cult film freak: JAMES CAGNEY DRIVES 'THE ST. LOUIS KID' WITH ALLEN JENKINS

Written by James M. Tate / 9/02/2022 / No comments / action , adventure , allen jenkins , comedy , dorothy dare , gertrude short , james cagney , patricia ellis , thirties , union , warner archives , wrong man

JAMES CAGNEY DRIVES 'THE ST. LOUIS KID' WITH ALLEN JENKINS

9/02/2022 | No comment

Title: THE ST. LOUIS KID Year: 1934 Rating: ****

Great early James Cagney romp has he and glass-jaw sidekick Allen Jenkins as truck drivers going from the city into the country to deliver milk... And, troubled by a troubling dame and a group of protesting union farmers, Cagney's Eddie Kennedy wins over the town, mostly from a jail cell...

He's initially sentenced from a fist-fight turned headbutt, in-between getting chewed out by his truck company boss, pressuring the duo to cross union lines where the only drama's injected, including violence... And residing in that cell (playing checkers with his jailers), he's able to sneak out at night...

James Cagney in THE ST. LOUIS KID

Eventually romancing diner-owning ingenue Patricia Ellis, who starts out a "smackin' dame" after a few bickering run-ins, taking most of the picture to warm up (although two floozies that Jenkins spends the bail on, Dorothy Dare and Gertrude Short, are a lot more fun, seeming like gangster picture b-girls only comedic)...

He drives her to a local dance and almost breaking into what he's second best at, THE ST. LOUIS KID is a programmer providing the young Cagney another feisty role, epitomizing the early days of this resilient little Irishman who could, would, and always did.. whatever (and whoever) he set out for.

Patricia Ellis and James Cagney in THE ST. LOUIS KID

Gerturde Short and Dorothy Dare in THE ST. LOUIS KID

Allen Jenkins and James Cagney in THE ST. LOUIS KID

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Tags : action , adventure , allen jenkins , comedy , dorothy dare , gertrude short , james cagney , patricia ellis , thirties , union , warner archives , wrong man

James M. Tate

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