The Great John L.

It's kind of scary to realize that I remember seeing this movie back when it was released in 1945-6. I was 8 years old at the time and coming from an Irish-American family who lionized Irish American heroes, it made quite an impression on me as a kid. The tragedy of John L. Sullivan's life, his struggle with alcohol and the loss of his celebrity was lost on me at that young age and all I recalled after having seen the film were the great stories and myths that accompany such a legend that I had heard from my family. Reading the face-plate review, which I found quite insightful, permitted me an added perspective based on the background and the performance of McClure, an Irisher too, in the title role. I must agree, given my aging memory of having seen the film in the theater upon its release and having encountered it on various late shows. The reviewer compares McClure's performance to that of Flynn in the tale of Gentleman Jim Corbett, another Irisher from Aussieland playing the part of an Irisher beating John L., the icon of Irish Americanism at the turn of the 20th century. However, I would add this footnote to an otherwise excellent review, that the theme of this film must be considered in the context of the time that the Irish were emerging from a period of social discrimination that had endured from the previous century. It is easy to forget how a group of immigrants were held in contempt because of their religion-- many were Roman Catholic-- their speech and their seeming bawdy lifestyles. Being from a Catholic family from Northern Ireland, encountering the records of signs declaring "Irish need not apply," had special meaning to me. We had encountered this in the land of our birth. Therefore, the social message of such films had special import to me and my family.

Nowadays, many Americans of the Heinz 57 variety love to parade their bit of "Irish," often by wearing green, eating corn beef and cabbage, listening to Irish pub music on St. Paddy's day, and that is fine. However, these practices, which I find rather admirable, if somewhat naive, are rarely considered in the context that wearing of green was a protest against the imposition of the English against the Catholic church going back to the time of Elizabeth I; the English imported corned beef and the pub songs were often songs of protest. The large concentration of Irish immigrants in Boston and New York yielded many folk heroes to the children of the diaspora, Corbett, Sullivan, Fitzgerald and Braddock were but a few. It's also noteworthy that this film was produced by Bing Crosby, another Irish American icon and I'm certain the message was not lost on him.

I read on ebay that the film was released on home video once in 1985.

It has been out of print since then.

Perhaps a write-in campaign to Criterion might get it considered for a DVD.

For an obscure film, there seems to be some momentum building to bring it back.

Has it been shown on Turner Classic Movies in the past couple of years?

Does their Web site allow viewers to request films?

My uncle mentioned THE GREAT JOHN L to me in January and I've been tasked to find it for him in some fashion. First it was going to be a 65th birthday gift - now I'm aiming for the holidays... If not by then, hopefully for next year's birthday!

Been searching for it for many many years and can't find it. Have seen many who want this movie. It must be a great movie, but they want a minimum of twenty lines. But we only want to get a hold of the movie. Don't understand why this is being made so hard to do when just a single line might be more likely to be read. Don't have a lot to say other than that I have come across many people during the past fifty or so years that want to see this movie. I have many others that have seen it and thought it was truly GREAT. So where can a person find this wonderful movie. I have seen Gentleman Jim many times but have always wanted to see this move. But it doesn't seem to be anywhere. Does anyone have any ideas about where it could be purchased>

Bing Crosby's first venture into the production end of the film business was with this independent production The Great John L. about the life and times of John L. Sullivan. Of course any resemblance to the real Sullivan is coincidental here. It's pretty typical of Hollywood biographical films back in the day.

Of course the legend is well taken care of. The poor Irish kid from Boston handy with his fists who made good almost every time his boast of 'I Can Lick Any Man In The House'. It eventually took him to the heavyweight championship of the world defeating Paddy Ryan in 1882 and retaining it until 1892 when Jim Corbett dethroned him.

Sullivan's spendthrift ways and prodigious drinking are shown as well. Another boast was that he could drink any man under the table and too often did.

His romantic entanglements with the girl next door Barbara Britton and entertainer Linda Darnell are a complete work of fiction however. But they might have been acceptable but for the casting of the workmanlike, but distinctly non-charismatic Greg McClure. It's no wonder we didn't hear from this man again.

Bing certainly did what he could to help this film. Frank Tuttle who directed him in a couple of features at Paramount did the direction, he's best known for directing Alan Ladd in This Gun For Hire. Barbara Britton who was under contract at Paramount was no doubt obtained for this film for favors at Paramount. They usually granted Crosby anything they wanted. Bing's favorite songwriters Jimmy Van Heusen and Johnny Burke did two songs for the film, A Perfect Gentleman and A Friend Of Your's.

Bing also recorded A Friend Of Your's and so did Frank Sinatra and I'm sure that one was a favor as well. I have a bootleg recording of a radio commercial that Crosby did with Sinatra and Bob Hope promoting The Great John L. with Crosby and Sinatra stepping into the ring with Hope refereeing. That was far better than the film.

As a 66 year old man, I saw this movie in the early to mid fifties and thought it was great...I would like to see it again. I thought the acting was great and have always thought that Linda Darnell was a pretty and good actress. Being a retired professional photographer I still enjoy the lighting of the good old "greats" in black and white. The movie photographers of yesteryear were artist of their times. The great 3 dimensional look due to the highlights and shadows were magnificent. A remake of this type of movie would be great with some of the good actors of today. Andy Garcia would fit the part since he is such a great actor and nice looking. Along this type of movie would be "It Happened Tomorrow" and I Married a Witch with Fredric March and Veronica Lake.