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.

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.

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.

Spencer Tracy plays a seasoned attorney with his work cut out for him defending a young man in a murder trial. In some ways a routine courtroom drama, but it goes beyond that. Tracy is terrific, doing his usual crusty cynic bit but that's what we love him for. The role has some depth to it, as the character is a struggling alcoholic who makes a mistake in a moment of weakness. The rest of the cast doesn't match his performance, although John Hodiak is pretty good as the opposing counsel. The plot takes some interesting turns and goes into true noir territory in the third act. And cinematography by John Alton... need I say more? Those brilliant patches of light amidst deep, deep shadows look fantastic as always. I'll be honest, courtroom movies don't generally excite me, but this one is a cut above the usual fare.