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The Great McGinty Movie Review

The Great McGinty is a 1940 comedy film directed by Preston Sturges and starring Brian Donlevy. It’s a flawed, but solid feature.

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“All we’re doing is getting out the vote“

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A homeless person rises to become the mayor of his town after he hooks up with a crooked political boss. Then, he has to arrange a marriage in order to win more votes for the election. Thus, this political satire is quite relevant even today as it deals with corruption, political manipulation and the behind-the-scenes machinations of every election surprisingly cleverly.

However, it also is rather uninteresting in many of its political subplots, especially in regards to the corruption angle. I personally found the romantic subplot much more engaging to watch, but alas, that part was rather underutilized and lacking in screen time. The entire movie is quite solid, but rarely truly strong and/or memorable, thus leading to one of the director’s lesser works.

The main character is very well developed and quite realistic in his depiction. The performance from Brian Donlevy is very strong and the highlight of the film for sure. I also really liked Muriel Angelus who was excellent as Catherine, his wife. Again, the scenes between the two are so great in their playfulness and sense of fun that the film needed more of those. Only in such sections did the movie reach screwball comedy potential, but otherwise it was just a standard comedy.

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Other players and their respective characters are much less memorable, though they serve their purpose. The Great McGinty is technically also serviceable, but again nothing particularly remarkable. Preston Sturges’ direction is not among his best, though the film’s editing and cinematography are pretty good. The dialogue is also excellent, but the movie could become rather boring in certain more talkative and less plot-driven moments.

The Great McGinty is a solid, but flawed Preston Sturges outing that is far from his best efforts. Yes, the political satire is pretty strong, the performances are good and the movie can be playful and fun at times, but it’s also rather uninteresting in certain sections, and it’s overall solid without ever reaching true greatness.

My Rating – 3.5

You can get The Great McGinty on Amazon.