A homespun and sentimental take on politics, with Spencer Tracy playing Frank Skeffington, an old style Irish Catholic big city mayor caught in a cooked up scandal by his blue blood Prostestant Republican enemies. Crowded scenes add to the pace as the characters whip through the sharp Frank Nugent screenplay like a hot knife going through butter. Directed by John Ford, the film previews the changes that have since taken place in American politics i.e. television imagery and big money, and here we see them presented in a political campaign pitting Skeffington against a younger, telegenic, politically inept opponent financed by the city's conservatives. With John Carradine giving a memorable performance as ultra-conservative newspaper publisher and ex-Klansman Amos Force, and personal favorite Ken Curtis playing a monsignor, the film blends the typical Ford elements: fairness and tolerance against hypocrisy and greed.
Review of The Last Hurrah
