Burst into tears at the scene of the little boy being hit by a car as he's running after Mickey sobbing... jesus christ.

This has such a great title. And Mickey Rooney's best performance, I dare say. It's so funny he acted opposite both Spencer Tracy and Ben Stiller. What a life.

Burst into tears at the scene of the little boy being hit by a car as he's running after Mickey sobbing... jesus christ.

This has such a great title. And Mickey Rooney's best performance, I dare say. It's so funny he acted opposite both Spencer Tracy and Ben Stiller. What a life.

What is this movie about? Who is it about? How did Spencer Tracy win an acting award for playing the part of half wooden, half cult leader Father Flanagan when Mickey Rooney doing the Will McKenzie Inbetweeners walk was right there?

There’s something truly insane at the heart of Boys Town, a weird topsy-turvy relationship with good and evil — one that, after a traditionally boring hagiographic introduction, skews toward a kind of frightening bootstraps capital-C Conservative-moralism masquerading as Christian altruism. That tension makes for an initially self-sacrificing hero to eventually define his character by forcing an at-risk youth to choose between betraying either hundreds of orphans, or sending the brother who just saved his life back to prison. Then after that kid fails in his eyes, he capitulates to mob mentality and tries to lynch him. This is played as positive character development. This is *Boys Town.
*
The fact Flanagan backpedals in the end doesn’t really matter, nor does the frankly incomprehensible ping-ponging of focus and characters leading up to it. I do not care about his simple little Randall-esque underling running for mayor of this weird Stepford town, though I do find it interesting he is running on the “Conservative ticket.” I’m not so interested in the media blitz B-plot, though it is funny that manipulating journalism is presented as a good thing for the protagonists to do. I don’t even care whatever the hell that weird winky-lie thing all those men did when manipulating Pee Wee, who is virtually a toddler, into feeling Catholic guilt about not brushing his teeth was about. What matters is Boys Town tells a story about a charismatic cult leader breaking down the will of an individual using peer pressure, operant conditioning and collective thought — and it does so from the POV of that cult. Crazy stuff. I bet Heavens Gate would’ve loved it. No notes, Whitey lead the band in a song.

What is this movie about? Who is it about? How did Spencer Tracy win an acting award for playing the part of half wooden, half cult leader Father Flanagan when Mickey Rooney doing the Will McKenzie Inbetweeners walk was right there?

There’s something truly insane at the heart of Boys Town, a weird topsy-turvy relationship with good and evil — one that, after a traditionally boring hagiographic introduction, skews toward a kind of frightening bootstraps capital-C Conservative-moralism masquerading as Christian altruism. That tension makes for an initially self-sacrificing hero to eventually define his character by forcing an at-risk youth to choose between betraying either hundreds of orphans, or sending the brother who just saved his life back to prison. Then after that kid fails in his eyes, he capitulates to mob mentality and tries to lynch him. This is played as positive character development. This is *Boys Town.
*
The fact Flanagan backpedals in the end doesn’t really matter, nor does the frankly incomprehensible ping-ponging of focus and characters leading up to it. I do not care about his simple little Randall-esque underling running for mayor of this weird Stepford town, though I do find it interesting he is running on the “Conservative ticket.” I’m not so interested in the media blitz B-plot, though it is funny that manipulating journalism is presented as a good thing for the protagonists to do. I don’t even care whatever the hell that weird winky-lie thing all those men did when manipulating Pee Wee, who is virtually a toddler, into feeling Catholic guilt about not brushing his teeth was about. What matters is Boys Town tells a story about a charismatic cult leader breaking down the will of an individual using peer pressure, operant conditioning and collective thought — and it does so from the POV of that cult. Crazy stuff. I bet Heavens Gate would’ve loved it. No notes, Whitey lead the band in a song.

What is this movie about? Who is it about? How did Spencer Tracy win an acting award for playing the part of half wooden, half cult leader Father Flanagan when Mickey Rooney doing the Will McKenzie Inbetweeners walk was right there?

