Independent Films, Film Profiles

Boys Town (film)
by Norman Taurog

Boys Town (1938) is a biographical drama film based on Father Edward J. Flanagan's work with a group of disadvantaged and delinquent boys in a home that he founded and named "Boys Town". It stars Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, and Addison Richards.The film was written by Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin and John Meehan, and was directed by Norman Taurog.Legendary MGM Studio head Louis B. Mayer, known privately for his deep reservations regarding the Catholic Church, later called this his favorite film of his tenure at MGM.Although the story is largely fictional, it is based upon a real man and a real place. Boys Town is a community outside of Omaha, Nebraska.Father Flanagan believes there is no such thing as a bad boy and spends his life attempting to prove it. He battles indifference, the legal system, and often the boys themselves, to build a sanctuary which he calls Boys Town. The boys have their own government, make their own rules, and dish out their own punishment. One boy, Whitey Marsh (Mickey Rooney) is as much as anyone can handle. His brother is in prison for murder, and Whitey himself is a poolroom shark and sometime hoodlum. Father Flanagan takes him to Boys Town. Whitey runs away three times, the third time because he hears his brother has escaped. Whitey joins his brother, but Father Flanagan rescues Whitey and helps capture the gang in the act of robbery. Whitey and Father Flanagan return to Boys Town.