Viewed in
2010
Premise
James Cagney plays the first noteworthy cinematic criminal as the unstable Cody Jarrett.
Liked
Cagney's performance, Los Angeles locations, crime-fighting technology and tricks.
Thoughts
A cool old school gangster film.
First thing that came to mind was Cagney's defining performance as a ruthless, unpredictable, yet vulnerable criminal. He was amazing, and he essentially created a new archetype, paving the way for Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and others.
I thought the story was very underrated, considering how much attention Cagney got. There was a lot of interesting things going on, from psychological relationships between Jarrett and his mother, to political maneuverings by Big Ed to take over Jarrett's racket, and the cat-and-mouse subplot of the undercover cop in prison. Great job by the screenwriters to balance all of these themes and keep the story moving. Although I was a little disappointed that the headache subplot did not play a bigger role.
As a Los Angeles native, it was amusing to see which buildings and streets were around in the 1940's. Another surprise was the amount of scientific crime-solving (and crime-aiding) techniques used by the characters. I admit being ignorant to the history of such things, but it was very interesting to see that such tactics and tools were already implemented back then. Lastly, the dialogue had the occasional "Meh, copper" dialogue that Dave Chappelle once famously used in his act, and it made me giggle.
Oddly, the climax and the famous quote from the film was my least favorite part. The gun-fighting and chase scenes were well executed, but it almost had that cliche vibe of the studios telling the filmmakers, "It's got to have explosions". As alluded to earlier, I expected the headache subplot to be a factor in the outcome, and it might have been a cooler ending. Nevertheless, it was an explosive, memorable ending.
An interesting side-effect of watching this film was that it knocked two of my cherished films a degree less cool. While Psycho's mother complex was way creepier, this film did beat it to the punch. The other film this affected was Tim Burton's Batman, as one could argue that Jack Nicholson's scene-stealing Joker was a ripoff of Cagney's performance.
This was a definitely an oldie but goodie, kept timeless thanks to strong acting, interesting plot lines, and cool crime-fighting action.
What I would change
Max Steiner was a legendary composer, but his grandiose style was not a good fit here. I would have gone with a more subtle score.
