The Great McGinty (Sturges #1 of 5)

Genre: Political Farce

About: This is the first script Sturges directed. For just ten bucks, Sturges sold the tale to Paramount on the condition he could direct.

Premise: At a banana republic, McGinty recalls his rise and fall. Beginning as a street tramp coerced into voting under a false number for two bucks, McGinty impresses a local boss and becomes an enforces. Then, McGinty makes a marriage of convenience, becomes mayor, but ultimately falls apart whenhis heart causes him to take public service seriously when he falls in love.

Writer: Preston Sturges

This project launched Sturges as a director and garnered an Academy Award so we know it has to be at least slightly good. The most striking quality of this film is it's so cynical: the moral seems to be if you're a bad guy then stay a bad guy because honesty will always get you. That, and how the film is still oddly relevant in modern society (I guess because it focused on how evil corrupts, which goes as far back as Shakespeare's stuff).

My two favorite elments of the whole script are the trademark Sturges dialogue and the quick pace of the story (which utilizes a very tightly packed flashback structure). My least favorite element is that the story seems so one track besides focusing on McGinty there really isn't much else to do. I'm sure in the 1940's this wasn't nearly as large problem, but modern cinema has ditctated that multiple storylines need to occur throughout the film. But that's okay, the cynicism of this film is hilarious. Just to give a sample:

A Politician: If it wasn't for graft, you'd get a very low type of people in politics, men without ambition, jellyfish!

Cynical much? It's so funny in its biting tone I wish somebody was making films as directly cynical as Sturges still. But alas, we'll have to settle for skits and thinly veiled one line jokes in indie flicks.

Bottom line? Sturges would get more sophisticated, but McGinty as we'll see was the start of a brilliant comedic career.

Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)

Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)

Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)

Hot Rod (Good)

[X] Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)

Isla Roles: If they ever bring back Screwball 1940's films and decide to do a McGinty remake, Isla would be perfect for McGinty's loveable heroine Katherine. She's sweet and loveable, but more importantly has that terrific banter Isla has honed so sharply in her series of romantic comedies (Wedding Daze, Wedding Crashers and Confessions of a Shopaholic).

Daily Tip: Stay true to your character's emotional arch. Please. McGinty's whole structure is based around a grifter who has a change of heart and his kingdom falls apart. Simple as that. Sure the film seems one line nowadays, but this is a very solid arch to hang a story around.