The Great McGinty (1940)

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writer:

Preston Sturges (writer)

Release Date:

23 August 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Dan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics. But endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty...

Plot Keywords:

Mayor | Political | Solitaire | Election | Dachshund

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Brian Donlevy	...	Daniel 'Dan' McGinty
Muriel Angelus	...	Catherine McGinty
Akim Tamiroff	...	The Boss
Allyn Joslyn	...	George
William Demarest	...	Skeeters - The Politician
Louis Jean Heydt	...	Tommy Thompson
Harry Rosenthal	...	Louie (bodyguard)
Arthur Hoyt	...	Mayor Wilfred T. Tillinghast
Libby Taylor	...	Bessy (maid)
Thurston Hall	...	Mr. Maxwell
Steffi Duna	...	The Dancing Girl
Esther Howard	...	Madame Juliette La Jolla
Frank Moran	...	The Boss' Chauffeur (as Frank C. Moran)
Jimmy Conlin	...	The Lookout
Dewey Robinson	...	Benny Felgman

Also Known As:

Biograhy of a Bum (USA) (working title)
Down Went McGinty (UK)

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:U (re-rating) (2005) | UK:A (original rating)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Other titles for this project were "Biography of a Bum" and "Down Went McGinty".

Quotes:

The Politician: If it wasn't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics, men without ambition, jellyfish!

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

Louise

Preston Sturges Begins His Golden Five Years

In his golden five years 1940-44, Preston Sturges was the writer & director for eight movies for Paramount, ALL GOOD and MOST of them BRILLIANT.

I first came to know these movies when five of them were shown on the BBC at Christmas in the early 1990's, including my personal favourites 'The Lady Eve' and 'The Palm Beach Story'. Since then I have had to wait for the invention of the DVD, and then last year's Preston Sturges DVD box set, when at last I could check out the other three.

Of those three, 'The Great McGinty' was the first movie to be "Written & Directed by Preston Sturges", and has to go into the GOOD rather than the BRILLIANT category. But for his first such project to be so good has got to be seen as a brilliant achievement for Sturges. I know how long he had to wait, and how hard he had to bargain to get that opportunity. He knew he had to succeed, not in his own terms but in those of his bosses at Paramount. In other words he had to bring in an economical movie that was conventional enough to be popular with audiences and critics alike.

The lead, Brian Donleavy plays McGinty as quite a straight character who has comic moments in set pieces with other players. The best comedy of the movie probably comes from Bill Demarest as "the Politician" and especially Akim Tamiroff as "the Boss", who drives the movie and its plot along, as he pushes McGinty and his career forward.

The second movie in the Preston Sturges golden period would be 'Christmas in July', again not one of his brilliant best, but beginning to include more of the lunacy and eccentric characters of a true Preston Sturges movie. By the time of his third project 'The Lady Eve', Sturges would be at the top of his form and the top of his art, and 'The Great McGinty' has to be seen not only as a good movie in itself, but as the first step in that direction.