Good concept, poorly executed.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Even though Barbary Coast came out after the restrictive Hays Code, it is one nasty movie! Imagine what they could have filmed if the censors hadn't been in play! Miriam Hopkins arrives in San Francisco in the 1850s. She thinks she'll get married and start a respectable new life. Instead, her fiancé is dead, and her only option to survive is to accept casino owner Edward G. Robinson's offer. She becomes his mistress and works in the casino to help drum up business. Joel McCrea is honest, kind, and a hard worker-everything Eddy G isn't-and it isn't long before Miriam falls in love with him. Will Eddy G let her go without a fight?The film feels like a pre-code movie, since the entire setting is in an unsavory part of town. There are drunks, gamblers, prostitutes, and criminals. There's violence, sex, and murder, and it's a very exciting ride! Many movies that take place in the mid-1800s are Wild West films, but in this different setting, it's interesting to see the still-rowdy behavior.The famous trivia to come out of this film is that it was one of David Niven's first movies. He plays a drunken sailor, but apparently you'll have to watch the movie a few times to catch him. I knew the trivia and still didn't spot him on the first go-around. If you like a little naughtiness in your classics, you won't mind watching this one over and over to try and see him!

"Barbary Coast" is actually a character study, a love story set in 1850's San Francisco. It was a rough, brawling town in the days before law and order ruled the day, and here the town is run by Edward G. Robinson and his enforcer, Brian Donlevy. The lovers are Joel McCrea (tall and handsome), and Miriam Hopkins (short and pretty). Naturally, McCrea and Robinson cross paths before the picture is over.Nutshell: Hopkins gets off a boat looking for her fiancé, who was killed by Robinson. She then goes to work in the local saloon, owned by Robinson, and comes across prospector/poet McCrea while out riding one day. They are smitten. He is finished prospecting, having found much gold. He comes into town, stumbles across Hopkins in the saloon, and then things get tense and the action starts.You can almost fill in the blanks for the ending, but watch for Walter Brennan, who steals every scene he's in as a toothless no-account. The love scenes belong to Hopkins, who puts them over while McCrea is along for the ride. He always lacked acting range and this film is no exception. The action scenes are very effective and of a different sort, but this movie relies on its screenplay, which is very absorbing. I thought "Barbary Coast" was better than I expected and a cut above many actioners of the 30's.

Director Howard Hawks rarely made misfires, even "Land Of The Pharaohs" qualified as interesting, but this hybrid Edward G. Robinson law and order saga about the wild and wooly California coast during the gold rush era of the 1850s is curiously lackluster. The movie belongs to Hopkins who shows up at the outset, but Robinson doesn't stroll in until a good quarter hour has passed. The naive hero--Joel McCrea--doesn't arrive for about a half-hour later and he makes a rather passive hero. Basically, "Barbary Coast" concerns a love trianble among ruthless underworld boss, the mail-order bride that goes to work for him, and the innocent drifter that she falls in love with much to the chagrin of the crime boss.As greedy Luis Chamalis, Robinson wears an ear ring, frilly shirts, and owns the biggest casino in San Francisco called the Bella Donna. He dispenses the law and order, but primarily it is disorder that he creates in the amoral town. Miriam Hopkins is Mary Rutledge and she has come on a square-rigged ship from New York to marry Dan Morgan, but she learns on her arrival that her fiancélost all his gold as well as his life at the Belle Donna gambling tables. Dan was a poor shot and poor shots do not live long in San Francisco. She refuses to leave town and winds up working the roulette wheel for Chamalis, the very same roulette wheel that brought about the death of her fiancé. Luis nicknames her Swan because she is as soft and desirable as a swan. Eventually, Chamalis demands love and attention from Mary, but she denies him these affections.One day Mary takes a horse and rides in the country, but she is caught in a soaking downpour and takes refuge in a cabin. As it turns out, the man in the cabin has just settled in is a Jim Carmichael (Joel McCrea) and he is just passing through, too. This young prospector has dug sacks of gold out of the earth and is heading into town. No sooner does Jim see Mary than he falls desperately in love with her. He stumbles into the Bella Donna and loses all his gold on the roulette wheel. Mary feels guilty because she has cheated Jim, just as her fiancé was cheated. At the same time, Luis--who rules the town--with the help of a cold-blooded killer, Knuckles (Brian Donley) suppresses the local newspaper editor Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb (Frank Craven) from publishing derogatory stories about him.Things take a turn for the worst for Luis when Knuckles murders a miner Sawbuck McTavish (Donald Meek) and eye witnesses see him. Earlier, Luis got Knuckles out of a tight spot by calling in a favor from a drunken judge, but Knuckles is not so lucky this time around. Not only does he kill Sawbuck, but he also kills Cobb. The newly formed vigilante committee led by Jed Slocum (Harry Carey, Sr of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN) and his followers hang Knuckles on the spot and go after Luis. Meanwhile, Mary and Jim try to escape from the jealous Luis. Just as it appears that the hero and heroine are going to bite the dust, the vigilantes show up and prove the standard moral that crime does not pay and haul off Luis.There is nothing particularly outstanding about this Hawks movie. The dialogue by two Hawks collaboraters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur is nothing special and neither is this movie. Hopkins makes an unsympathetic heroine until she falls from fellow New Yorker Jim. Walter Brennan steals the show as Old Atrocity, a sneaker grifter, who is never up to anything good. The characters are not that compelling and neither is their predicaments. Robinson makes a strong villain, but he isn't strong enough to force Hopkins into loving him. Nothing about this well-photographed yarn is memorable and it ends up being a minor potboiler.

In Leonard Maltin's movie guide, he gave this movie three and a half stars (a very high rating) and THE FRISCO KID (the Cagney version) only two stars. This is very odd, in that both movies came out the very same year and had a virtually identical plot. Apart from a few minor details, they are almost the exact same film. The biggest difference was that BARBARY COAST starred Edward G. Robinson and was made by Goldwyn International Pictures, whereas THE FRISCO KID starred Jimmy Cagney and was made by Warner. Considering that Cagney and Robinson are very similar actors, I really could understand someone mixing the two films up in their minds.Here are just some of the similarities: --Both are set in San Francisco at about the same time period during the Gold Rush. --Both feature the lead owning the biggest gambling house on the Barbary Coast. --Both men are pretty corrupt and the excesses in their lawbreaking and control of the government resulted in the formation of a Vigilante Committee to take the law into their hands. --Both featured a lady that both men are in love with but just can't seem to win. --Both feature the lead having a major change of heart at the end of the film. One is ultimately hung and the other narrowly avoids a hanging. --Both feature a crusading newspaper editor or owner being killed for speaking the truth.--Both make San Francisco look like Hell on Earth.So, in essence we have one movie, not really two. There's no need to see them both, but which one you'll prefer may depend on your preferences. If you want an almost irredeemably wicked lead who is a bit wooden, try BARBARY COAST. If you want a lead who is bad but you still like him despite everything, see the Cagney film instead.