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| boston culture | |
| irish-american culture | |
| political novels | |
| 1956 novels | |
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NOVEL The story concerns a veteran Boston Irish politician, Frank Skeffington, as seen through the eyes of a nephew whom he invites to accompany him on yet another mayoral reelection campaign - which turns out to be unsuccessful and the end of Skeffington's long career. Skeffington has a gentlemanly manner, lacing his talk with literary quotations. He is slightly corrupt, but delivers service to his constituents. He is an expert at juggling and balancing the claims of the various Boston-area ethnic groups. But his time has past, and he loses the election to a very mediocre and nondescript challenger. While not a Roman à Clef , there are points of similarity between Skeffington and Boston mayor James Michael Curley . (Boston is nowhere explicitly named in the book, which invariably just refers to "the city" - but the location is unmistakable.) MOVIE The acclaimed 1958 movie was directed by John Ford with a star studded cast: poster of the 1958 film]]
Spencer Tracy was nominated as Best Foreign Actor by BAFTA , and won the Best Actor Award from National Board Of Review which also awarded John Ford Best Director. It was remade for TV in 1977 by actor Carroll O'Connor . EXTERNAL LINKS |
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