There’s something truly insane at the heart of Boys Town, a weird topsy-turvy relationship with good and evil — one that, after a traditionally boring hagiographic introduction, skews toward a kind of frightening bootstraps capital-C Conservative-moralism masquerading as Christian altruism. That tension makes for an initially self-sacrificing hero to eventually define his character by forcing an at-risk youth to choose between betraying either hundreds of orphans, or sending the brother who just saved his life back to prison. Then after that kid fails in his eyes, he capitulates to mob mentality and tries to lynch him. This is played as positive character development. This is *Boys Town.
*
The fact Flanagan backpedals in the end doesn’t really matter, nor does the frankly incomprehensible ping-ponging of focus and characters leading up to it. I do not care about his simple little Randall-esque underling running for mayor of this weird Stepford town, though I do find it interesting he is running on the “Conservative ticket.” I’m not so interested in the media blitz B-plot, though it is funny that manipulating journalism is presented as a good thing for the protagonists to do. I don’t even care whatever the hell that weird winky-lie thing all those men did when manipulating Pee Wee, who is virtually a toddler, into feeling Catholic guilt about not brushing his teeth was about. What matters is Boys Town tells a story about a charismatic cult leader breaking down the will of an individual using peer pressure, operant conditioning and collective thought — and it does so from the POV of that cult. Crazy stuff. I bet Heavens Gate would’ve loved it. No notes, Whitey lead the band in a song.

What is this movie about? Who is it about? How did Spencer Tracy win an acting award for playing the part of half wooden, half cult leader Father Flanagan when Mickey Rooney doing the Will McKenzie Inbetweeners walk was right there?

There’s something truly insane at the heart of Boys Town, a weird topsy-turvy relationship with good and evil — one that, after a traditionally boring hagiographic introduction, skews toward a kind of frightening bootstraps capital-C Conservative-moralism masquerading as Christian altruism. That tension makes for an initially self-sacrificing hero to eventually define his character by forcing an at-risk youth to choose between betraying either hundreds of orphans, or sending the brother who just saved his life back to prison. Then after that kid fails in his eyes, he capitulates to mob mentality and tries to lynch him. This is played as positive character development. This is *Boys Town.
*
The fact Flanagan backpedals in the end doesn’t really matter, nor does the frankly incomprehensible ping-ponging of focus and characters leading up to it. I do not care about his simple little Randall-esque underling running for mayor of this weird Stepford town, though I do find it interesting he is running on the “Conservative ticket.” I’m not so interested in the media blitz B-plot, though it is funny that manipulating journalism is presented as a good thing for the protagonists to do. I don’t even care whatever the hell that weird winky-lie thing all those men did when manipulating Pee Wee, who is virtually a toddler, into feeling Catholic guilt about not brushing his teeth was about. What matters is Boys Town tells a story about a charismatic cult leader breaking down the will of an individual using peer pressure, operant conditioning and collective thought — and it does so from the POV of that cult. Crazy stuff. I bet Heavens Gate would’ve loved it. No notes, Whitey lead the band in a song.

This movie is blatant religious propaganda and preaches diversity and inclusion yet hardly shows any. The black face joke in the middle of the movie took me out of it near completely and defeated the film’s entire message. Beyond this, it isn’t a terrible film and it’s meant to be feel good but under a twenty first century lens, its intentions are pretty clear.

This movie is blatant religious propaganda and preaches diversity and inclusion yet hardly shows any. The black face joke in the middle of the movie took me out of it near completely and defeated the film’s entire message. Beyond this, it isn’t a terrible film and it’s meant to be feel good but under a twenty first century lens, its intentions are pretty clear.

Spender Tracy is great here. After that this movie is at times heartfelt felt ….. and than heartfelt..::and heartfelt. It is too much at times. It over does the all kids are good message and gets overly sappy and that the world is bad but rarely shows the dirt and grime it is saying is all around otherwise. That being said it still a good movie with a nice cast.

Spender Tracy is great here. After that this movie is at times heartfelt felt ….. and than heartfelt..::and heartfelt. It is too much at times. It over does the all kids are good message and gets overly sappy and that the world is bad but rarely shows the dirt and grime it is saying is all around otherwise. That being said it still a good movie with a nice cast.