Das letzte Hurra (1958)

Das letzte Hurra: Directed by John Ford. With Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Dianne Foster, Pat O’Brien. Frank Skeffington is an old Irish-American political boss, running for re-election as mayor of a U.S. town for the last time.

“This movie was based on the novel of the same name by Edwin Ou0026#39;Connor, which in turn was inspired by the career of the colorful 4-time Mayor of Boston (and sometime Governor of Massachusetts and U. S. Congressman) James Michael Curley. Curley, although remembered today as a lovable rogue and a flamboyant old-time politician who made the voice of Bostonu0026#39;s despised Irish heard in the halls of power, basically ran Boston into the ground during his tenure as mayor, destroying the cityu0026#39;s credit rating, and dividing its people by appealing to old-time Irish-American fears and prejudices.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut, as far as this movie is concerned, thatu0026#39;s neither here nor there. Spencer Tracy is outstanding as the mayor (in my opinion, only James Stewart was a better actor among the leading men of the Hollywood studio era) and the supporting players are superb, notably Pat Ou0026#39;Brien, Donald Crisp, Basil Rathbone, John Carradine, Jane Darwell and especially O.Z. Whitehead, who is brilliantly cast in a small role as the featherbrained son of a crusty Yankee banker. Also noteworthy are the usual patriotic and sentimental touches of director-producer John Ford.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhat ever your political opinions may be, this is an outstanding look at old-time politics as it begins to give way to the era of mass media.”