CinemaLit: The Great McGinty (1940)
Silver Screenwriting

Special guest: Matthew Kennedy, author and film historian.

Preston Sturge’s debut as director resulted in this entertaining political satire, told in flashback by a bartender explaining why he can’t ever return to the United States. Dan McGinty starts as a tramp taking two-dollar bribes to vote -- 37 times – in an election. From there, under the influence of “the Boss,” he rises steadily from enforcer, to candidate, to politician... But is he really a bad guy or just a tough one?