more important. If you ask me, the kid who lost the fight should've ran off the school grounds and into the arms of child protective services, and not to some nun for boxing lessons. I guess the main message of this film is that senseless bullying is a good thing.

[–] lauraeileen894 16 years ago

Brainy-2, I agree about that scene. It just makes Father O'Malley look like a bully who grew up and the kind of person who blames the victim. I also didn't like it when he was hounding Sister Benedict to give Patsy a passing grade. Passing someone just because you feel sorry for them is a HUGE mistake, because if they'll go through life believing if they turn on the tears, they'll get what they want as opposed to working for it. Either that, or they'll find out, be devastated, and feel like they've lived a lie.

"Will you stop feeling sorry for yourself?! It's bad for your complexion!"-"Sixteen Candles"

[–] trpdean 16 years ago

I was shocked too - but it wasn't AS bad as you remember. Neither we nor Father O'Malley know who started that fight until the boy who loses ("Eddie") is describing the fight to Sister Benedict.

Father O'Malley simply came across a fight going on and one boy was winning - he doesn't know that boy was the one who began it, is a bully, the other one didn't fight back, etc.

It's pretty surprising to see O'Malley encouraging fighting anyway - particularly without knowing anything about the cause! In contrast, notice the hesitation for Sister Benedict when she's just taught Eddie to bob and weave and duck - and he says "Oh, that's MUCH better than turning the other cheek, isn't it?" She is stopped for a moment at the familiar phrase heard in a negative way, thinking "gee, what am I teaching him?" - and then decides just to say, "Well, it's less painful for your face anyway."

[–] thecrashplace 13 years ago

I'm a pretty big fan of the O'Malley character, partly because I like Crosby a great deal. I don't think the character was trying to encourage fighting (although that's how it came across). He clearly broke the fight up initially, but I think he was trying to show the boys that it was okay for them to know how to fight, just not to fight in school. He valued a man's ability to fight in the real world, and with the nuns raising the kids to not defend themselves, I think he tried to make up for this by over-emphasizing the point (in a way that would make it seem he was approving the fight itself - a fault of his own).

However, much as I adore O'Malley from this and Going My Way, I was stunned when he tried to pass Patsy. I can't think of any way to possibly excuse this behavior. I don't think O'Malley is stupid. He was obviously smart enough to get through seminary, and he's also clearly street smart. It seems he has so much sympathy for the people who have trouble in life that he ends up caring too much, and ends up compromising excessively when he becomes emotionally involved.

I agree that neither character is perfect, and perhaps this was intended as a way to intentionally show he has more obvious flaws.

[–] netshopper-2 13 years ago

I found Bing kind of dull in this role. I couldn't quite buy him as a parish priest although his singing was lovely.

[–] SmackCheeks 13 years ago

I totally agree with you. I would have to say this movie is so implausible, it stinks. Every plot direction this silly movie takes lacks commonsense. In my opinion it is poorly directed and crosby appears distracted. I found myself yawning because there was too much going on and not enough plot development. What genre is this movie supposed to be, it's neither a comedy or drama, Father O'Malley should be drummed out of the church and the actors guild on flippancy grounds alone. How Crosby was nominated for an oscar for this bit of indulgence is beyond the realm of reason. Sister Benedict is more like the flying nun but did play her part quite well at times. The doctor should lose his license for giving stupid, stupid advice and the building owner was obviously senile. But why oh why do they pull that dirty trick on sister benedict at the end. It simply defies logic, what kind of evil men are they to think it best not to tell her she has tuberculosis but to send her away after the amazing achievements she had made for the school and its pupils, as if she is being punished. If I was in her position when Father O'Malley called out to her and told her the truth at the very last second as she was sadly leaving the school, probably going to leave the sisterhood as well, I would have dropped him with an uppercut that would have him spitting teeth. Not funny, just weird.

[–] boxerrebellion 10 years ago

In reference to the doctor, I believe it's called 'standards of practice for the time'. Many were never told they had cancer, since little could be done about it, or at least affordably.

[–] SmackCheeks 10 years ago

> Many were never told they had cancer, since little could be done about it, or at least affordably <

I have to disagree there boxer. The so-called standards of practice as you put it was morally and legally the same then as it is now, to deceive a patient about their health is simply unethical and could easily result in a malpractice suit. Ask yourself what sort of lame-arse doctor doesn't have the decency to tell their patient they are dying anyway. No, this was a silly and shallow movie made up on the run by lazy distracted people who were less interested in telling a plausible story then wanting to make lots of money..

[–] RubyHypatia 11 years ago

Yeah, it was silly to pass the girl out of sympathy. Next, other kids will expect the same treatment.

Oh, and stand up to a bully and all will be just peachy. Damn those were simpler times!