Sober-Friend
Boys Town is a 1938 biographical drama film based on Father Edward J. Flanagan's work with a group of underprivileged and delinquent boys in a home that he founded and named "Boys Town". It stars Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney with Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, and Gene ReynoldsThe film was written by Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin and John Meehan, and was directed by Norman Taurog.A convicted murderer asks to make his confession on the day of his execution. He is visited by an old friend, Father Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) who runs a home for indigent men in Omaha, Nebraska. When the prison officials suggest that the condemned man owes the state a debt, Father Flanagan witnesses the condemned man's diatribe to prison officials and a reporter that describes his awful plight as a homeless and friendless boy who was a ward in state institutions. After the convicted man asks the officials to leave, Father Flanagan provides some comfort and wisdom. On the train back to Omaha, Father Flanagan is transformed in his humanitarian mission by revelations (echoed in the words) imparted by the condemned man's litany of hardships experienced as a child without friends or family as a ward of the state.Father Flanagan believes there is no such thing as a bad boy and spends his life attempting to prove it. He battles indifference, the legal system, and often even the boys, to build a sanctuary that he calls Boys Town. The boys have their own government, make their own rules, and dish out their own punishment.This is well made film. The story still works today and the cast delivers the goods. I think children will be bored watching this however the older you are the more you will love this film.I am not a religious person but I was relieved that the hero of the film is a man of faith. Its nice to see a film where religion is not the villain.
Hitchcoc
I always get caught up in this film. I've probably seen it fifteen times and it still gets me. It has two of my favorite people: Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. Of course, Tracy would fit on many people's top ten actors list. Rooney was more of a comic actor, but very good at what he did. He and Judy Garland teamed up for those Andy Hardy movies when he was a child actor, and then he had numerous other roles that pushed him farther. In this he plays a punk who arrives at Boys Town, near Omaha, Nebraska. The priest who runs the place, Father Flanagan, became inspired by a death-row inmate who told him what it was like to grow up friendless. So Flanagan created Boys Town and took those that society rejected and provided love and care for them. It was often at great risk because they were always under close observation from an unconvinced population. This is really a story about Flanagan's relationship with Whitey Marsh (Rooney) who tests his patience to the limit. Flanagan knows that if he fails with this boy, it could all go down. The other boys resent Whitey because they have their own government and are experience worth for the first time in their lives. Tracy won the Oscar for this performance.
lugonian
BOYS TOWN (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1938), directed by Norman Taurog, is not so much a story of a group of boys in their own little town but one about a priest's dedication to his work and cause in building a place for homeless and troubled youths, as summed up with these opening words: "This is the story of Father Flanagan and the city for boys that he built in Nebraska. There is such a place as Boys Town. There is such a man as Father Flanagan. This picture is dedicated to him and his splendid work for homeless, abandoned boys, regardless of race, creed or color." Starring Spencer Tracy in a role perfectly suited for his talents, good enough to earn him his second consecutive Academy Award as Best Actor, winning over strong contender as James Cagney for his powerful performance for ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (Warners). This fact-based story opens with Father Edward Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) visiting the imprisoned Dan Farrow (Leslie Fenton). Before being headed down to death row for murder, his bitter story of an unhappy childhood, a cry for help at the age of 12, or to have at least one friend to guide him, prompts the young priest into giving up his refuge shelter for forgotten men to form a place for homeless and unwanted boys. With the help of his friend, Dave Morris (Henry Hull), the neighborhood pawnbroker, Flanagan takes in several boys from the courtroom awaiting trial and assumes responsibility for them. Within a year, the home prospers from five to more than 500 boys, leading Flanagan to risk further debts by acquiring more land and buildings to form what's to become known as Boys Town. Bearing with a philosophy that "There's no such thing as a bad boy," Father Flanagan is put to the test when he, as a favor to Joe Marsh (Edward Norris), gangster on his way to prison, to take in his kid brother, "Whitey" (Mickey Rooney), who not only looks up to Joe, but intends on following his brother's wayward path in crime. With "Whitey" proving difficult amongst the other boys, Father Flanagan has problems of his own keeping himself out of debt as well as retaining the good reputation of Boys Town after detectives link Whitey to a recent bank robbery and murder in town.Taken from an original story by Dore Schary and Eleanor Griffin, BOYS TOWN starts off in biographical structure of Father Flanagan. After the presence of Mickey Rooney, the plot shifts into a new direction from tribute to a fictional account on the taming of a "bad boy" whose association with the others in Boys Town is far from favorable. The rising popularity of teen-aged Mickey Rooney seems natural for the role of Whitey Marsh. Quite good though not entirely convincing with his introduction scene as the tough thug living in a walk up flat, cigarette smoking and holding a gambling card game with other toughs on the kitchen table. His attempts trying to get his own way and living according to his own rules instead of Father Flanagan's is typical plot interest and character study. Aside from sentimentality and crime drama later thrown in, there's some doses of intentional humor, the latter being Rooney's specialty, but bogs down at times with Rooney's overacting during the film's more crucial scenes. Tracy on the other hand plays it natural. Regardless of being a kind-hearted priest who can "talk the devil into going to church," he demonstrates how tough he can be "in a pinch," along with his know-how method of getting those to help him financially, namely Dave Morris.With basically an all-male cast (excluding brief bit of an actress playing a nun), fine support consists of Bobs Watson as Pee-Wee, a crying specialist, and one of the younger members who pleasures in trying to find hidden candy in Father Flanagan's office; Gene Reynolds in a sensitive portrait as Tony Ponessa, a lame boy wanting to become mayor of Boys' Town; Frankie Thomas as Freddie Fuller, a popular Mayor of Boys Town who's takes on "Whitey" in the boxing ring; Sidney Miller as Mo Kahn, a Jewish member of the community who runs a barber shop; among others. Henry Hull adds to one of his fine many character portraits as Father Flanagan's closest friend and financial supporter; Leslie Fenton, near the end of his acting career before turning director, in a small but powerful performance of a convicted killer; and Jonathan Hale as John Hargraves, editor of the Omaha Daily Dispatch, who believes Flanagan's methods to be "sentimental hogwash." Worthy screen entertainment with a moral message carried throughout the story of bringing the good out of the bad and everything impossible is possible comes off as fine feel-good viewing regardless of race, color and creed, especially during the Christmas season.Presented to home video in the 1980s either in original black and white or colorized format, and presented occasionally on Turner Classic Movies cable channel, BOYS TOWN can be found on DVD either as a solo package or together with its sequel, MEN OF BOYS TOWN (1941), on the flip side. (***)
