The Last Hurrah (1958 film)
The Last Hurrah is a 1958 film adaptation of the novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin OConnor. The picture was directed by John Ford and stars Spencer Tracy as a veteran mayor preparing for yet another election campaign. Tracy was nominated as Best Foreign Actor by BAFTA and won the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review, which also presented Ford the award for Best Director.specify
In a New England city, Frank Skeffington Spencer Tracy plans to run for a fifth term. Skeffington rose from poverty in an Irish ghetto to become mayor and former governor, and is skilled at using the power of his office and an enormous political machine of ward heelers to receive support from his Irish Catholic base and other demographics. Rumors of graft and abuse of power are widespread, however, and the Protestant bishop, newspaper publisher Amos Force John Carradine, banker Norman Cass Basil Rathbone, and other members of the citys traditional elite the Irish Catholics replaced oppose Skeffington so does Martin Burke Donald Crisp, Catholic cardinal, Skeffingtons childhood friend. They support the candidacy of Kevin McCluskey Charles B. Fitzsimons, a young Catholic lawyer and war veteran with no political experience.Adam Caulfield Jeffrey Hunter is a sportswriter for Forces newspaper. His fatherinlaw, Roger Sugrue Willis Bouchey, is among those who oppose Skeffington, Caulfields uncle. The mayor invites Caulfield to observe in person what will be his last election, his last hurrah, to preserve for history urban politics before radio and television fully changes campaigning. Skeffington prefers oldfashioned, handson politics, and attends numerous rallies, luncheons, dinners, and speeches. His influence is such that when Skeffington attends an unpopular old friends wake, hundreds rush to be present. Disgusted at how the wake becomes another political event, Caulfield leaves one of the mayors men explains to him, however, that Skeffington attended to attract mourners to cheer the widow, to whom Skeffington has secretly donated 1,000. ........
Source: Wikipedia
