I don't remember ever seeing The Great McGinty before but it's possible that I'd seen it in the 80s when we first had cable. It's the sort of movie that would be run on Turner Classic Movies and that was a favorite channel then. It's a 1940 Preston Sturges comedy, he wrote and directed it. It was his first directing job, he'd written two previous films and sold this one, for $10, with the provision he'd get to direct. He did a good job. The film won the Original Screenplay Oscar.
It's got Brian Donlevy as McGinty. He's a bit of a hobo and the prefect target for the men under The Boss to hire to vote. Akim Tamiroff plays The Boss and William Demarest plays Skeeters, his right hand man. McGinty takes advantage of the offer and votes 37 times. Now he wants his $74 from Skeeters but the guy's near tapped out at the end of the day. He take McGinty to see The Boss.
One thing leads to another and the next thing you know McGinty is working for The Boss. He rises through the ranks to Governor only to burn his bridges around him. The whole story is told in a series of flashbacks to a drunken guy in a seedy bar in South America.
I lucked out and wound up buying a 7 DVD set of Preston Sturges films for 0nly 7 bucks. I've got 6 more movies to go. Should be fun.
Comments