The Last Hurrah

An aging Irish-American political boss (Spencer Tracy) endures a final bid for reelection as mayor of a New England town.

The Last Hurrah is, in many ways, the spiritual forerunner of director John Ford’s later film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, as it also deals with the end of a storied era in American history, and the larger than life characters that inhabited it.

Spencer Tracy is perfect as Frank Skeffington, an aging, old-school political boss facing an uphill reelection. Tracy manages the perfect blend of charm and cool calculation that makes him absolutely believable as the head of the town’s political machine.

Supporting Tracy is a fine cast including Pat O’Brien and James Gleason as some of Skeffington’s associates, and Basil Rathbone and John Carradine as Skeffington’s chief opposition.

This is a movie that looks great, with Charles Lawton Jr.’s crisp black and white photography lending an extra gravitas to the already somber proceedings.

But The Last Hurrah isn’t perfect. Much of the comedy, in the form of Skeffington’s dimwitted aid ‘Ditto’, falls flat. Further, the character of Skeffington is too clean, too one-dimensional. He’s more of a Robin Hood then a political rogue. It’s nothing that a scene or two of him accepting kickbacks for the party wouldn’t have solved, but the filmmakers seem uninterested in deconstructing the image of a political boss, and opt only to celebrate it instead, much to the film’s disservice.

Still, despite these flaws, The Last Hurrah is certainly worth a look. It’s a solid drama with a great cast, spot-on atmosphere, and near-perfect pacing. Recommended.