Somos Todos Irmãos

Norman Taurog directs and Spencer Tracy plays Father Flanagan in another film about the priest who walked the walk in his philosophy about their being no such thing as a bad boy.

Men of Boys Town finds Tracy burdened down with a lot of responsibility. His responsibility to each and every boy that he takes in at Boys Town and to the institution itself. Some of their stories overlap with Tracy's main concern about keeping the institution afloat.

One of those kids is Larry Nunn, a kid crippled after he killed a guard in a reformatory he was in. His story is similar to the one that was in the original Boys Town where Gene Reynolds was another kid who was crippled. Nunn is far more cynical and bitter after seeing and experiencing what he has in that other institution.

Another kid is Darryl Hickman, a young juvenile offender from that same place who sneaks out of the place with Mickey Rooney when Rooney goes to visit one of Nunn's friends. Talk about deja vu, in the original Boys Town it was Rooney who was the smart mouth who gets tamed by his experience at Boys Town. I guess the Deity and the scriptwriters have a sense of humor.

Besides Tracy and Rooney, Sidney Miller and Bobs Watson are retained from the original film. Rooney would be stealing this whole film if it weren't for Tracy. Nobody steals a scene from Spencer Tracy.

I guess since Boys Town is still here we do know that Father Flanagan did solve the problems shown in this film as well. Though it looks a whole lot like Tracy is getting stretched way to thin, in the movies and in life itself, problems sometimes do have a way working themselves out if we can only perceive the solution.

Anyway, Men of Boys Town is simply Spencer Tracy continuing his award winning role as the ever wise and patient Father Flanagan. Good enough reason to see this film.