Le peuple accuse O'Hara

Spencer Tracy,(James P. Curtayne), plays a lawyer who wants to get away from Criminal Law and go into Civil suits with not very much pressure, because he has a drinking problem. Jim Curtayne's daughter,(Diana Lynn),(Virginia,Ginny,Curtayne) is staying with her father and keeping an eye on him for at least two years, in order to keep him away from the booze. James Curtayne soon gets involved with a family he has known all his life and decides to help them when their son gets involved with a murder. John Hodiak,(Louis Barra) is the Defense Attorney and gives James Curtayne a hard time in the court room. Pat O'Brien,(Detective Vincent Ricks) is an old friend of James Curtayne and tries to help him stay focused on his law case and does give him some important leads. There are many twists and turns in this crime drama and Spencer Tracy gives one of his best performances in this Classic 1951 film.

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.

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.

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+

The People Against O'Hara is a slightly offbeat film to have come out in 1951. It's both a crime picture and a fairly realistic study of alcoholism. The photography is by noir tyro John Alton, and in many of its night-time and shadowy scenes the movie looks like a thriller, which it really isn't. Director John Sturges was an up and comer at the MGM of this time, and the film was one of the earlier shots at A level film-making. The cast,--Spencer Tracy, Diana Lynn, Pat O'Brien, John Hodiak--are all fine.

I can't say that the script is any great shakes, but it gets the job done. The story goes off in several directions, as it deals with everything from father-daughter love to gangsters. I like the film more than most people and think that had the script been tidied up it might have been a great movie. There are some splendid moments, and one in the courtroom in particular stands out, when a young thug delivers such a double-talking testimony that lawyer Tracy almost has a nervous breakdown while questioning him. The kid senses that Tracy is vulnerable and keeps on twisting his words deliberately, and Tracy goes for the bait. It's a tough scene to watch, alternately sad, realistic and infuriating.

Tracy plays his role as a recovering alcoholic with sincerity and a conspicuous absence of sentiment. This man is not a saint and never was. Even when clean and sober he's a far cry from perfect, and he always will be.