This movie has a great cast and a first-rate director who made some of my favorite movies. It had everything to be a masterpiece.
Except a good, or even a decent, script.
I haven't read the book from which it was adapted, but that book must have made more sense than this.
As many of the other reviewers on here will tell you, this movie is supposed to center around "the last hurrah" of a stump-speech-giving old-fashioned politician (Spencer Tracy, as the incumbent major of some large city with a considerable Irish population). He is being challenged for his fifth term by new, younger blood, a candidate who will use television. (In 1958, when this movie was made, we were still two years before the Kennedy-Nixon debates.)
But that doesn't turn out to be the focus. We see the younger man - a real dufus - on tv once, and it's a disaster. After that, we never see him campaign again. When Tracy's character loses to him, we have been given absolutely no reason to help us understand why.
So much for the focus of the movie.
After the campaigning and the election, which occupy most of the movie, there's a "tail end" that goes on forever, as Skeffington (Tracy) becomes ill and everyone in the unnamed Boston comes trailing through his bedroom to say goodbye. Donald Crisp, as the cardinal, has a good scene with Tracy, but we are never told why the two didn't get along. In fact, we are never told why most of the people who don't like Skeffington oppose him. The movie is two hours long, way too long for what it offers. Explanations could have been added and lots of other things cut.
Tracy is magnificent in this movie. It's worth sitting through all two hours to watch his face and listen to his voice as he truly creates a character, and a fascinating one. But the rest of the actors have nothing to work with, so he is surrounded by stereotypes, some of which could offend modern sensibilities.
What a shame Columbia didn't throw out this script and commission another one. They had all the rest of the makings for a great movie. They even had a screenwriter, Frank Nugent, who had written good scripts for other movies.
Except a good, or even a decent, script.
I haven't read the book from which it was adapted, but that book must have made more sense than this.
As many of the other reviewers on here will tell you, this movie is supposed to center around "the last hurrah" of a stump-speech-giving old-fashioned politician (Spencer Tracy, as the incumbent major of some large city with a considerable Irish population). He is being challenged for his fifth term by new, younger blood, a candidate who will use television. (In 1958, when this movie was made, we were still two years before the Kennedy-Nixon debates.)
But that doesn't turn out to be the focus. We see the younger man - a real dufus - on tv once, and it's a disaster. After that, we never see him campaign again. When Tracy's character loses to him, we have been given absolutely no reason to help us understand why.
So much for the focus of the movie.
After the campaigning and the election, which occupy most of the movie, there's a "tail end" that goes on forever, as Skeffington (Tracy) becomes ill and everyone in the unnamed Boston comes trailing through his bedroom to say goodbye. Donald Crisp, as the cardinal, has a good scene with Tracy, but we are never told why the two didn't get along. In fact, we are never told why most of the people who don't like Skeffington oppose him. The movie is two hours long, way too long for what it offers. Explanations could have been added and lots of other things cut.
Tracy is magnificent in this movie. It's worth sitting through all two hours to watch his face and listen to his voice as he truly creates a character, and a fascinating one. But the rest of the actors have nothing to work with, so he is surrounded by stereotypes, some of which could offend modern sensibilities.
What a shame Columbia didn't throw out this script and commission another one. They had all the rest of the makings for a great movie. They even had a screenwriter, Frank Nugent, who had written good scripts for other movies.