cult film freak: humphrey bogart

Showing posts with label humphrey bogart. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 11/15/2023 / No comments / adventure , barton maclane , bruce bennett , forties , humphrey bogart , john huston , mexico , robert blake , thriller , tim holt , treasure , walter huston

HUMPHREY BOGART STEALS 'THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP05Q8k_mlvuts-jyov1Z6DOnr8ww2uPaRmLd5zdhsdXcp_13WWyOpr2BfDy-m3Z1qnvQ9OVKtKkcB3P9tfCLOoVuhupGTpGa3uMVyiDFKoeXpyzNUL-slTraGByf1pmuZNbPBTp5uTr_WKc40lL5Y3I5_W_iBVHy6JMDFmKJPoZKMv6w7XQSl8G193ox2/s1888/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-15%20at%204.08.19%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1888" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP05Q8k_mlvuts-jyov1Z6DOnr8ww2uPaRmLd5zdhsdXcp_13WWyOpr2BfDy-m3Z1qnvQ9OVKtKkcB3P9tfCLOoVuhupGTpGa3uMVyiDFKoeXpyzNUL-slTraGByf1pmuZNbPBTp5uTr_WKc40lL5Y3I5_W_iBVHy6JMDFmKJPoZKMv6w7XQSl8G193ox2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-15%20at%204.08.19%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE Year: 1948 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>By the time TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE came out, Humphrey Bogart was already a big star, having began (over a decade earlier) as unknown dressed-up dandies to successfully portraying cutthroat villains soon morphed into likeable scoundrels... and then outright heroes...So for MADRE it was back to the heavy... yet his Fred C. Dobbs is initially more lightweight and affable, homeless and bumming throughout the crowded purgatory of 1920's Mexico with a new friend in perfect sidekick Tim Holt, both meeting an old yet energetic, experienced, tale-spinning and much-deserved Oscar-winning Walter Huston, director John Huston's father and the reason Bogart agreed playing another dark, sinister role: so that the veteran actor could intensely perform against such formidable, uncompromising tyranny...

adventure, barton maclane, bruce bennett, forties, humphrey bogart, john huston, mexico, robert blake, thriller, tim holt, treasure, walter huston

HUMPHREY BOGART STEALS 'THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE'

Title: THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE Year: 1948 Rating: **** By the time TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE came out, Humphrey Bogart was alrea...

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s2066/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1158" data-original-width="2066" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs4JR8kyc0_q1TlH_SucuKQDIEg7asFj0b_amfpQDYUX1Z0z0yQU9Aqd6gMngGNsAdZ4Z3IArT8REYNfWIElfnzsIwnTQ9rKMk6VNQqkO6pF1ukBUos8nowbpV6KCmDo4QW9swAfmyV5FY6BuktNu9kIrEzw9O4Vr9EEkmCSQHM2NiUIvhF-rOHqUqlwFH/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-01%20at%205.45.14%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SLEEP — following his breakthrough in HIGH SIERRA followed by THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA — was to not only sustain his snowballing stardom, but to make him a ravaging sex symbol...Because every woman here wants him... needs him, even... from a sexy librarian, a sexier bookstore employee (Dorothy Malone)... and even a hot female cab driver gets his number, literally, for a possible nighttime tryst...

dorothy malone, film noir or melodrama, gumshoe, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, martha vickers, mystery, raymond chandler

HUMPHREY BOGART WITH LAUREN BACALL IN 'THE BIG SLEEP'

