Just perfect...

Better Late Then Never

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

When recovering alcoholic attorney Spencer Tracy returns to criminal practice to defend accused murderer James Arness, he finds himself up against a ruthless machine of racketeering and crime. Arness claims innocence even though his alibi doesn't stand up. But Tracy, who has known him and his family his entire life, delves deep into the bowels of New York City's crime circuit which is lead by a former defendant of his named "Knuckes" (Eduard Cianelli). Tracy looses the case and Arness is sentenced to die, but Tracy is not about to give up, even at the expense of his sobriety, or his life...What could be a gripping crime drama or semi-film noir turns out to be a slightly dull, convoluted misfire. Tracy, predictably, is excellent, and it is ironic to see his character battling demons that Tracy fought in real life. Diana Lynn is his "motherly" daughter, fussing over him with worry every chance he gets, afraid he may resume drinking as a result of the stress over the case. This is disconcerting both to him and to her boyfriend, played by "The Six Million Dollar Man's" Richard Anderson.There's some really gritty shots of downtown Manhattan, under its plethora of bridges and crooked streets. Pat O'Brien, sadly, is totally underused as a police officer involved in the case, even though he has featured billing. The film starts off really promising, sags in the middle with tons of chat, and comes back to life in the last reel. As directed by John Sturges (who also directed Tracy in the brilliant "Bad Day at Black Rock"), this had the potential for uniqueness but ultimately messes up with inadequacies in the screenplay and too much detail mixed in to follow easily.

I should begin by saying that I'm a tremendous fan of Spencer Tracy...second only to Cary Grant. But even having said that, I think this is a very fine film noir which interestingly combines courtroom drama with back alley thugs.Spencer Tracy plays a criminal defense lawyer who demoted himself to civil law after alcoholism took its toll. But then a family he has long known pleads with him to take their son's (a young James Arness) murder case. Tracy starts out strong in court, but his inner doubts soon begin to take their toll and he begins to romance liquor again...and looses the case. But he won't stop, and ultimately proves his client innocent, but at the cost of his life as he is gunned down on a dark street. You'll almost certainly see that coming, but there is a high degree of suspense here.The acting in this film is quite good. Tracy is dependable as he almost always was, and this must have been a difficult film for him, considering his own problems with alcoholism. Maybe that's why he plays it so convincingly. Pat O'Brien plays a cop friend just about the way you'd expect him to. John Hodiak is very good as the District Attorney...too bad his life as an actor was cut short. Diana Lynn, who never really made it big, is very convincing here as the daughter concerned with the pressure her father will be under during the trail, as well as the alcoholism problem.One for the DVD shelf? Yes, if you're a Tracy fan! Maybe, even if you're not.

Spencer Tracy,(James P. Curtayne), plays a lawyer who wants to get away from Criminal Law and go into Civil suits with not very much pressure, because he has a drinking problem. Jim Curtayne's daughter,(Diana Lynn),(Virginia,Ginny,Curtayne) is staying with her father and keeping an eye on him for at least two years, in order to keep him away from the booze. James Curtayne soon gets involved with a family he has known all his life and decides to help them when their son gets involved with a murder. John Hodiak,(Louis Barra) is the Defense Attorney and gives James Curtayne a hard time in the court room. Pat O'Brien,(Detective Vincent Ricks) is an old friend of James Curtayne and tries to help him stay focused on his law case and does give him some important leads. There are many twists and turns in this crime drama and Spencer Tracy gives one of his best performances in this Classic 1951 film.

Spencer Tracy's only venture into the noir genre finds him playing James P. Curtayne, an alcoholic criminal lawyer who is living with daughter Diana Lynn. She's essentially put her life on hold to take care of her father.Friends from his old neighborhood ask him to defend their son, James Arness, who is being charged with a homicide during the course of a what we would now call a home invasion. Tracy's not up to it, he's past his prime and unable to break down the perjured testimony of William Campbell who says Arness was the trigger man in the crime. He's got a sharp District Attorney in John Hodiak going against him. And he's got a client who's lying about his real whereabouts to shield someone else. When the verdict of guilty is read against Arness in The People Against O'Hara it should be over. But not quite.I liked John Hodiak as the District Attorney. He's good in anything he does and his role here is as an honest lawyer who's more interested in finding out the truth than scoring another prosecutorial notch on his belt. That in itself is very refreshing.Given Spencer Tracy's own alcholism this must have been a part way too close to home for him. But he also is determined to serve his client to the best of his abilities which are sharply impaired when he makes a bad error in judgment in bribing witness Jay C. Flippen. Usually Flippen plays upright characters so this portrayal of a witness willing to sell his testimony to the highest bidder is against type and good.Other good performances of note are Eduardo Ciannelli as the mob boss of the Fulton Fish Market, Pat O'Brien as Tracy's long time friend and homicide cop, and in a bit role in the end Ann Doran as a policewoman who puts herself on the line in the final confrontation scene.Both Tracy and Hodiak in this film are two of the best portrayals of the legal profession on the screen. Even Tracy's ethical lapses are done with the best of intentions.The People Against O'Hara is a great example of film noir at it's best and one of the screen's finest players in his only venture in noir.