Men of Boys Town

Norman Taurog directs and Spencer Tracy plays Father Flanagan in another film about the priest who walked the walk in his philosophy about their being no such thing as a bad boy.

Men of Boys Town finds Tracy burdened down with a lot of responsibility. His responsibility to each and every boy that he takes in at Boys Town and to the institution itself. Some of their stories overlap with Tracy's main concern about keeping the institution afloat.

One of those kids is Larry Nunn, a kid crippled after he killed a guard in a reformatory he was in. His story is similar to the one that was in the original Boys Town where Gene Reynolds was another kid who was crippled. Nunn is far more cynical and bitter after seeing and experiencing what he has in that other institution.

Another kid is Darryl Hickman, a young juvenile offender from that same place who sneaks out of the place with Mickey Rooney when Rooney goes to visit one of Nunn's friends. Talk about deja vu, in the original Boys Town it was Rooney who was the smart mouth who gets tamed by his experience at Boys Town. I guess the Deity and the scriptwriters have a sense of humor.

Besides Tracy and Rooney, Sidney Miller and Bobs Watson are retained from the original film. Rooney would be stealing this whole film if it weren't for Tracy. Nobody steals a scene from Spencer Tracy.

I guess since Boys Town is still here we do know that Father Flanagan did solve the problems shown in this film as well. Though it looks a whole lot like Tracy is getting stretched way to thin, in the movies and in life itself, problems sometimes do have a way working themselves out if we can only perceive the solution.

Anyway, Men of Boys Town is simply Spencer Tracy continuing his award winning role as the ever wise and patient Father Flanagan. Good enough reason to see this film.

Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney return as Father Flanagan and Whitey Marsh in this sentimental sequel to the almost equally sentimental original "Boys Town." However, the sentiment is in a good cause, and both films are ideal for those rainy afternoons on the sofa with a pound of chocolates and a box of Kleenex.

As he was in the original film, Spencer Tracy is the rock at the center of "Men of Boys Town." His performance as Flanagan is solid, reassuring, and subtle. Tracy was a master of film acting and never indulged in histrionics; however, when he spoke his words carried weight, and his figure had a presence that commanded attention. Mickey Rooney, on the other hand, could overplay a part, and his Whitey Marsh in the original "Boys Town" teeters perilously on being over the top. However, three years later, both Rooney and Whitey are more mature, and the characterization benefits. Rooney has toned down and deepened his performance, and, with more screen time, he holds his own with Tracy.

The film's plot is melodramatic and includes a crippled boy, a dog, a potential adoption, an escapee from a reform school, and financial problems, all of which, not surprisingly, resolve themselves in a flood of tears and smiles in the best tradition of old MGM movies. Bobs Watson returns as Pee Wee, and, although he should have outgrown the game with the candy in the drawers, he remains memorable for the waterworks that he could evidently turn on and off at the director's command. Anne Revere, no slouch in the tears department herself, has a small memorable part near the film's conclusion. Lee J. Cobb, who took over for Henry Hull as Dave Morris, Father Flanagan's friend, is effective, although there is an initial jolt when he appears, because his is the only major role that was recast from the original film.

The original "Boys Town" and this sequel must have drawn millions into the coffers of Father Flanagan's home for boys. When the music soars over heart-rending scenes and Tracy intones his philosophy of there being no such thing as a bad boy, only the hardest curmudgeon would not be moved to reach for a checkbook.

Father Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) has his hands full with huge debts that threaten to close the doors of Boys Town, plus more troubled boys to save such as a crippled boy convicted of manslaughter! Also the Father's prize pupil Whitey (Mickey Rooney) goes to live with a foster family and gets into trouble, thanks to a pint-sized tough guy (Darryl Hickman).

Good sequel to Boys Town reunites Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney, as well as a few of the kid actors who were in the last film. Henry Hull's part is recast with, of all people, Lee J. Cobb in one of his first significant roles. Rooney's star had risen since 1938 and in many ways he was more of the star of this one than Tracy was. Darryl Hickman is so cute as the little hoodlum Flip. He really steals the movie. A little long and the plot's kind of scattered but it's enjoyable and pleasant with lots of tear-jerking moments.

Father Flanagan desperately needs $200,000 to finance the two new wings of Boys Town, the community's young reformed mayor Whitey lets himself be adopted on a trial basis by a couple that might help raise the money, and a new kid, Ted with the broken back and the many ghosts in the closet, reluctantly enters Boy Town, and it seems like he is never going to trust humankind again.

Three years after the enormous success of 'Boy Town', director Norman Taurog and his brilliant cast is at it again, reforming young sinners and fighting their battle against the inhuman ways children were treated in reform schools. Father Flanagan preaches an anti-punishment policy way ahead of its time: "There is no redemption in a lash", he says.