Title: THE BIG SLEEP Year: 1946 Rating: ***1/2 One of the most important agendas director Howard Hawks had for Humphrey Bogart in THE BIG SL...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s1086/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="1086" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhZF2XwOULxq2-7vzidub8EE7pMH7cPRv6rA2x1AErUbBg3aAXikZ0CC6cuDCWzJNY7FgOmbMdWw8zszro5VMZHl2junGIwcSL0dY5Kv_72AOTMgsHwasUk7EQukbSD9sSmA0lifPcua3-KaRhof90JlzE2r2zKHrtis4JwX3Qen2QPCG8y6-y7ExBhAt2/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-11-02%20at%204.39.07%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how to whistle and leaves the room, there's a closeup on American charter boat captain Harry 'Steve' Morgan played by Humphrey Bogart, where he practically looks into the camera while doing a wolf-whistle, giving a knowing grin that seems more like a contrived promotion for the lovely newcomer than part of an action thriller, very loosely based on the novel... originally a magazine serial in pulp fiction style... by Ernest Hemingway...However there are a few faithful elements, like the initial fishing trip with irate customer Walter Sande and Bogart's rummy sidekick Walter Brennan, who needs a drink every minute... only this being a movie, the score Mickey Mouses in a dated fashion (mirroring exact character movements), especially with Brennan who, despite being a pathetic lush, is the supposed comic relief in a picture with comedy as one of the genres...

action, adventure, british film noir/melodrama, ernest hemingway, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan, world war II

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 After Lauren Bacall, in her first feature film, says her iconic line about knowing how...

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s971/first.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="618" data-original-width="971" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlJgbzXIQuGEIvIbtWWbx3v2_yOGzeBYuOXySAX4bSHge4wjY8Nat5ILFGCWydR4srtQF89B1ijuLzFBjNwh31YWcOMxcqUnUu5oROi_VK4pbIrpRPiGCqv4PS7gitDNfO6BqcQC43AzCVP2v2WJqSrti1vCb2l2KRR-T9uXZnBpDcgtricd9wmXqKF7t/s16000/first.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could become more important than the characters, which is the opposite of ON THE WATERFRONT that Mark Robson's extremely bias boxing scandal-expose THE HARDER THEY FALL attempts the suspenseful, brawny big city edginess of... armed gangsters ruling over muscular everymen... but in a passive, mainstream fashion...A shame since the boxing sequences — where has-been sports-writer Bogart and his seedy promoter boss Rod Steiger have ringside seats — are filmed with brutal realism... both men making sure the opponents of their mediocre giant upstart take the same kind of fall that could have made Marlon Brando a contender....

boxing, expose, felice orlandi, fifties, humphrey bogart, jan sterling, marian carr, mark robson, melodrama, nehemiah persoff, rod steiger, sport

HUMPHREY BOGART AND ROD STEIGER IN 'THE HARDER THEY FALL'

Title: ANTS Year: 1977 Rating: **** The legendary Humphrey Bogart's last movie, during the mid-1950's when the big message could bec...

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s2166/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="2166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOyjrkzJL2si35iliFwjXaNgHLwtmynviuiHLIn2w51QKC42TQ4BbN7IKt-7ul_7SLhnwofpqUDcm5f8jnWVFqtjGsrS9_7DoR9jeL_PlaDbQAez4ZrT4kVmGGL0l2DQCiw-Wlxr9qLWBaBnIMz0X1gHhjjowQkHtlVUIjZfDZHxjZgAvKv3F-vsD-t9V3/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-09%20at%201.40.45%20AM.png"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: *****</td></tr></tbody></table>At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apartment room rented with buddy Frank McHugh, saying how he's tired of being pushed around, there's been at least two short films that already played out: beginning with a war story involving Cagney alongside a shifty yet dependable Humphrey Bogart and affable Jeffrey Lynn, leaping into exploding foxholes when not picking-off nameless Germans...And it's hardly better back home, where there are no jobs, leading to the inevitable but far from rushed progression into the life of bootlegging liquor during the infamous anti-liquor law Prohibition, that the film itself... written/produced by Mark Hellinger with Raoul Walsh directing... is even more against than the law-breaking, often murderous shortcuts to make a lot of money by getting around it...

action, depression-era, frank mchugh, gangster, gladys george, humphrey bogart, james cagney, jeffrey lynn, joe sawyer, priscilla lane, raoul walsh, robert armstrong, thirties, world war I

JAMES CAGNEY & HUMPHREY BOGART IN 'THE ROARING TWENTIES'

Title: THE ROARING TWENTIES Year: 1939 Rating: ***** At one point, only fifteen-minutes in, when James Cagney shuffles across the cheap apar...

