Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
FeistyUpper
If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Borserie
it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
LeonLouisRicci
The most Glaring Creakiness of this Prototypical Gangster Movie from (of course) Warner Brothers, is the Slow-of-Pace Dialog and Mannerisms usually Associated with Early Talkies.The Pulp Banter, full of Street Slang and "Dick Measuring", is doled out in what seems like Slow Motion Today, but it's not without Underworld Charm. After a Gang Member pulls out a .45 Automatic, Lew Ayres, making His move to Lead the Mob, pulls up the window shades to reveal two WWI Mounted Machine Guns..."Put that away it's too small."...He says.Ayers, barely 21, has been accused of being too Young for the Part, but if You watch closely He's got the Posture and the Scowl, and it works. James Cagney, gets a lot of Ink nowadays because of His now Famous Filmography. He plays Ayers "Right Hand Man" and is never without Presence when On Screen.It's an Interesting Movie for many reasons, and is Worth a Watch for its Place in Film History. There are Subtleties and Flourishes of the Gangster Genre in its Infancy, and it is Pre-Code allowing for some more than usual "Questionable" Activity from the Coppers and others. A Must See for Fans of Gangster, Cagney, and Pre-Code Movies.Note...Also watch to find out that, perhaps, Professor Moriarty wasn't the only "Napoleon of Crime".
Michael O'Keefe
Warner Brothers and producer Darryl F. Zanuck cast James Cagney in his second film role; a Lew Ayres vehicle directed by the legendary Archie Mayo. Ayres plays Louie Ricarno a smart young wise guy that organizes the multiple gangs of Chicago. The beer barons honoring each others territory and things running smoothly, Louie decides to put the gangster life behind him and marry a moll named Doris(Dorothy Mathews)and retire to Florida. The new bride begins missing the former lifestyle and her boyfriend Steve Mileaway(Cagney)left to keep the crime organized. But things rapidly fall apart and Steve urges Doris to convince Ricarno to return and straighten things out again. Its the old tommy gun carried about in a violin case; reckless shoot outs and murders caused by beer rivalry. This role allows Cagney to ease into his famed gangster persona. Others in the cast: Leon Janney, Jerry Mandy, Noel Madison, Robert Elliott and Tom Wilson.
calvinnme
... even though many people complain that the role should have gone to Cagney. Ayres' baby-faced good looks and polished exterior were supposed to clash with the reality of the gangster that he was - that is part of the whole point of the film.Ayres plays Louie Ricarno, a gangster who has decided to take the warring gangs of the city and run them like departments of a corporation of which he, of course, is president. In spite of some beefing by the other gangsters at first, in the long run this ends the in-fighting and all the gangsters make more money in the bootleg booze business and like the arrangement. Ricarno makes more money than any of them and this enables him to marry his dream-girl, retire, and live the life of a gentleman in Florida. At something like the tender age of 25 he is even writing his memoirs. However, he has two problems. First, you can take the girl out of the speak-easy (his wife) but you can't take the speak-easy out of the girl. Secondly, once Louie is retired, the same old in-fighting starts up again among the gangsters he left behind and they yearn for Louie to return and restore order. When he refuses, a couple of the gangsters cook up a plan to force him to return that goes horribly wrong and ends up killing someone close to Louie. Full of vengeance, Louie does return home, but not to restore order.Cagney here has a minor role as right hand man to Louie and one-time boyfriend of Louie's now bored wife Doris. He's perfect in the role since his openly wise-guy exterior is in sharp contrast to Ayres' gee-whiz personna, in spite of the fact that they are equally violent.Louie is a sympathetic character in many ways. He isn't someone who just picked crime as a career. Instead he grew up in poverty, lost his parents at a young age, lost two siblings to typhoid from bad milk, and just doesn't know any other way to live than dog eat dog. This doesn't excuse what he does, but it is something of an explanation. In this sense this film is ahead of its time in complexity. Also interesting is Louie's almost-friendship with Captain Pat O'Grady, the cop that is determined to get Louie and his gang off the street once and for all.
Dr-Occult
Fine early talkie that belongs along side Little Caesar and The Public Enemy as the gangster films that set the rules for the genre. Unlike those films however this film gives us a smart gangster who tries to get out while on top only to be dragged back in.
