The Great McGinty The Great McGinty The Great McGinty is a 1940 political satire comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges, starring Brian Donlevy and Akim Tamiroff and featuring William Demarest and (in her final screen appearance) Muriel Angelus. It was Sturges's first film as a director; he sold the story to Paramount Pictures for just $10 on condition he direct the film. Sturges went on to win the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. In the U.K. the film was retitled Down Went McGinty. Dan McGinty (Brian Donlevy) is a bartender in a banana republic who recounts his rise and fall
John Sturges John Sturges John Eliot Sturges (; January 3, 1910 – August 18, 1992) was an American film director. His movies include "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955), "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957), "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), "The Great Escape" (1963), and "Ice Station Zebra" (1968). In 2013, "The Magnificent Seven" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". He was not related to director Preston Sturges. He started his career in Hollywood as an editor in 1932. During World War II, he directed documentaries