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s1558/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1558" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyv0bdkGN9c-s0gfaK8RFtd3-wKhzbexrosInBzzSVguqi4ELUkqLgjmAtYi1H2zfM1zsaOCwL2P8HTohdVykfoHscZBxJm47rO5uEOMaYWURCfz06tyg2_0ZrjDFc1s8JR_7W1h_pVeCkm-4kpOnoGVsE82UzY_ZEgYPsbBPzD2YKb5N874uW_7e-OALd/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-10-05%20at%206.55.14%20AM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sense of
 CASABLANCA deja vu with the same basic premise: tough and independent 
Humphrey Bogart helps a group of foreign patriots for money, meeting 
within a smoky piano bar, and eventually comes
 around to the cause... Only the characters are based on the
Ernest Hemingway novel, changing the location from Cuba to France as 
Bogart's Harry Morgan, a boat-for-hire fishing guide, gets reluctantly 
involved in 
smuggling two important people with the help of sultry siren Lauren
 Bacall and his alcoholic shipmate Eddy (Walter
 Brennan) as most of the film eventually narrows into one setting: although this 
hotel has a tavern area and many rooms, each providing Bogart ample time
 to outwit the local authorities whilst falling for Bacall and keeping 
his rummy sidekick alive.

adventure, film noir or melodrama, forties, howard hawks, humphrey bogart, lauren bacall, walter brennan

HUMPHREY BOGART & LAUREN BACALL 'TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT'

Title: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT Director: Howard Hawks Year: 1944 Rating: ***1/2 Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sen...

HUMPHREY BOGART'S CAREER SKYROCKETS FROM 'HIGH SIERRA'

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhso3txDCTPodjTfwBfYX52oRwHMSiBouuyK8MO2PAaaPjlxEZEV9zPTf9njHv2WE57Y03FiI8moPSTjq0mFykPf0d1ChQy89FSDKxWcRAlY9mF6Jad0Myr5begWNrlZCHgTC-ai9EKC_ahnE-OEWtDCGt5HPFca2p-PhKQW22PCLgrBRuefO2hl5YyRQ/s1500/81no6FXP13L._SL1500_.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1207" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhso3txDCTPodjTfwBfYX52oRwHMSiBouuyK8MO2PAaaPjlxEZEV9zPTf9njHv2WE57Y03FiI8moPSTjq0mFykPf0d1ChQy89FSDKxWcRAlY9mF6Jad0Myr5begWNrlZCHgTC-ai9EKC_ahnE-OEWtDCGt5HPFca2p-PhKQW22PCLgrBRuefO2hl5YyRQ/w321-h400/81no6FXP13L._SL1500_.jpeg" width="321" /></a></div>title: HIGH SIERRA year: 1941 cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Alan Curtis, Joan Leslie, Arthur Kennedy rating: **** 
 
There's a dog that, wherever he goes, gives bad luck to whomever takes him in: this happens to be Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, who both meet each other, then the pooch, in a rural small town hideaway whilst Bogart and three other men plan a caper to rob a plush mountainous hotel. But bad luck usually dogs these kind of characters, doomed from the start while plotting their big easy score which, in this case, got Humhrey's Roy Earle cut from prison early: Although Bogart isn't altogether villainous as he, after meeting a down-home family which includes a beautiful young girl with a club foot, invests in real people, hoping for the girl's hand in marriage: but he's more suited for Lupino, a gun moll whose bittersweet performance adds to Bogart's seasoned usual, and from one scene to the next this is a thoroughly enjoyable melodrama centering on tough human beings, not your typically cliched gangsters. Unfortunately some really bad performances, like the dog's last owner, and the insertion of melodrama into what should have been a leaner, tighter, more edgy crime flick, especially if our man's flawed cohorts Arthur Kennedy and Alan Curtis along with nervous middleman Cornel Wilde had more than peripheral importance: But, either way, HIGH SIERRA, with Bogart's name after Lupino in the credits, is the last movie where that would ever happen again.

arthur kennedy, cornel wilde, crime, film noir or melodrama, forties, heist, humphrey bogart, ida lupino, joan leslie, john huston, raoul walsh, rural

HUMPHREY BOGART'S CAREER SKYROCKETS FROM 'HIGH SIERRA'

title: HIGH SIERRA year: 1941 cast: Humphrey Bogart, Ida Lupino, Alan Curtis, Joan Leslie, Arthur Kennedy rating: **** There's ...

