The Roaring Twenties

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Plot: Three doughboys--played by James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and Jeffrey Lynn--meet in a foxhole in Europe just as World War I is ending. When they return to the States, they are forgotten men, and ...( read more read more... )after Eddie (Cagney) tries in vain to get his old job back, his pal Danny (Frank McHugh) lets him drive his cab at night. A fare asks unwitting Eddie to deliver bootleg liquor, but Prohibition is in full swing and Eddie is arrested and thrown in the slammer. Gallant Eddie won't rat out the woman to whom he delivered the hooch, speakeasy owner Panama Smith, (whiskey-voiced Gladys George). She bails him out and carries a torch for him for the rest of the movie, but he only has eyes for sweet little Jean (Priscilla Lane). Panama introduces Eddie to a life of crime, staking him in the bootleg business. Eddie's grit and bluster suit him perfectly for this existence, and he's soon a success, so he hires Army buddy Lloyd (Lynn) as consigliere, then teams up with George (Bogart), a liquor smuggler who plays a much dirtier game. Racketeering and murder are his methods, and he drags Eddie down with him. When Prohibition ends and the stock market crashes, Eddie loses everything and takes to the bottle himself.

The film is a bit schematic. The three stars are archetypes: Cagney the good boy gone bad, Bogart the bad boy who stays bad, and Lynn the good boy who stays good. Still, it packs quite an emotional wallop--Cagney shows extraordinary range, going from green boy to swaggering gangster to broken man, and Bogart has rarely seemed more purely evil than he does here. He kills for the sheer pleasure of it; it's truly frightening to see. The final scene is a stunning shootout between Cagney and Bogart. With lesser actors this film could be pure hokum. With Cagney and Bogart, it attains catharsis. Laura Mirsky

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  • cowgirlinthesand
    cowgirlinthesand
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 28, 2008
    cagney and bogey's best film together; it's a whole lot of fun. cagney goes from rags to riches and back and bogey is at his evil best. i enjoy the newsreel style fast forwards but not priscilla lane's singing. had to deduct half star for that. still one of the best of the thirties gangster classics
  • kenmicklash
    kenmicklash
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    June 27, 2008
    The narration interruptions really killed the pacing, but the story was interesting enough to keep me generally invested in the characters. Cagney in gangster mode never fails to entertain.
  • NicoA17
    NicoA17
    5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    May 4, 2008
    Great amazing, awesome gangster movie in the time of the prohibition, with james cagney in the lead role and humphrey bogart as his partner in crime.
    The acting was really great and the directing to. definitly one of the best gangster movies ever!!!!!
  • TrevorJ72
    TrevorJ72
    Not Interested
    MCT:
    November 23, 2007
    James Cagney was almost as adorable as the women who acted with him. hell, he wore as much lip gloss and blush as they did.
  • Horrorshow
    Horrorshow
    3.5 Stars
    MCT:
    September 15, 2007
    This isnt my favourite of Cagney's films but it certainly has a certain poignancy and represents prohibition and the decline very well. This film shows how good people can be forced to swing to a life of crime just to survive, and shows what the devestation of the Wall Street Crash did to regular civilians.
  • scrambledegg7
    scrambledegg7
    3.0 Stars
    MCT:
    July 22, 2007
    This film is definitely a genre film. It fits that genre perfectly and is a great movie within that genre. To people who don't like the 1940s gangster movies, however (*cough* me), it's good but not great. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart both turn in very good performances, and Priscilla Lane is fine as the innocent young girl... Nothing that blew me out of the water, but well done. Very solid.
  • weikel2000
    weikel2000
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    May 13, 2007
    It's Cagney in a gangster. That alone should tell you it's worth watching, but you throw in Boggie and you can't miss.
  • robsbasestation
    robsbasestation
    5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    March 26, 2007
    This again another portrayal of the 30s gangster staring Cagney, Which shows the classic insight into the highs and lows of a "Wiseguy", a must see.
  • michaelnavis
    michaelnavis
    5.0 Stars
    MCT:
    January 18, 2007
    If you love gangster/crime melodramas, check out this 1939 classic and see for yourself how to so em right
  • Thehottesttoddy70
    Thehottesttoddy70
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    November 17, 2006
    The best black and white mobster movie ever made. Watch this and then watch all the modern mob movies and see if there is a pattern. Cagney as Cagney was suppossed to be, no yankee doodle in this dandy
  • scott65
    scott65
    4.0 Stars
    MCT:
    May 26, 2006
    A film that really should get more press. Cagney is great as a gangster that rises to the top, then takes a hard fall.

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Details

  • Rated: (Unrated)
  • Directed by: Raoul Walsh
  • Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama, Classics
  • Released: October 23, 1939
  • DVD Released: January 25, 2005

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