Reasonably sophisticated (which is to say, reasonably cynical) view of Tammany Hall politics, with tougher-than-smart-guy Brian Donlevy rising from soup line to Governor's Mansion, under the sponsorship of political boss Akim Tamiroff, and then precipitately falling to that most romantic of occupations: bartending in the tropics. Preston Sturges's first job as writer-director, after a decade of jobs as just writer, and his first of several variations on the American Success Story, with already a highly mature sense of mischief. (1940) — Duncan Shepherd
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