Written by James M. Tate / 6/06/2015 / No comments / al lettieri , bo hopkins , crime , gangster , humphrey bogart , james cagney , list , michael madsen , sam peckinpah , steve cochran

WRENCH IN THE GEARS: BAD GUYS IN MOVIES ABOUT BAD GUYS

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVPa_20ksOhCBH18OA83uAvvEdKCKm006a9Yqh9UoYgPFYDpK_xc9BsWM-jwQoPIJVxQZwtkjyu3P4ilT99Fi8lz5I_yGER5nKqly8-Jt_Ty7qiiUK0wxgjCDCMcnmYyqWH8nEv0GIjoW/s1600/Screen+Shot+2018-10-27+at+7.02.48+AM.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="782" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVPa_20ksOhCBH18OA83uAvvEdKCKm006a9Yqh9UoYgPFYDpK_xc9BsWM-jwQoPIJVxQZwtkjyu3P4ilT99Fi8lz5I_yGER5nKqly8-Jt_Ty7qiiUK0wxgjCDCMcnmYyqWH8nEv0GIjoW/s320/Screen+Shot+2018-10-27+at+7.02.48+AM.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Al Lettieri double whammy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You know a character is bad when not even the bad guys can trust them... And so, here's a list of five villains who throw their dirty wrench into the already crooked gears of criminals we're rooting for, starting with... 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYotCJns2tpD375KGCNfYJvqwsdYnK9YVELXQ0LCtZnRWX48Wic5SPZaX0lwG24NMVldAJRX5arIJb9XB8jKnJaWTPGst9H1bDwzbpTp-hbUSEhN_axRwvW0aG7_XN_o-HiDU3y-v0ygo/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYotCJns2tpD375KGCNfYJvqwsdYnK9YVELXQ0LCtZnRWX48Wic5SPZaX0lwG24NMVldAJRX5arIJb9XB8jKnJaWTPGst9H1bDwzbpTp-hbUSEhN_axRwvW0aG7_XN_o-HiDU3y-v0ygo/s320/Picture+1.png" width="126" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Butler Did It</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
1) AL LETTIERI (THE GODFATHER & THE GETAWAY): Al Lettieri not only champions this list, he scores two-fold... First, his Victor Sollozzo in THE GODFATHER attempts a risky yet lucrative deal with the most powerful mob boss/family in New York; and then goes after that aging kingpin, Marlon Brando's Don Corleone... Making Sollozzo a heroin importer who, with only a few connections, tries overriding an otherwise unbreakable system... Which takes guts, and one helluva vile villain... And if you think that's bad, wait till you see what he does to Sally Struther's small town veterinarian husband in Sam Peckinpah's heist/road flick, THE GETAWAY... As Rudy Butler, hired by Ben Johnson to keep a narrowed eye on Steve McQueen's Doc McCoy, Lettieri is possibly the slimiest alley cat ever to crawl from the slime of the primordial 70's crime genre, and that's saying something... twice! 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTsFv7aAFz7F8EtIiAa9uAoQ7_F6AkXgwEBz8uL0WJQx9i7g00mslXC7cNDp9iwiOsbiDAmdC1ITbsZgPXZkuB_I4KLWhClhqJyK0kIOEhlq0_n-l9WRWPQFZKg9QtmJg340oUKcmanA/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggTsFv7aAFz7F8EtIiAa9uAoQ7_F6AkXgwEBz8uL0WJQx9i7g00mslXC7cNDp9iwiOsbiDAmdC1ITbsZgPXZkuB_I4KLWhClhqJyK0kIOEhlq0_n-l9WRWPQFZKg9QtmJg340oUKcmanA/s320/2.jpg" width="179" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stuck In The Middle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
