I'm Just Wild About Harry
In 1939 the world was moving on. Warner Brothers, the Hollywood studio that owed its existence to Prohibition and the Volstead Act, was slowly weaning itself from gangster movies. The genre's greatest star, James Cagney, was heartily sick of playing gangsters - How many ways can you hit a guy, anyway?
THE ROARING TWENTIES, from the story "The World Moves On" by popular Broadway columnist Mark Hellinger, was `a memory' of the era Warners mined so successfully, and profitably, in the thirties. It stars Cagney as Eddie Bartlett, a more-or-less good guy who fought in World War I only to return to a country that didn't quite know what to do with all of her returning soldiers. Bartlett's two army buddies figure prominently in his eventual rise and fall - the slimy George Hally (Humphrey Bogart) and golden boy Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn). Bartlett's first touch of the Big Bottom occurs early on after his return. The job he'd thought was waiting for him when he got home is...
The Roaring Twenties
A breakthrough for director Walsh, this classic boasts electric performances from both Cagney and Bogie. Consistent with most Bogart portrayals from the thirties, his George Hally is a low double-crosser who puts the screws to honorable (in his way) Eddie. Consistent with most Cagney roles, Eddie gets his revenge. "Twenties" is a worthy swan song to the glory days of the gangster picture--and just wait for that immortal closing line of dialogue.
Cagney and Bogie as bootleggers
One of my all-time favorite gangster movies. The Roaring 20's features James Cagney at his best as a returning WWI vet who has lost his job , turns to bootlegging and muscles his way to the top. Cagney is at his wisecracking tough guy peak in this and he is given a run for his money by Humphrey Bogart as his WWI buddy turned partner turned rival.
The movie traces these characters through the tumultuous speakeasy days. Cagney's character falls for a young singer who is in love with a young straightshooting attorney. Eddie(Cagney) has one loyal admirer in Panama Smith an aging speakeasy manager who is played flawlessly by Gladys George. She delivers the most memorable line in the movie "Get a Victrola- Jughead".
The story culminates with Eddie being ruined financially and having a showdown with Bogart's character that results in the death scene to end all death scenes. Cagney's staggeriing down the street and collapsing on the church steps after being shot has been often...
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