''The Last Hurrah'' is a 1958 American

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where s ...

film adaptation of the 1956 novel '' The Last Hurrah'' by Edwin O'Connor. It was directed by

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...

and stars

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

as a veteran mayor preparing for yet another election campaign. Tracy was nominated as Best Foreign Actor by BAFTA and won the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review, which also presented Ford the award for Best Director. The film tells the story of Frank Skeffington, a sentimental but iron-fisted Irish-American who is the powerful mayor of an unnamed

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

city. As his nephew, Adam Caulfield, follows one last no-holds-barred mayoral campaign, Skeffington and his top strategist, John Gorman, use whatever means necessary to defeat a candidate backed by civic leaders such as banker Norman Cass and newspaper editor Amos Force, the mayor's dedicated foes.

Plot

The titles roll as an election campaign for a Frank Skeffington unfolds. In "a

city", Skeffington (

), a former governor, is running for a fifth term as mayor. He rose from poverty in an Irish ghetto and is skilled at using the power of his office and an enormous political machine of ward heelers to receive support from his Irish Catholic base and other demographics. Rumors of graft and abuse of power are widespread, however, and the Protestant bishop Gardner (

Basil Ruysdael Basil Spaulding Millspaugh (July 24, 1878 – October 10, 1960), known as Basil Ruysdael, was an American actor and opera singer. Early life Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, as Basil Spaulding Millspaugh, Ruysdael was the son of Dr and Mrs Char ...

), newspaper publisher Amos Force ( John Carradine), banker Norman Cass ( Basil Rathbone), and other members of the city's traditional elite whom the Irish Catholics replaced oppose Skeffington; so do the Catholic cardinal Martin Burke ( Donald Crisp), Skeffington's childhood friend, and other Catholics. Skeffington's opponents support the candidacy of Kevin McCluskey ( Charles B. Fitzsimons), a young Catholic lawyer and war veteran with no political experience. Adam Caulfield ( Jeffrey Hunter) is a sportswriter for Force's newspaper, and Skeffington's nephew. His father-in-law, Roger Sugrue ( Willis Bouchey), is among those who oppose Skeffington, even though Sugrue grew up in the same tenement as Skeffington and Burke. The mayor invites Caulfield to observe in person what will be his last election, his "last hurrah", to document urban politics before radio and television fully change campaigning. Skeffington prefers old-fashioned, hands-on politics, and attends numerous rallies, luncheons, dinners, and speeches. His influence is such that when Skeffington attends an unpopular old friend's wake, hundreds rush to be present. Disgusted at how the wake becomes another political event, Caulfield leaves; one of the mayor's men explains to him, however, that Skeffington attended to attract mourners to cheer the widow, to whom Skeffington has secretly donated $1,000. After Cass's bank turns down a loan for the city to build a housing development, Skeffington invades the exclusive Plymouth Club to confront him, Force, the bishop, and other members of the elite. The mayor threatens to publicly embarrass Cass's family by appointing his unintelligent son as fire commissioner. The banker is forced to approve the loan, but vows to contribute large amounts of money to defeat Skeffington. McCluskey's campaign arranges for a series of television advertisements, but his ineptness disappoints both the cardinal and bishop. On election night Skeffington's men expect another victory, but McCluskey unexpectedly defeats the incumbent and his machine. As his men argue over why their usual tactics involving large amounts of "

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money ar ...

" failed, Skeffington chastises them as if he were unaware of their actions. He confidently states on television that he will run for governor, but suffers a heart attack that night, and a large crowd comes to pay respect to the invalid. After Skeffington's last confession, the cardinal, Caulfield, Sugrue, and the mayor's men are at his bedside. When Sugrue suggests that the patient would relive his life differently, Skeffington regains consciousness enough to reply "Like Hell I would" before dying.

