A film noir from 1951 starring Spencer Tracy & directed by John Sturges. A man is on his way home from a bar when he witnesses a murder & O'Hara (James Arness) is identified sending his parents to contract a lawyer they've known for a long time. Tracy, who plays the lawyer, is a recovering alcoholic who hasn't taken a case to trial in years but feeling a sense of fealty to the parents & their son, he decides to move forward. Things start to stack themselves against him however since there is a mob angle (O'Hara worked on the docks where a lot of the businesses are connected to organized crime) & the prosecutor has a sure fire witness against O'Hara which shakes Tracy forcing him to make a decision he'll soon regret. Touching upon subject matter a little too close for home for Tracy (he notoriously was an alkie), Tracy imbues his character w/a noble fatalism which is admirable until he turns that fateful corner forcing him to evaluate his life & career. Tracy would reap great rewards w/his collaboration w/Sturges in Bad Day at Black Rock & The Old Man & the Sea both of which Tracy received Best Actor Oscar nominations for.
Review of The People Against O'Hara
