Grade: C-
Synopsis: A high-profile attorney (Spencer Tracy) comes out of retirement to take on the case of a neighborhood youth (James Arness) accused of murder, only to find himself not up to the task.
The People Against O’Hara starts out as a nice noir-ish drama about the stress and responsibilities faced by a defense attorney and the collateral damage they can cause to his family and loved ones. And it works, for about half the film, before it devolves into a ludicrous procedural.
It’s a shame too, because Spencer Tracy is good as the lead, as is his longtime friend Pat O’Brien as a detective assigned to the case. Indeed, the first half of the film has some of the same thematic elements that director John Ford explored so well in his later collaboration with Tracy, The Last Hurrah (1958).
However, this time around, the writers don’t seem confident enough in the simple story of a man struggling to measure up to his younger, more competent self, and instead tack on a silly third act putting Tracy’s character in the middle of an elaborate sting operation that is beyond plausible.
For his part, director John Sturges handles both the drama and the thriller aspects well, making the best of the critically flawed script. He would reunite with Tracy four years later for the far superior Bad Day at Black Rock (1955).
