Warner Brothers used to grind out these programmers with all the players, crew, writers, and directors under studio contract as if the films themselves were White Castle hamburgers, one after another, all the same except for a twist here, a variation there. This is a nearly perfect example.
I don't know how many times I've seen clips of this movie in documentaries dealing with Warner Brothers or James Cagney's career. Here's Cagney being stopped by a bum on the streets of 1933 Los Angeles and asked for enough to buy a cup of coffee. Cagney slaps a bill into hand and barks, "Here! Now go buy yourself a PERKALATER!" Cagney dressed as an Indian riding a fake horse. Cagney, after having shoved a grapefruit in Mae Clark's face in a previous picture, dragging Clark by the hair through two rooms and kicking her in the behind when he throws her out. Cagney, having ridden a bouncing wooden horse for hours, is too sore to sit down, and when a passing woman asks how he feels, Cagney answer in Yiddish.
The story begins in New York, with Cagney part of a gang of thieves. With the police closing in, the others betray Cagney and he finds himself alone and broke in Los Angeles. Then he's hired as an extra and has much more luck than I did, although I'm more handsome and by far the better performer. "Three bucks a day and a box lunch a horse wouldn't eat!" He wangles his way to stardom before his ex partners show up and begin hounding him. It ends in a car chase and shoot out.
It's a 30s gangster movie -- and why not? It was the era of the "motorized bandits" -- Pretty Boy Floyd, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde. It's Cagney at his most cocky and graceful. He spins around with a gun in one hand, the other hand dangling loosely at the wrist. He smiles, he sneers, he looks doubtful. He's kinetic all over. The very hairs on his head do a little toe dance.
I don't know how many times I've seen clips of this movie in documentaries dealing with Warner Brothers or James Cagney's career. Here's Cagney being stopped by a bum on the streets of 1933 Los Angeles and asked for enough to buy a cup of coffee. Cagney slaps a bill into hand and barks, "Here! Now go buy yourself a PERKALATER!" Cagney dressed as an Indian riding a fake horse. Cagney, after having shoved a grapefruit in Mae Clark's face in a previous picture, dragging Clark by the hair through two rooms and kicking her in the behind when he throws her out. Cagney, having ridden a bouncing wooden horse for hours, is too sore to sit down, and when a passing woman asks how he feels, Cagney answer in Yiddish.
The story begins in New York, with Cagney part of a gang of thieves. With the police closing in, the others betray Cagney and he finds himself alone and broke in Los Angeles. Then he's hired as an extra and has much more luck than I did, although I'm more handsome and by far the better performer. "Three bucks a day and a box lunch a horse wouldn't eat!" He wangles his way to stardom before his ex partners show up and begin hounding him. It ends in a car chase and shoot out.
It's a 30s gangster movie -- and why not? It was the era of the "motorized bandits" -- Pretty Boy Floyd, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde. It's Cagney at his most cocky and graceful. He spins around with a gun in one hand, the other hand dangling loosely at the wrist. He smiles, he sneers, he looks doubtful. He's kinetic all over. The very hairs on his head do a little toe dance.