"There's no such thing as a bad boy," proclaims Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan. He believes it too. Tracy founds Boy's Town a few miles from Omaha, Nebraska, to house orphans and problem boys who would otherwise be roaming the streets and getting into trouble.
There is much tribulation. Hardly anyone wants to help, preferring punishment to an attempt at rehabilitation. The first home is a tumble down shack bought on credit from a reluctant backer, Henry Hull. For Christmas dinner they have fried mush. The kids live a life style that would make a Spartan look like Kim Kardashian.
The situation improves somewhat, thanks to Tracy's smooth and thoroughly guilt-inducing pitch to the wealthy and powerful. Serious trouble comes in the form of Mickey Rooney, a tough delinquent. In those days they still had "delinquents." But never mind. At the end, a band plays, the boys caper on the lawns, and the social reform movement reaches it apotheosis.
In the turbulent 1960s I was visited in Philadelphia by a young black man who was soliciting for Boy's Town. After his credentials were established we discussed the racial problems of the period and then the life style of Boy's Town, where he had grown up. Some of the gung ho quality seen in this movie still exists. He was terribly proud of Boy's Town and thoroughly committed to its mission. It was a little like talking to an ex Marine or a graduate of Harvard. Good for him. Good for Boy's Town.
There is much tribulation. Hardly anyone wants to help, preferring punishment to an attempt at rehabilitation. The first home is a tumble down shack bought on credit from a reluctant backer, Henry Hull. For Christmas dinner they have fried mush. The kids live a life style that would make a Spartan look like Kim Kardashian.
The situation improves somewhat, thanks to Tracy's smooth and thoroughly guilt-inducing pitch to the wealthy and powerful. Serious trouble comes in the form of Mickey Rooney, a tough delinquent. In those days they still had "delinquents." But never mind. At the end, a band plays, the boys caper on the lawns, and the social reform movement reaches it apotheosis.
In the turbulent 1960s I was visited in Philadelphia by a young black man who was soliciting for Boy's Town. After his credentials were established we discussed the racial problems of the period and then the life style of Boy's Town, where he had grown up. Some of the gung ho quality seen in this movie still exists. He was terribly proud of Boy's Town and thoroughly committed to its mission. It was a little like talking to an ex Marine or a graduate of Harvard. Good for him. Good for Boy's Town.