Too much of everything

Overrated

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Superb 1939 film with Gladys George, terrific in a role that was meant for her. A tough broad whose time has past, but with an endearing heart.With Cagney and Bogart at the helm, what could possibly go wrong. Caught up with the after World War 1 inability to find work, both fall into bootlegging during prohibition and become quite good at it. Cagney, in a change of pace, plays a much more sympathetic person, whereas Bogart is as bad as they come and finally resorts to murder to get what he wants.What makes the film so good is that ruined after prohibition was repealed, Cagney realizes that his time has passed him.Priscilla Lane plays the young girl he loved. Though her voice was not the best as she belted out old favorites, she conveyed the innocent young girl caught up in a difficult time, falling for the mob lawyer, a rather benign Jeffrey Lynn here.Gladys George would definitely steal the film with her wisecracking, tough by lovable character.

James Cagney as Boot-Legger kingpin Eddie Bartlett drinks "cow juice" exclusively as he rises to the top of the illegal booze biz, but fuel's his downhill slide with "the hard stuff" when She does him wrong. Priscilla Lane is perfectly cast as Eddie's teasing Femme Fatale Jean, while Humphrey Bogart is not much more than a window dressing piece of furniture only to be used by Jean to flatten her no longer convenient love triangle. Bogart's big moment comes less than five minutes into this ROARING TWENTIES tale, when he gleefully guns down a German teenager three seconds before an Armistice ends WWI. Like many "Great War" heroes, Sgt. Bartlett is all but forced at gunpoint by the U.S. government into a life of crime. As I heard a couple weeks ago on the Coast-to-Coast overnight news program, American President Hoover had future U.S. WWII generals Eisenhower, Patton, and MacArthur expend this country's leftover supply of poison gas to liquidate thousands of WWI vets (plus their wives and kids) when they came to Washington, DC, to lobby for restoration of their pension "guarantees" which Hoover had embezzled. (These were the original "I can't breathe" demonstrations.)

This might be the biggest WB gangster production of the 30's, and have Cagney and Bogart in it, but it is one corny and dated movie with cardboard characters and an inept script. The WWI scenes are ludicrous. After the first hour mark it gets better but not enough. Cagney when annoyed punches people while Bogart draws his gun. This style of filming might have worked in the early 30's but by 1939 seemed outdated, even though I can understand this film marks the end of an era and should be seen with sympathetic and nostalgic eyes. Lane does not belong here, and I couldn't wait for her to leave, which she doesn't since I later find out she is an integral part of the story. Why she is such an attraction as a singer is beyond me, and we get at least 2 musical numbers from her. The shootout at the Italian restaurant is also ridiculous: Cagney and his people go in looking for the foe, wide open, no strategy. This movie however did something for me: after watching the dining scene I went to the kitchen and made me a big plate of spaghetti with extra cheese.

Three men (James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn) who fought alongside each other in World War I try to make a go of it in 1920s America. Cagney tries to go straight but is pushed into a life of crime as a bootlegger. Bogart doesn't even try! He's rotten and he loves it. Lynn becomes a lawyer but soon finds himself pulled into the business by pal Cagney, while also falling for the girl Cagney's in love with (Priscilla Lane).James Cagney gives one of his finest performances of the '30s. Bogart is a deliciously evil villain. Every scene he's in, he's great. Lane and Lynn are fine but I found myself disliking their characters by the end. But that's probably more to do with my sympathies lying with Cagney. Gladys George is terrific as Panama Smith, a nightclub hostess who holds a torch for Cagney. A first-rate gangster picture like only Warner Bros. could do. Great direction by Raoul Walsh. If you're a fan of any of the stars involved or just a fans of WB gangster pictures in general, you just have to see this one.