It is Whitey, this time around, that gets to say the immortal words, "There's no such thing as a bad boy", and adds: "... someone told me once". And again Mickey Rooney is the center of attention here, I was once more amazed at this young actor's ease, the complete confidence that he exudes plus the vulnerability. Never once does he come across as too cocky, he is just always quite right, which is an art. Rooney was a brilliant, intuitive player, and it is about time someone gave him credit for it.

The rest of the acting is not quite on that level. Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan plays the easy part here, sufficing to smile warmly and speak heatedly, but he is nice to be in a room with.

As always, modern viewers cringe at the angelic choirs that accompany the miracles that make all the pieces fit together, and they must have sounded grating even in 1941. But, beggars can't be choosers, and I like this second round of Boys Town almost as much as the first.

MEN OF BOYS TOWN (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1941), directed by Norman Taurog, is a worthy offering to the highly successful BOYS TOWN (1938), that reunites its original cast consisting of Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Bobs Watson and Sidney Miller. Aside from the difference in time frame where some of the boys have now grown to become the men of Boys Town, only the Dave Morris character, originally enacted by the thin, middle-aged Henry Hull, now played by the younger yet studier Lee J. Cobb. Taken from an original screenplay by James K. McGuinness, the theory of "There's no such thing as a bad boy" continues as Father Flanagan resumes his mission through faith in miracles while helping troubled youths with the assistance of a former delinquent himself, Whitey Marsh.

The sequel unfolds as Whitey Marsh (Mickey Rooney), newspaper editor, shortwave radio operator and mayor of Boys Town, arranges a welcoming home committee for Dave Morris (Lee J. Cobb), the pawnbroker responsible for helping Father Edward Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) financially in making Boys Town for him a reality. Being away a year, Dave finds the only thing that remains consistent is Father Flanagan's financial problems, now being heavily in debt of $200,000 for the construction of extra dormitories. Good deeds continue as Father Flanagan attends the murder trial of Ted Martley (Larry Nunn - in a sensitive performance), now paralyzed with a broken back thanks to the brutal guard he shot in the reformatory. With the prison sentence suspended by the judge (Addison Richards) Father Flanagan assumes responsibility for the troubled teen by taking him to where there are no high walls or guards to hold anyone prisoner, that being Boys Town. Due to Ted's bitter attitude, Father Flanagan's only hope by making the boy to at least smile actually comes not from the boys but from a do (belonging to the visiting Mrs. Maitland (Mary Nash), chairman of the State Parole Board, and her husband (Henry O'Neill)) given to him by Whitey. The Maitlands agree to offer the dog ("Beau Hunk" ) to Ted with the possibility of adopting a boy of their own, their selection being Whitey. Whitey leaves Boys Town on a trial basis for the high living with the Maitlands. Changes occur when Whitey, as a favor to Ted, comes to Marysports Reform School to visit with his friend, Miles Fenley. Because of his association with Flip Dwyer (Darryl Hickman), a juvenile reform school escapee he tries to help, rather than being a visitor, Whitey ends up as the reform school's inmate instead under the clutches of a corrupt cigar smoking superintendent (Ben Weldon) and brutal guard (Arthur Hohl) handy with the wooden club.

Regardless of Spencer Tracy's second go-round as the kind-hearted Father Flanagan, it is Mickey Rooney, in between film roles of the "Andy Hardy" film series and Judy Garland musicals, who's honored with the most screen time. No longer the delinquent introduced in BOYS TOWN, his Whitey Marsh becomes more beneficial to Father Flanagan's cause and teachings. On the amusing side, Rooney does a "Slow Motion Wrestling Match" done in slapstick violence with cartoonish sound effects in the tradition of The Three Stooges. This particular sequence was often edited from television broadcasts in the 1960s and 70s so to fit in the commercial breaks during a two hour time slot of a 107 minute movie presentation.

While the third-billed moon-faced Bobs Watson (Pee-Wee) continues the tradition by playing "find the candy in my office" game with Father Flanagan, it is Darryl Hickman's junior tough guy performance who draws most of the attention from the cast. As a juvenile delinquent who marvels in performing stick-ups, talking tough, and reading crime magazines, he goes on with his bad boy reputation at Boys Town by "taking candy from a baby," the "baby" being Pee-Wee. In a cross between humor and tear inducing sentiment, there's plenty more scene stealing antics provided by Hickman, Paaa-lenty!

As much as the situations provided in the screenplay might come across as contrived, a moral message is brought out through some of its passages, mainly that "things happen for a reason, and how even the most tragic results do resolve into something positive." Although there was no third installment to Father Flanagan's story of Boys Town, RKO Radio did attempt its own similar theme of FIGHTING FATHER DUNNE (1948) featuring Pat O'Brien as the kindly priest who takes in and cares for homeless boys, one played by non-other than the teen-aged Darryl Hickman.

Distributed to home video in the 1990s, MEN OF BOYS TOWN can be found on DVD as a flip side package to its predecessor, BOYS TOWN, or through occasional cable broadcasts on Turner Classic Movies. (**1/2)