AMERICA’S MOST COLORFUL ERA!
After World War I, three veterans (James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Jeffrey Lynn) return to America only to find that job opportunities are scarce; the new Prohibition, however, offers a lucrative career in crime. One of the most popular films of that year not only takes a nostalgic look at one of the century’s most colorful decades, but is also a very slick, exciting throwback to the great gangster movies of the early 1930s, complete with jazz clubs, violent showdowns between bootleggers, and hard-boiled 1920s slang. The story has an epic feel and Cagney gives the most compelling performance as the veteran whose life after the war takes a few unpredictable turns.
1939-U.S. 104 min. B/W. Produced by Hal B. Wallis. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Screenplay: Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen. Cast: James Cagney (Eddie Bartlett), Priscilla Lane (Jean Sherman), Humphrey Bogart (George Hally), Gladys George, Jeffrey Lynn, Frank McHugh.
Trivia: Based on the experiences of Mark Hellinger, who was a columnist in New York in the 1920s.
Quote: “You want the Brooklyn Bridge, all you gotta do is ask for it. If I can’t buy it, I’ll steal it.” (Cagney to Lane)
