Teufelskerle

Boys Town is not the actual story of the founding of the famous orphanage in Nebraska for homeless male youth. True some of the problems that Father Edward J. Flanagan had in making his dream come true are dealt with here. But about a third of the way through the story line changes and it deals with the problems of one of the youths Boys Town takes in.

The youth is Mickey Rooney and Father Flanagan is played by Spencer Tracy. They are some contrast in acting styles. It's a tribute to Director Norman Taurog in that he was able to reign in Rooney, who's performance some times goes a little over the top.

Tracy however beautifully underplays against Rooney. San Francisco two years before was a milestone film for Tracy. Previous to San Francisco, Tracy had played mostly roughewn types on either side of the law. No pun intended, but as the priest there, Spencer Tracy became the wise paternal figure so beloved in so many films.

There's a lot of Father Tim Mullin continued on in Tracy's Father Flanagan. No new ground was broken, but the ground was carefully cultivated by Tracy in Boys Town, earning him a second Oscar in a row. That Oscar resides at Girls and Boys Town today, the place did go co-ed in the Seventies.

Tracy was under a lot of pressure in this part because Father Flanagan was still alive. Rumor hath it that he enjoyed Tracy's portrayal very much.

Well if my life story was ever important enough to bring to the screen, I couldn't ask for anyone better than Spencer Tracy to play me.

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 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.

Father Flanagan courageously fights against all odds to see his dream of BOYS TOWN become a reality.

Pulsing with real life, here is a family film which not only entertains but informs - bringing back to our attention one of the most vibrant personalities of the 20th Century, Father Edward Flanagan. Excellent production values - with outdoor filming that actually appears to have taken place on location at the authentic Boys Town - help tremendously with the viewer's enjoyment.

Earning his second Oscar in two years, Spencer Tracy is magnificent as the good Father. He gives us a hero of patience & grace, one who values prayer & faith, but one who is also quite ready to land a few powerful punches for a good cause. Tracy's own private life was anything but tranquil, which only makes his performance here all the more impressive.

Admirably cast as a nasty little punk, young Mickey Rooney breezes through an important role which would help propel him into becoming Hollywood's top star within a couple of years. Like a junior version of Tracy himself, the two are wonderful together, striking several dramatic sparks off their characters' personalities. While Tracy plays his role with quiet humor & dignity, Rooney hams it up magnificently.

Henry Hull offers good support as Tracy's pawnbroker friend who nervously gets to worry about all of Boys Town's financial woes. Little Bobs Watson as Pee Wee, the Town's youngest resident, is cute without being too cloying.

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After an education in Rome, Irish-born Edward Joseph Flanagan (1886-1948) came to America in 1904. Ordained a priest in 1912, Father Flanagan was sent to Omaha, Nebraska, where he established the Workingmen's Hotel for derelict men in 1914.

Soon, however, his great calling and the purpose for his life's ministry became clear - the work with abandoned & abused boys. In 1917 Father Flanagan opened the Home for Homeless Boys in a large old house. Outgrowing their facilities, in 1921 Father Flanagan moved his young charges to a farm site 10 miles from Omaha, capable of housing hundreds of youths. Quickly becoming more of a living community than just a school, the boys voted in 1926 to rename the place Boys Town.

Eventually covering some 1300 acres of farmland, dormitories, workshops, classrooms & playing fields, Boys Town incorporated itself as a sovereign township in 1936. Largely governed by the young men themselves, the institution is open to boys of all religions, colors & creeds and strives to provide healing for all manner of emotional & physical abuses.

Girls were first brought into the program in 1979.

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!*****