Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Sober-Friend Boys Town is a 1938 biographical drama film based on Father Edward J. Flanagan's work with a group of underprivileged and delinquent boys in a home that he founded and named "Boys Town". It stars Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney with Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, and Gene ReynoldsThe film was written by Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin and John Meehan, and was directed by Norman Taurog.A convicted murderer asks to make his confession on the day of his execution. He is visited by an old friend, Father Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) who runs a home for indigent men in Omaha, Nebraska. When the prison officials suggest that the condemned man owes the state a debt, Father Flanagan witnesses the condemned man's diatribe to prison officials and a reporter that describes his awful plight as a homeless and friendless boy who was a ward in state institutions. After the convicted man asks the officials to leave, Father Flanagan provides some comfort and wisdom. On the train back to Omaha, Father Flanagan is transformed in his humanitarian mission by revelations (echoed in the words) imparted by the condemned man's litany of hardships experienced as a child without friends or family as a ward of the state.Father Flanagan believes there is no such thing as a bad boy and spends his life attempting to prove it. He battles indifference, the legal system, and often even the boys, to build a sanctuary that he calls Boys Town. The boys have their own government, make their own rules, and dish out their own punishment.This is well made film. The story still works today and the cast delivers the goods. I think children will be bored watching this however the older you are the more you will love this film.I am not a religious person but I was relieved that the hero of the film is a man of faith. Its nice to see a film where religion is not the villain.

Hitchcoc I always get caught up in this film. I've probably seen it fifteen times and it still gets me. It has two of my favorite people: Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney. Of course, Tracy would fit on many people's top ten actors list. Rooney was more of a comic actor, but very good at what he did. He and Judy Garland teamed up for those Andy Hardy movies when he was a child actor, and then he had numerous other roles that pushed him farther. In this he plays a punk who arrives at Boys Town, near Omaha, Nebraska. The priest who runs the place, Father Flanagan, became inspired by a death-row inmate who told him what it was like to grow up friendless. So Flanagan created Boys Town and took those that society rejected and provided love and care for them. It was often at great risk because they were always under close observation from an unconvinced population. This is really a story about Flanagan's relationship with Whitey Marsh (Rooney) who tests his patience to the limit. Flanagan knows that if he fails with this boy, it could all go down. The other boys resent Whitey because they have their own government and are experience worth for the first time in their lives. Tracy won the Oscar for this performance.

JoeytheBrit Spencer Tracy won the Academy Award for Most Sincere Priest of 1938 for this one. He drifts through a range of emotions here from pious sincerity to pious righteousness to pious tolerance via pious determination and resourcefulness – all of it smothered in a sickly dose of pious non-sexual love for his ever growing brood of ankle-biters. In real life Tracy is one of the cussing-est, hard-drinking womanisers in Hollywood and it must have amused him no end to have received an Oscar for his portrayal of the saintly Father Flanagan.The film takes a left turn halfway through, as if it has grown tired of watching the rather dull father, to concentrate on the problems endured by Whitey Marsh, played by an 18-year-old Mickey Rooney. Rooney clearly thinks he's in a comedy. Just look at the way he struts around as the mayor of Boys Town shows him around the town; he lifts each leg as if he has glue on the soles of his shoes and twitches his head this way and that like a particularly alert sparrow. Later, when things go particularly bad for his character, Rooney overacts outrageously, determined to tug at the heartstrings of all those mothers who had made him one of America's favourite teens.Of course, this being a Hollywood product of the thirties, everything works out OK in the end. Father Flanagan saves the boys' home from closure, Whitey becomes accepted and liked by his peers, all of whom are wonderfully likable young tykes ('there's no such thing as a bad boy,' Tracy repeatedly intones), and little Pee Wee, inspired by Tracy, goes on to become a real-life Methodist minister.This one's so sugary you're going to want to brush your teeth after watching it.

Michael_Elliott Boys Town (1938) *** (out of 4) Spencer Tracy won his second of back to back Oscar for his performance here as Father Flanagan, a man who's dream is to create a home for abused and troubled boys. This film here seems to take a beating due to its over sentimental aspects but I don't see anything wrong with it. Yes, the sentimental aspects are a little over the top at times but this is still a pretty powerful film and Tracy is brilliant in his role. The scene with Pee Wee and Mickey Rooney is perfectly done and quite touching and the film's heart is in the right place. Henry Hull co-stars.