Cast

as Mayor Frank Skeffington * Jeffrey Hunter as Adam Caulfield * Dianne Foster as Maeve Sugrue Caulfield * Pat O'Brien as John Gorman * Basil Rathbone as Norman Cass, Sr. * Donald Crisp as Cardinal Martin Burke * James Gleason as "Cuke" Gillen * Edward Brophy as "Ditto" Boland * John Carradine as Amos Force * Willis Bouchey as Roger Sugrue *

as Bishop Gardner * Ricardo Cortez as Sam Weinberg * Wallace Ford as Charles J. Hennessey * Frank McHugh as Festus Garvey * Carleton Young as Winslow * Frank Albertson as Jack Mangan * Bob Sweeney as Johnny Degnan * Edmund Lowe as Johnny Byrne * William Leslie as Dan Herlihy * Anna Lee as Gert Minihan * Ken Curtis as Monsignor Killian * Jane Darwell as Delia Boylan *

O.Z. Whitehead oz. is a common abbreviation for ounce, referring to several units of measure. Oz or OZ may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Land of Oz, the setting for many of L. Frank Baum's novels Fictional characters and entities * Oz (''Buffy the ...

as Norman Cass Jr. * Arthur Walsh as Frank Skeffington Jr. * Charles B. Fitzsimons as Kevin McCluskey * William Forrest as Dr. Tom * James Dime as Man at Campaign HQ. The role of Mayor Frank Skeffington was first offered to

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

, as Welles recounts in Peter Bogdanovich's 1992 book '' This Is Orson Welles'':

When the contracts were to be settled, I was away on location, and some lawyer -- if you can conceive of such a thing -- turned it down. He told Ford that the money wasn't right or the billing wasn't good enough, something idiotic like that, and when I came back to town the part had gone to Tracy.

Production

Like the novel, the film was based in part on the career of former Boston mayor

James Michael Curley James Michael Curley (November 20, 1874 – November 12, 1958) was an American Democratic politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He served four terms as mayor of Boston. He also served a single term as governor of Massachusetts, characterize ...

, and the unnamed New England city that he runs was based on Boston, Massachusetts. Curley opposed the film's production, but not because of the negative dramatization; rather, he believed that ''The Last Hurrah'' might prevent Hollywood from making a biographical film of his life. Columbia paid Curley $25,000 in exchange for signing away any future legal action. The movie was budgeted at $2.5 million but came in at $200,000 under budget. For ''The Last Hurrah'' a large, expensive New England exterior set was constructed around an existing park at Columbia Ranch in Burbank, CA. Most of this 'Boston Row homes' set burned down in 1974, but the 'Skeffington Mansion' still stands, and can be seen in many TV shows and movies. Part of the structures behind the park can be seen in the opening credits for the series '' Friends''.

Reception

The film received generally positive reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of ''The New York Times'' called it "robustly amusing and deeply touching. And Mr. Tracy is at his best in the leading role." '' Variety'' wrote, "The two-hour running length is somewhat overboard but Tracy's characterization of the resourceful, old-line politician-mayor has such consummate depth that it sustains the interest practically all the way. A little editing might have helped but the canvas is rich and the political machinations replete." '' Harrison's Reports'' called the film "a vastly entertaining study of a resourceful old-time politician, wonderfully portrayed by Spencer Tracy, who makes the character warmly human, sympathetic, witty and charming even though he is not above resorting to trickery and malice to combat political enemies." John McCarten of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' wrote "There are some sprightly moments in this film...but as a really sound representation of political shenanigans it is a long way from home. (While Skeffington was going about spreading sweetness and light, I kept thinking nostalgically about the film called '' The Great McGinty''; now ''there'' was an elucidation of American politics." Richard L. Coe of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' praised Spencer Tracy's performance as "deep and alert" but still found the film disappointing, writing that it "isn't exactly bad, but it's nowhere near the movie Edwin O'Connor's hard, rollicking political novel should have made...Very rarely does Hollywood risk meeting politics head-on and this shows clearly in Frank Nugent's fairly empty, very sentimental screen treatment of O'Connor's vigorous book." A positive review in the British '' Monthly Film Bulletin'' commented that it was "directed with humour, feeling (notably in the relationships between Skeffington and his supporters, the clownish Ditto and the shrewd ward politicians) and a superlative sense of the big occasion. The election scene, moving from bustling confidence to cold defeat, is masterly; the death-bed scene is a triumphant piece of old-style sentiment. Tracy's Skeffington suggests the real power that lies beneath the Irish charm and effrontery." The movie was not a box-office success and recorded a loss of $1.8 million. Tracy was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his work in '' The Old Man and the Sea'' released earlier that year, but believed his performance in ''The Last Hurrah'' was superior. Ronald Bergan believed that the movie was perhaps Ford's "most personal" film among his later works. He stated that Tracy's portrayal of Skeffington was a surrogate for Ford and that the film was "full of Fordian moments."

References

External links