Was this review helpful to you? His secretary (Muriel Angelus) then proposes a marriage of convenience, which he accepts. During a public campaign for political reform, the boss, who controls all the political parties in the city, decides to have McGinty elected mayor as a "reform" candidate. The Great McGinty, Preston Sturges' 1940 film, was based in part on William Sulzer's story, per film historian Kevin Brownlow. After an all-night send-off party for the troops, a small-town girl wakes up to find herself married and pregnant, but with no memory of her husband's identity. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Brian Donlevy plays Dan McGinty, a Chicago hobo who is hired by local political bosses as a "professional voter", casting ballots under a variety of assumed names in various districts. Sturges contracted pneumonia during filming, and required a nurse to attend to him on the set. Written by You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. We finally see that the former political boss is still his boss at the bar, and that they are still given to violent disagreements. For the U.K. release, the film was retitled Down Went McGinty, alluding to the 1889 song. The two most prominent ones being Preston Sturges’s first time in the director’s chair, famously agreeing to a salary of $10 for creative control of his screenplay. Preston Sturges' classic Hollywood comedy The Great McGinty is an incisive and bold political satire that explores the ridiculous depths of American corruption—80 years before the Trump era. Dan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty. The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff and featuring William Demarest and (in her final screen appearance) Muriel Angelus. The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff and featuring William Demarest and (in her final screen appearance) Muriel Angelus. The Great McGinty was a B film when it was released, playing the lower half of double features. But losing his job ... See full summary ». The moral of Preston Sturges' first directorial effort The Great McGinty seems to be: If you're a crook, stay a crook, because honesty will get ya every time. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) is a bartender in a banana republic who recounts his rise and fall to the bar's dancing girl and a suicidal American customer. McGinty's career begins when he is a tramp who, offered a $2 bribe to vote under a false name in a rigged mayoral election, does it thirty-seven times at different precincts. This page was last edited on 11 June 2018, at 10:06. United States, 1940. The customer was a trusted bank employee who can no longer return to the United States and his family because he is wanted by the law after falling to temptation and stealing from the bank. Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. 82. It was also adapted to the October 12, 1947 episode of the Ford Theatre and a May 11, 1952 Screen Guild Theater starring Broderick Crawford. [1] Sturges received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Preston Sturges’s Academy Award-winning screenplay provides the spark for The Great McGinity, a satirical comedy that also marked his directorial debut. Written and directed by Preston Sturges, The Great McGinty is a very fun political satire chronicling the rise and fall of politician Dan McGinty. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. But then he and his more idealistic wife actually fall in love. Sturges had written the original story, "The Story of a Man", in 1933 with Spencer Tracy in mind. Use the HTML below. The Great McGinty premiered in New York City on 15 August 1940, and was generally released on 23 August. A man dreams of revenge when he suspects his wife is unfaithful. The movie is filled stem to stern with sharp-eyed turns by primarily supporting players (including the leads, Donlevy & Tamiroff, who are excellent). The Great McGinty introduces the Sturges style largely intact, starting with a shrewd story line rooted in a provocative theme: political corruption. The Great McGinty Synopsis: Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. Rod Crawford . The love interest of Muriel Angelus, and adjoining subplot, may come off a bit treacly, but Sturges was canny enough to make this studio-mandated mawkishness an integral part of the plot...even as early as 1940, he was subverting True Love to his devilishly satiric purposes! William Sulzer - Wikipedia This annoyed Sturges, and one of the main reasons he was determined to direct his own scripts thereafter – which he did beginning with his next project, The Great McGinty . Trailer. Which Fictional Movie Mayor Gets Your Vote? Twenty years after his triumphs as a freshman on the football field, Harold is a mild-mannered clerk who dreams about marrying the girl at the desk down the aisle. Biography. 28 of 30 people found this review helpful. McGinty is in a similar situation, but in his case it is due to "one crazy minute" of honesty rather than one of dishonesty. Title: Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. [3] Paramount agreed, and provided Sturges a budget of $350,000, a three-week shooting schedule,[4] and inexpensive stars to work with. Preston Sturges famously sold the story for this barbed political satire to Paramount for just $10 in exchange for the chance to direct. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) is a tramp who impresses a local crime boss (Akim Tamiroff) by voting 37 times in a rigged mayoral election. But I realize that Sturges fits firmly in the category of Great but Forgotten. It was released on video in the U.S. on April 7, 1988, and re-released on June 30, 1993. The Great McGinty (1940) Written and Directed by Preston Sturges Starring Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff, Muriel Angelus, William Demerest IMDB Entry. Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940 • United States Starring Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff. The flashback ends with McGinty providing for his wife and her children by telling her by phone about money he has hidden. Barnett. But the adaptations of his scripts for films like Easy Living (1937) and Diamond Jim (1935) to the screen were displeasing to Sturges, far from the tone he aimed for in his writing. In a long flashback, he explains. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty. Sturges received an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. 1940. If the story of a unscrupulous crook who rises to great political power hits a little too close to home these days, consider that in 1940’s The Great McGinty the mobster in question is a fundamentally decent gent who sacrifices his career to do the right thing. It had a competent cast of players, but none of them you could say were big box office. The biography of Dr. W. T. 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