Boys Town

The "true story" of Father Flanagan, an Catholic Priest in early 1900's Nebraska, whose motto "There is no such thing as a bad boy" lead him to open a large orphanage for boys nobody wanted. With love and the insistance that there is always hope, the man "gets through" to even the toughest kids anyone else would have called "hopeless".

Spencer Tracy won his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar as the long suffering Flannegan. Mickey Rooney is great as Flannegan's "toughest challenge", and many of the orphans give genuine performances in this Hollywood Classic. The movie "Boys Town" was a major boost to the real-life orphanage, eventually catapulting it to a successful multi-million dollar organization, helping boys (and girls) throughout the US!

"Boy's Town" gives hope to all of the "orphans" among us. Whether without parents, or from unhappy homes. There are always caring individuals whose life goal it is to "leave no child behind". Where there is life, there is hope!*****

This is a pretty famous movie, one of those old-fashioned feel-good films that bring a tear or two to the eye of the sensitive individual.

It's very dated, yes, but part of that "dated" means mostly nice kids, not brats and more nice role models, instead of extremely-flawed heroes. It seems, as film fans, we normally got one of the extremes thrown at us: overly good or overly bad. This is overly good.....but I'm fine with that.

Mickey Rooney really livens the film up with his appearance. He and most of the characters represent an America that is long gone, people and ideas that are way too "corny" for today's audience. Sometimes it's sappy but sometimes it's refreshing to see, too.

The "bad" kids in this film seem pretty nice and tame to today's bad kids, believe me. "There are no bad boys," as Father Flanagan put it, and one would wonder if that still applied today. Flanagan is nicely portrayed by Spencer Tracy. The priest is shown to be one who had a real heart for wayward boys.

Spencer and Rooney are the obvious stars of this sentimental story but little "Pee Wee," played by Bobs Watson, is the most endearing character in the movie.

Corny but a remembrance of a much more innocent America.

Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney star in the 1938 classic, Boys Town. Based in a real-life Home for Boys in Nebraska, Spencer Tracy would win Best Actor at the Acadmey Awards for his performance. Mickey Rooney, at the age of 18 wins the audience over, although it is Spencer Tracy that is hailed the lead actor as the noble and always wise Priest. Rooney plays the tough guy / teenage hell-raiser who ends up becoming a nice boy. His addition to Boys Town is followed by a series of knocks and explosions. The family atmosphere of Boy's Town is the true winner of the movie. Watching Rooney slowly become of the family of forgotten boys wins your heart. Spencer Tracy is only the star of the movie, it is Rooney who is the movie.

It doesn't matter what movie you're talking about, the guy just never had an inauthentic moment on film.

He could be playing priests, professors, attorneys, soldiers, homeless guys, doesn't make a difference. He was always believable and interesting to watch. I cherish these actors because they're rare. It's interesting to me that he was with Katherine Hepburn because she's another like him. Completely authentic in everything she did.

Meryl Streep is another one. Montgomery Clift. Jimmy Stewart. Kathy Bates. Henry Fonda. They're rare. The only modern one I can think of who is pretty consistent and not retired yet is Denzel Washington. Definitely Morgan Freeman but not sure if he's retired. Michael Caine just retired.

SPENCER TRACY underplays the role of Father Flanagan who was the man behind the creation of BOYS TOWN and yet Hollywood thought his performance deserved an Oscar in 1938. The film looks very dated now and the sentiment is laid on a bit thick. The delinquent boys seem more like stereotyped cardboard characters dreamed up by the scriptwriter with only occasional glimmers of truth in the acting.

Best among the supporting cast are GENE REYNOLDS (always a fine child actor who later turned his talents to directing) and little BOBS WATSON, who does a remarkably convincing job of playing the little boy who worships "Whitey," played by MICKEY ROONEY. Rooney's performance is a bit too blustery but there are moments when his acting nails the truth.

Still, it's hard to know how much "truth" there is in the story told here, since so much of the script seems to depend on contrivances that make one suspect it's a purely fictionalized account of the actual story behind the development of Flanagan's Boys Town. Anyone with a fondness for Tracy and Rooney will find it easy enough to sit through, but I don't think it's the finest work of either star.