Old School

Classic scene from the Preston Sturges 1940 hilarious screwball comedy The Great McGinty portraying how urban ward machine politics operated. Down and out bum McGinty is hired as a “repeater” to vote in numerous ward precincts for the machine’s mayoral candidate. He goes on to become governor of the state. The film won director/screenwriter Sturges the 1941 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. It is an excellent cinematic demonstration of “Old School” political corruption as opposed to today’s model.

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5:37 pm on November 3, 2012