The Great McGinty

Comedy auteur Preston Sturges made his directorial debut with this political satire about corruption. Brian Donlevy stars as the titular 'great' one, a wiseass bum with nothing to lose who finds himself employed in a voting scam run by racketeering teamsters. Soon enough he starts working the protection racket, and finds himself elevated to town mayor by a political puppetmaster known only as the Boss (Akim Tamiroff). Along the way McGinty acquires a wife in a marriage of convenience and (you guessed it) he falls in love with her despite himself.

I found it a bit hard to get a handle on the finer points of this satire as the context was either too far removed from modern practice or simply do bowlderised by the Hays Code. I thought it was a gangster parody at first, and in a way it works on this level hilariously sending up the attitudes of 'tough guys' in general, but as the plot develop towards more overt politicising I began to sense it was talking more about the influence of corrupt unions or other vaguely defined political groups (though you wouldn't pick this up from the dialogue alone - no mention of who the Boss represents is ever made). The irony of the film's title is that McGinty is anything but great; he's tough, wiley, easily distracted and tactless, and he's a stooge even at the height of his influence.

The film bookended by a framing device that sees McGinty reflecting on his time from a bar in an unnamed Banana republic. I'm not sure these bits are 100% neccessary, I think the main plot could've done with a bit more context and background instead. That said, it's an entertaining and intelligent comedy. Tamiroff and Donlevy are great in their askew tough guy roles, you'll enjoy it if you like snappy screwball-ish comedy with some measure of topical bite.

DIRECTOR: Preston Sturges
WRITER/SOURCE: Preston Sturges, loosely based on the rise and fall of New York politician William Sulzer.
KEY ACTORS: Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff, Muriel Angelus, William Demarest, Thurston Hall, Allyn Joslyn

RELATED TEXTS:
- Was adapted for radio and television a couple of times in the 1940s and 1950s.
- Brian Donlevey and Akim Tamiroff reprised their characters for Sturges' later film The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.
- For other films about manipulation and corruption in politics see All the King's Men, Wag the Dog, Primary Colours, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Advise and Consent.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - won Best Screenplay.