TRIVIA CORNER The Last Hurrah was based on the best-selling novel by Edwin O'Connor.
A case can be made that the character of Frank Skeffington is based on the
real-life Massachusetts politician
James Michael Curley, though O'Connor denied this.
THE LAST HURRAH .... 1958
(Adam
Caulfield) Jeff is a likeable, sympathetic newspaper reporter invited by his
uncle, an old-time Irish politician, to enjoy a ringside seat during the man's
last campaign, for mayor of an unnamed New England City. (Frank Skeffington, the
politician, is played superbly as both generous man and rogue by Spencer Tracy). A
fine John Ford comedy-drama based on Edwin O'Connor's best-selling novel about
the passing of old New England politics. Besides newcomer Dianne Foster as
Jeff's bride, the cast includes some of the screen's greatest character actors
and actresses in what for many of them was their swan song: Basil Rathbone, Pat
O'Brien, John Carradine, James Gleason, Donald Crisp, Frank McHugh, Edward
Brophy, Edmund Lowe, Wallace Ford, Ricardo Cortez, Anna Lee, and Jane Darwell,
many of whom had been John Ford Stock Company players for decades.
Two new images added on October 24, 2011:
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Jeff's character Adam Caulfield is a newspaper cartoonist in the novel;
he is a sports writer in the film. Jack Lemmon was considered for the role
before Jeff was cast.