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The Great McGinty Overview:

The Great McGinty (1940) was a Comedy - Black-and-white Film directed by Preston Sturges and produced by Paul Jones.

Academy Awards 1940 --- Ceremony Number 13 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best WritingPreston SturgesWon

The Great McGinty BlogHub Articles:

The Great McGinty (1940): Preston Sturges & Politics

“If it wasn’t for graft, you’d get a very low type of people in politics!” – William Demarest The Great McGinty feels like a film of many notable firsts. The two most prominent ones being Preston Sturges’s first time in the director’s chair, famously agreein... Read full article


The Great McGinty (1940, Preston Sturges)

The Great McGinty has a gentle surprise ending. Not a twist. More a reveal, which then recasts the previous ninety minutes and change in a slightly different light. Because McGinty has a very deliberate bookending—there’s even a title card to explain the setting. An unnamed banana republic, ... Read full article


The Great McGinty (1940, Preston Sturges)

The Great McGinty has a gentle surprise ending. Not a twist. More a reveal, which then recasts the previous ninety minutes and change in a slightly different light. Because McGinty has a very deliberate bookending—there’s even a title card to explain the setting. An unnamed banana republic, ... Read full article


The Great McGinty (1940, Preston Sturges)

The Great McGinty has a gentle surprise ending. Not a twist. More a reveal, which then recasts the previous ninety minutes and change in a slightly different light. Because McGinty has a very deliberate bookending—there’s even a title card to explain the setting. An unnamed banana republic, ... Read full article


The Great McGinty (1940, Preston Sturges)

The Great McGinty has a gentle surprise ending. Not a twist. More a reveal, which then recasts the previous ninety minutes and change in a slightly different light. Because McGinty has a very deliberate bookending—there’s even a title card to explain the setting. An unnamed banana republic, ... Read full article


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The Great McGinty Quotes:

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

Daniel 'Dan' McGinty: [to the Politician about getting paid for multiple voting] Never mind the applesauce! How do I get the bucks?
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The Great McGinty Facts
Sturges got the idea for this film from a Chicago area judge who shared stories with him about city elections.

"Academy Award Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on April 20, 1946 with Brian Donlevy reprising his film role.

Other titles for this project were "Biography of a Bum" and "Down Went McGinty".

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on August 27, 1945 with Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff reprising their film roles.

This film was inspired, according to Kevin Brownlow, in part by the career of early 20th century politician and lawyer William Sulzer. The film was released a year before Sulzer's death at the age of 78.

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