The Great McGinty
1940, Comedy, 1h 22m
25 Reviews 500+ RatingsYou might also like
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Movie Info
In a dive south of the border, bartender Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) stops a young man from committing suicide after a moment of dishonesty, and relates how a moment of honesty brought him down in a flashback. As a young man, McGinty joins a crooked political boss and rises from extortionist to alderman. Urged by the boss to marry his secretary to give respectability to his run for mayor, McGinty agrees -- only to fall in love with his wife and decide to do an honest thing for once in his life.
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Genre: Comedy
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Original Language: English
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Director: Preston Sturges
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Writer: Preston Sturges
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Release Date (Theaters): original
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Paramount Pictures
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Sound Mix: Mono
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Aspect Ratio: 35mm, Flat (1.37:1)
Cast & Crew
Critic Reviews for The Great McGinty
Audience Reviews for The Great McGinty
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<I>The Great McGinty</I> was Preston Sturges' directorial debut; he famously sold the script - which went on to win him an Oscar - to Paramount for $10, on the condition that he could direct the movie himself. In a seedy bar in a banana republic, Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) recalls his meteoric rise (and spectacular fall) from bum to racketeer, to crooked mayor, to honest state governor and back to bum again. By staging his story as a post-catastrophic flashback from skid row, Sturges neatly undermines the sentimentality and predictability of McGinty's romance with Catherine (Muriel Angelus), the secretary he marries out of convenience, but the lack of a Happy Ending makes the picture oddly unsatisfying. This problem is emphasised by the economical running time; clocking in at a little over 80 minutes, <I>McGinty</I>'s end credits begin to roll at about the time we would typically anticipate that final twist enabling the leads to live happily ever after.
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An historic movie as it's probably the first one done by a writer/director, Preston Sturges. The Great McGinty stars off with enough of the trademarked Sturges dialogue and humor (namely with McGinty's suit) as it tells the tale of a dishonest hobo turned mayor turned governor who eventually ends up down the drain for going honest. It takes itself a little too seriously at times but when it's funny it's really on. It also acts as a sneak preview to what would be coming down the pipeline from Sturges. You can see his style emerging and beginning to take the shape of something great.
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