Boys Town (1938)

Average rating

(72%)

Starring:	Spencer Tracy \| Mickey Rooney \| Henry Hull \| Leslie Fenton
Director:	Norman Taurog
Studio:	WARNER HOME VIDEO
Run time:	89 mins
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Released:	January 02, 2006

Spencer Tracy won an Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan, who opens Boys Town and dedicates himself to helping juvenile delinquents go straight. Mickey Rooney plays one of the tougher kids, figuring out early on that Flanagan is nobody's fool.

Radio Times

Unspeakably yucky farrago, with Spencer Tracy reprising his Oscar-winning role as Father Edward J Flanagan, first seen in Boys' Town, who seems to think there's a saint in every delinquent. At one point, Tracy even employs a pet pooch to help win over the kids. Doubtless MGM boss Louis B Mayer cried buckets over Tracy's rehabilitation of cute little Mickey Rooney from an unforgiving reform school, but today's audiences are more likely to be left feeling more than a little nauseous.

Rating of 1 stars out of 5
Halliwell's Film Guide

Well-made, highly successful, but sentimental crowd pleaser.

Highest rated reviews

1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
Excellent

A Customer from Wirral, 7th February, 2007

Criticism of this film targetted at it's 'schmaltzy' tone could well be justified. However.....normally I would be one of those very types - this film managed to melt all of that away somehow. Partly because it was based on a true story, and partly because of the excellence of Rooney and Tracy. Some of the scenes in this film moved me deeply. I watched this with an equally cynical and 'laddy' male and he felt the same affect. Hands strategically held up heads to hide tears for a fair amount of this film. Excellent

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1 out of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 2.0 stars
Not a town worth dwelling in

RJNeb2 from , 17th February, 2006

The saccharine levels reach almost unbearable highs in this schmaltzy tale of a priest who sets up a community for delinquent boys. It may be based on a real story, but that doesn't account for Mickey Rooney's shameless mugging as a young punk. Coming just a year after the rather more realistic 'Dead End', his attempts at youthful swagger are embarrassing to say the least, while the film's use of the cutesy factor is almost nauseating. Spencer Tracy provides a bit of gravitas in his quiet, Oscar-winning performance as Father Flanagan.

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