El caso O'Hara

After a successful career as a D. A, James P. Curtayne (Spencer Tracy) decides to forgo civil law and accept a homicide criminal case involving an old time family friend. Det. Vincent Ricks (Pat O'Brien) a police detective and friend advises him as does his daughter Virginia (Diana Lynn) not to do it as does his heart and former bout with alcoholism. Still Johnny O'Hara (James Arness) needs his established reputation to save him from prison. The story is fraught with dangers which involve the local mob as well as Curtayne's inability to deal with his return to drinking as the case tests his ethics. For Tracy this is a remarkable film as one sees the sober lawyer deal with an inability to deal with his weaknesses. This remarkable B/W film is designed to entertain and highlight Tracy's unique talent. A great movie and one easily recommended to Tracy fans. Although not credited, you can see a very young Charles Bronson making an appearance. ****

People Against O'Hara, The (1951)

*** (out of 4)

Part noir and part courtroom drama, this film isn't a complete success but it has enough going for it to make it worth viewing. In the film Spencer Tracy plays an alcoholic lawyer who decides to help a couple poor friends out by defending their son (James Arness) who has been accused of murder. The lawyer knows the kid is innocent but he can't get enough information on the streets as to who the real killer is so he must put his own life on the line to try and clear his client. Sturges and Tracy would re-team four years later on the masterpiece BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK and while this film is no where near that one, this here at least offers up some fine performances and a terrific ending. I think the weakest aspect of the film was the actual court case. I'm not sure what it was but it really seemed like Sturges was struggling with how to build up any type of suspense during these scenes. The courtroom stuff just didn't contain enough suspense or anything overly interesting to make it work very well. I thought the director did a much better job with the personal demons battling Tracy as he's trying to avoid drinking but as the pressure builds he keeps wanting back at the bottle. Sturges handled these scenes extremely well including a heartbreaking and rather shattering one between Tracy and his daughter (Diana Lynn) as both of them break down and let their emotions show. It comes as no shock but Tracy is terrific as usual. He did a really good job with the role and the scenes with him battling the alcoholism were very well handled and you could tell Tracy was giving it his all. He suffered from drinking his entire life so I'm sure he put some of his own feelings into the role and they show. Pat O'Brien gets a pretty good bit as the Detective working the case and John Hodiak is very good as the D.A.. Lynn shines in her scenes including the unforgettable moment mentioned earlier and we also Eduardo Ciannelli playing a gangster. I really wasn't too impressed with Arness here who gets several scenes where he's suppose to be playing scared and frustrated yet I didn't believe either emotion. If you look quick you'll see Charles Bronson sitting around a diner table. While the courtroom stuff doesn't work too well the director makes up for this in the final fifteen-minutes where we get a masterfully directed sting sequence. Basically Tracy, the D.A. and the cops try to lure the real killers out and this is done with Tracy leading the way yet we never get to see him. It's filmed from the cops point-of-view as they listen to Tracy over a radio and the way this is done builds up a terrific amount of suspense and easily makes the film worth sitting through for.

It's a shame this movie never lives up to the dark promise of its opening images: Night in a run-down quarter of the city; an all-night coffee shop, like Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks"; an old Swedish salt stumbling around. In deep background, a door opens, flooding a stairway with light. Then, shots ring out. What it's all about is a young man framed for a murder, whose impoverished parents coax "retired" defense attorney Spencer Tracy to exonerate him; Tracy plays half Clarence Darrow and half gumshoe. Despite the obligatory falling-off-the-wagon scene (where he succumbs to ethical temptation) it's a solid job. The noir influence goes beyond the camerawork; the ending is darker than you might be led to expect.

Though I saw this as part of a noir festival at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago, "The People Against O'Hara" doesn't feel like much of a noir. There are bookend scenes drenched in noirish atmosphere, but other than that this is a straight up courtroom drama that finds Spencer Tracy defending a man accused of murder who has an alibi but is reluctant to share it for fear that it will endanger his life. It's a slick film, anchored by Tracy's gravelly resolve.

The film is a bit refreshing in its unpredictability, especially where Tracy's character is concerned. You might think that Tracy, being Tracy, will eventually triumph in the courtroom, perhaps with a snag or two along the way. But that doesn't happen. He's an alcoholic, you see, and his disease gets in his way. He botches the defense and loses the case, and still redeems the accused but in a way we're not expecting. The movie's treatment of alcoholism indeed is one of the things that sets it apart as a memorable little product of 1951, and in fact I think it's more notable for that than it is as an addition to the noir canon.

Grade: B+

An excellent performance by Spencer Tracy in "The People Against O'Hara" lifts this all too familiar plot line to a different level. Tracy is an alcoholic who, for the sake of his health and sobriety, becomes a civil attorney, only to be drawn back into criminal work when neighborhood friends need him to defend their son. The son is played by a pre-Gunsmoke, blond James Arness, and it was a pleasure to see him do something besides the one-note Matt Dillon. Diana Lynn does an excellent job as Tracy's protective daughter, and a pathetically young Richard Anderson is her patient fiancé.

Tracy's performance drives the film, which is really just an excuse for a character study, and who better to essay it. He beautifully shows the man's torment and loss of abilities. The ending is tense and suspenseful.

There is a fine cast, including the above, Pat O'Brien John Hodiak, Eduardo Cianelli, and William Campbell (who in real life was for a time married to Judith Exner, the woman who went public with her affair with JFK).

I think Spencer Tracy is always worth watching, and this film is no exception.