The daughter of a slain man pushes her brother toward vengeance in 19th-century Corsica. The Great McGinty, a high-spirited comedy of rogues and rascals, won the 1941 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay … Brian Donlevy plays Dan McGinty, a Chicago hobo who is hired by local political bosses as a "professional voter," casting ballots under a variety of assumed names in various districts. In a dive south of the border, bartender Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) stops a young man from committing suicide after a moment of dishonesty, and relates how a moment of honesty brought him down in a flashback. In trouble, McGinty flees the country and winds up (or down) as a bartender in a seedy Central American dive where the tale has a gleeful surprise ending. Best Fictional Election or Campaign Movie? His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy, Akim Tamiroff and Muriel Angelus. January 25, 2021 January 25, ... McGinty just has enough time to call Catherine and tell her where there is a safety deposit box with enough money to take care of her and the kids for life. Comedy, Certificate: Passed (1940). When the jig is up he high-tails it to the border, penniless but with a clean conscience. Government corruption may not be a laughing matter, but writer director Preston Sturges made some of his funniest comedies from the most unlikely material, and he smartly lampooned the political process in his big screen directing debut. Was this review helpful to you? Need some help finding the best things to watch on Netflix? Brian Donlevy is the title character, a less than scrupulous bum elected to the State Governor's office under the patronage of underworld boss Akim Tamiroff and, in a clever reversal of the usual formula, reformed by the responsibilities of public office. The moral of Preston Sturges' first directorial effort The Great McGinty seems to be: If you're a crook, stay a crook, because honesty will get ya every time. A Hollywood director, John L Sullivan, sets out to experience life as a poor, homeless person in order to gain relevant life experience for his next movie. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) is a tramp who impresses a local crime boss (Akim Tamiroff) by voting 37 times in a rigged mayoral election. Certificate: Passed In McGinty’s case, Sturges supposedly offered to sell Paramount his script for a measly sum (Deighan says $10, though I’ve also heard a buck) if they also allowed him to direct it as well for what would be his directorial debut. Brian Donlevy stars as Dan McGinty, a Depression-era hobo who becomes a “professional voter” for a crooked Chicago political boss, casting ballots under a variety of assumed names. An inventor needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying a millionaire. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? A New York City detective, traveling by train between New York and Baltimore, tries to foil an on-board plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln before he reaches Baltimore to give a major pre-Inauguration speech in 1861. Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city’s political machine to help with vote fraud. Major Thompson, an Englishman living in France, comments in his memoirs on the peculiarities of his French wife and friends. In a dive south of the border, bartender Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) stops a young man from committing suicide after a moment of dishonesty, and relates how a moment of honesty brought him down in a flashback. Dan McGinty has great success in his chosen field of crooked politics, but he endangers it all in one crazy moment of honesty. The film lacks the madcap pace and eccentric characters of later Sturges classics, but compensates with plenty of rich satire (says big boss Tamiroff: "if it weren't for graft you'd get a very low type of person in government…") and an unusual romantic subplot decades ahead of its time. Preston Sturges' classic Hollywood comedy The Great McGinty is an incisive and bold political satire that explores the ridiculous depths of American corruption—80 years before the Trump era. But the adaptations of his scripts for films like Easy Living (1937) and Diamond Jim (1935) to the screen were displeasing to Sturges, far from the tone he aimed for in his writing. Woodrow is discharged from the military for hay fever, but fabricates receiving a heroic honorable discharge before returning home. Search for "The Great McGinty" on Amazon.com, Title: Written by In a bar in an unnamed Latin American country, Tommy Thompson (Louis Jean Heydt) is down in the dumps, and is about to commit suicide before Daniel McGinty (Brian Donlevy), the bartender, stops him. Directed by Preston Sturges • 1940 • United States Starring Brian Donlevy, Muriel Angelus, Akim Tamiroff Brian Donlevy stars as Dan McGinty, a … Synopsis: Told in flashback, Depression-era bum Dan McGinty is recruited by the city's political machine to help with vote fraud. His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. The Great McGinty is a 1940 Screwball Comedy, the first film directed by Preston Sturges. The Great McGinty might feel like a one-joke pony if it solely relied on the ludicrous premise of a nobody jumping through the hoops to become mayor and then governor. And there is Preston Sturges’s Dan McGinty whose aspirations didn’t, at first, extend beyond the opportunities of the moment, a … His great aptitude for this brings rapid promotion from "the boss," who finally decides he'd be ideal as a new, nominally "reform" mayor; but this candidacy requires marriage. Twenty years after his triumphs as a freshman on the football field, Harold is a mild-mannered clerk who dreams about marrying the girl at the desk down the aisle. But losing his job ... See full summary ». When the co-workers of an ambitious clerk trick him into thinking he has won $25,000 in a slogan contest, he begins to use the money to fulfill his dreams. THE GREAT McGINTY, written and directed by Preston Sturges; produced by Paul Jones for Paramount. Featured Products TCM Annual Catalog: 2019 Edition. 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