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The Last Hurrah | Year: 1958 Classification: Drama Directed: - John Ford Actors/Actresses: - Spencer Tracy - Jeffrey Hunter One of John Ford's few duds A strangely sluggish drama, starring Spencer Tracy as Frank Skeffington, an aging, old-school, ward-heeling Irish-American politico waging his final campaign against the nascent forces of the modern mass media -- namely, a callow young candidate backed by big money and a phalanx of television producers. What's most odd about this film is that John Ford directed it, and yet it's so dull and disjointed. And what, exactly, are they trying to say here? Is Tracy's character a scoundrel or a noble throwback to a simpler, more human time? Is he a little bit of both? And if so, what does that ambiguity mean? It's never quite clear what we're supposed to feel about Skeffington; clearly his enemies are horrible, shallow people, but the film is so fuzzy about how we're supposed to feel in constrast about Tracy's character -- who was roughly modeled on one of Boston's old mayor's -- that it's difficult to feel moved, or involved, one way or the other. Muddled and disappointing. QUITE EASILY SPENCER TRACY'S GREATEST PERFORMANCE! "The Last Hurrah" follows the exploits of mayor, Frank Skeffington (Spencer Tracy). He's running for a third term but meets with great opposition from the city council, who don't appreciate his strong-arm tactics and chronic meddling in their affairs. The pack of detractors is led by Norman Cass Sr. (Basil Rathbone), whose youthful incumbent for the post of mayor, Kevin McCluskey (Charles B. Fitzsimmons) seems an impossible long shot. But Skeffington is not above dishing a little dirt of his own on the side. He uses incriminating photos of Cass's simpleton son, Norman Jr. (O.Z. Whitehead) to blackmail Cass Sr. into relative submission. Skeffington also gingerly berates the elements of city council opposing him, including news paper editor, Amos Force (John Carradine) to whom Skeffington's nephew, Adam Caufield (Jeffrey Hunter) is an employee and sometimes unwilling observer. As Skeffington, Tracy is pure dynamite, delving out equal portions of brutality and kindness in a tour de force performance that quite easily might be his best! There are plenty of finely wrought cameos to go around, including Jane Darwell's crotchety spinster, Anna Lee's subtle and tender performance as the widow and Donald Crisp's stoic turn as His Eminence, Cardinal Burke. This is one heck of a good show!<BR>Instituted into the pipeline before Columbia's penny-pinching regime kicked in, "The Last Hurrah" has had admirable work done on its transfer before being minted to DVD. The gray scale is excellent and the anamorphic widescreen version of the movie is very nicely rendered with fine detail, solid blacks and contrast levels. There is a definite grain structure to this film but it will not distract from the performances. There are no compression related artifacts. The audio is MONO and nicely rendered.<BR>There are, unfortunately, NO EXTRAS! Worth viewing for Tracy "The Last Hurrah" should be watched (more properly, "endured") for Spencer Tracy. It's not quite as mawkish and overly sentimental as some Boston Irish films, but close. Many of the scenes are just unbearably overlong and preachy. What saves it is one of Spencer Tracy's best performances: he's a model of restraint and dignity in a role that a lesser actor would have gone down for the third time in the sea of blarney. Very fine supporting cast, too, including every Irish character in the Hollywood at the time: Pat O'Brien, James Gleason, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh, Edward S. Brophy, plus very substantial help from Basil Rathbone and John Carridine. Jeffrey Hunter, as Tracy's nephew, smirks his glamor-boy way through this film as a reminder that no cast is perfect. John Ford was definitely slipping here, unable to resist putting in incredibly broad characters like Tracy's and Rathbone's sons, who belong on The Simpsons, not in this film. Would have deserved two more stars at half its length. Buy The Last Hurrah at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Last Hurrah Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Last Hurrah This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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