Boys Town (1938)

Waste of time

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The strength of this film is the not story itself, because at least the last fourth of the picture -- when Whitey (Mickey Rooney) leads all the boys of Boys Town to confront hardened criminals at an abandoned inn is total fiction in a movie that purports itself to be the story of the real Boys Town and Father Flanagan (which is not to say that it isn't great movie making!).No, the strength of this film is the performance by Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan. And of course, it won him an Academy Award. Highly fictionalized or not, his portrayal made him the real Father Flanagan to many people. It is a remarkable performance, in part because as usual, he plays his roles in somewhat of an understated way, which makes them seem all the more realistic. There's quite a bit about the making of this film in the new Tracy biography, and it's interesting to compare the confidence of the character he was playing here with his insecurity in playing a priest.The other star of the pic was Mickey Rooney. Interestingly, this film was made the same year he began making the Andy Hardy films. What a cocky character, and in some ways (ala the Tracy biography) he may have been pretty much the same in real life. But, despite some overacting, he plays this part memorably.Most of the other supporting actors do very nicely, but special mention should be made of Henry Hull, who does an especially nice job as Tracy's/Flanigan's crusty friend with a soft heart. And, it is a hoot watching Bobs Watson cry! Some of the scenes in the picture were filmed at Boys Town, and overall it's a nice production. While the aura of Boys Town and the basic history isn't far from the truth, the actual plot of the movie is a little far-fetched. Would the iconic Father Flanigan really lead his boys to overtaking and capturing a trio of bank robbers and murderers? But, it makes a swell story and is very entertaining. This film was interesting enough -- and over the years I've probably watched it half a dozen times -- that since I now live in Colorado, I just might make a trip out in Nebraska to visit the real Boys Town.This is one for your DVD shelf!

SPENCER TRACY underplays the role of Father Flanagan who was the man behind the creation of BOYS TOWN and yet Hollywood thought his performance deserved an Oscar in 1938. The film looks very dated now and the sentiment is laid on a bit thick. The delinquent boys seem more like stereotyped cardboard characters dreamed up by the scriptwriter with only occasional glimmers of truth in the acting.Best among the supporting cast are GENE REYNOLDS (always a fine child actor who later turned his talents to directing) and little BOBS WATSON, who does a remarkably convincing job of playing the little boy who worships "Whitey," played by MICKEY ROONEY. Rooney's performance is a bit too blustery but there are moments when his acting nails the truth.Still, it's hard to know how much "truth" there is in the story told here, since so much of the script seems to depend on contrivances that make one suspect it's a purely fictionalized account of the actual story behind the development of Flanagan's Boys Town. Anyone with a fondness for Tracy and Rooney will find it easy enough to sit through, but I don't think it's the finest work of either star.

It's been some years since the story about the Catholic Church sheltering pedophile priests came to light.I do hope it's only a minority.But it's comforting to watch a movie based on this wonderful priest ,Father Flanagan (brillantly portrayed by the great Tracy)If there are saints in the universe,he must be one of them.After listening to the story of a prisoner about to be executed -a victim of fate more than a criminal-,the man of God decides he would take in all the boys standing in great danger of going to the dogs in a town he would build for them.One of Flanagan's most salutary qualities is his superb tolerance :before lunch,every boy prays his own God ,not only Jesus (they are even allowed to have no God),which was revolutionary!thirty years later,when I was in a catholic holiday camp,we had to pray and thank OUR Lord before we ate.Many viewers will praise Mickey Rooney and he is impressive as a "gangster in miniature" ,but my favorite is the adorable Pee Wee!

"Boys Town" is pure formula by today's standards but is still entertaining to watch. The movie's weakness is that it portrays just about everyone as a bit too saintly, even the criminals in the story. Mickey Rooney's acting is almost continually over the top and is in jarring contrast to the other boys. Meanwhile, Spencer Tracy's portrayal of Father Flanagan is that he's a man seemingly without flaw. You like Flanagan but it's sometimes hard to identify with a man who seems to be impossibly saintly. Still, Flanagan in this movie just doesn't talk the talk, he walks the walk. There are virtually no movies today about Christians living out their values and changing the world around them.A side note about Tracy's Oscar for this movie. After he won it, a flack for the Academy announced that Tracy was donating it to Boys Town. Except no one had asked Tracy if he was doing so. Tracy would've looked terrible for refusing to do so after it had been announced so a compromise was struck---Boys Town got the Oscar to display and Tracy was given a duplicate for his mantle. Some other actors have donated their Oscars---Shelly Winters gave her Oscar for "The Diary of Anne Frank" to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Bing Crosby donated his Oscar to his alma mater, Gonzaga University.