Boys Town (film)

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Boys Town
Original film poster
Directed by	Norman Taurog
Produced by	John W. Considine Jr.
Written by	Dore Schary Eleanore Griffin John Meehan
Starring	Spencer Tracy Mickey Rooney Henry Hull
Cinematography	Sidney Wagner
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time	96 min.
IMDb profile

Boys Town (1938) is a biographical drama film based on Father Edward J. Flanagan's work with a group of disadvantaged and delinquent boys in a home that he founded and named "Boys Town". It starred Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Gene Reynolds, Edward Norris, and Addison Richards.

The film was written by Dore Schary, Eleanore Griffin and John Meehan, and was directed by Norman Taurog.

The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Norman Taurog was nominated for Best Director. It won the Academy Award for Best Actor for Tracy, and the Best Writing, Original Story for Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary.

Although it is often said that it is memorable for its famous line, delivered by Rooney's character, "He ain't heavy, he's my brother", this is likely to be an urban legend. It is documented that Father Flanagan first encountered that phrase as the caption of an illustration published in The Louis Allis Messenger, November - December 1941, Page 44. The illustrator Van B. Hooper granted permission to Father Flanagan to use the illustration in 1943, and also gave the good Father permission to change the caption from "He ain't heavy Mister, he's m' brother" to "He ain't heavy Father, he's m' brother". This makes it rather difficult for the like to have appeared in a 1938 film.

In 1941, MGM made a sequel, Men of Boys Town, with Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney reprising their roles from the earlier film.