Preston Sturges was a unique figure in Hollywood history, a writer- director of witty, cleverly plotted comedies that combined wacky fun with occasional sharp satiric potshots at social institutions and human foibles. If Hollywood had a Moliere, Sturges was that.
The Great McGinty (1942) shows Sturges' writing at his satiric best in a clever piece about a corrupt politician whose successful career begins to unravel spectacularly when he tries to go straight! It's the sort of piece that, if made now by ham-fisted committee-style Hollywood, would stink in its obviousness, but Sturges makes it work thanks to fast pacing, zippy dialogue and a rogues gallery of memorable and even likable political hacks led by Akim Tamiroff and William Demarest.
The Great McGinty (1942) shows Sturges' writing at his satiric best in a clever piece about a corrupt politician whose successful career begins to unravel spectacularly when he tries to go straight! It's the sort of piece that, if made now by ham-fisted committee-style Hollywood, would stink in its obviousness, but Sturges makes it work thanks to fast pacing, zippy dialogue and a rogues gallery of memorable and even likable political hacks led by Akim Tamiroff and William Demarest.