2) MICHAEL MADSEN (RESERVOIR DOGS): Never has an otherwise jovial song inspired such heated venom and awful behavior... That is if you don't count what Malcolm McDowell does to Classical Music throughout A CLOCKWORK ORANGE... But this is another timeless pop culture phenom, RESERVOIR DOGS, Quentin Tarantino's first and still possibly his best movie, centering on a gang of jewel thieves after a heist gone wrong, and, holed-up in a warehouse, we find out very soon who the dirtiest of the dirty is: Madsen's Vic Vega aka Mr. Blonde not only tortures a kidnapped cop but he messed up the robbery to begin with... And connecting Madsen to Lettieri: Just as Al got the GETAWAY role from his GODFATHER catapult, Michael played Al's character in the GETAWAY remake, and basically landed that gig because of DOGS.  
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-i0to-F2JpNBWwRSGsc0FXtLvYwi6UsuuTCQLQQ2cxZTaE3tINjMzP8kTZuQTqLfnsh7QslIYq1xYjUo5waMo2pxJG9lvuQDJ2elU-FChbmwkRsGdaGGGlSdVEsBaE9Q19Vu9sp2kP8Y/s1600/3.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-i0to-F2JpNBWwRSGsc0FXtLvYwi6UsuuTCQLQQ2cxZTaE3tINjMzP8kTZuQTqLfnsh7QslIYq1xYjUo5waMo2pxJG9lvuQDJ2elU-FChbmwkRsGdaGGGlSdVEsBaE9Q19Vu9sp2kP8Y/s320/3.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Dirtiest Rat</td></tr>
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3) HUMPHREY BOGART (ROARING TWENTIES): Before becoming his own very distinguished version of a likable yet flawed, often crooked leading man ala James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart was Cagney's nefarious second fiddle in the classic Raoul Walsh gangster flick ROARING TWENTIES... As our hero's war buddy turned rum running partner, he still couldn't be trusted... Even from the beginning, during a raging battle on German soil, Cagney had a really bad feeling about Bogart's George Hally. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUpdVM3KSe0NPijU_IhCK9mk2Ltr3F48s_V2UQeZiPw1qRBkF6G2bqwOv0fwv0WtXmNr_w_kwD2l2h-IhfyGX8ak-z1p6zEKiGNwYcSYiQj07YB41Nd_XVzs6-nYyrFa-6aevVQuDG9E/s1600/4.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiUpdVM3KSe0NPijU_IhCK9mk2Ltr3F48s_V2UQeZiPw1qRBkF6G2bqwOv0fwv0WtXmNr_w_kwD2l2h-IhfyGX8ak-z1p6zEKiGNwYcSYiQj07YB41Nd_XVzs6-nYyrFa-6aevVQuDG9E/s200/4.png" width="167" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wild Bunch Wild Card</td></tr>
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4) BO HOPKINS (THE WILD BUNCH): Well hell, his nickname should have been warning enough for the gang of titular bank robbers, led by William  Holden and including Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, and Ben Johnson...   
 
Related to one of the central bandits, Crazy Lee lives up to his title, treating the bank hostages like garbage and making Bo really stand out amongst the bigger stars... For even though he checks out early in this beloved Sam Peckinpah Western epic, he leaves quite an impression. Connection: Bo Hopkins played Al Lettieri's partner in THE GETAWAY, and doesn't have a chance to live to regret it.  
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0w6EKo0GXV7RCc56xD-rRITzKHOMKMIhzsviIO98uUbWEvfmXZmVIN18m3rCFL6HyyN-8HXcjHqlSrrrSRIPpvNcVTm1uow_euJFb3BEZn5s4mmLG53KgK8IJG7ZlyUNkVMWDphcduY/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0w6EKo0GXV7RCc56xD-rRITzKHOMKMIhzsviIO98uUbWEvfmXZmVIN18m3rCFL6HyyN-8HXcjHqlSrrrSRIPpvNcVTm1uow_euJFb3BEZn5s4mmLG53KgK8IJG7ZlyUNkVMWDphcduY/s200/5.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Why He Outta!</td></tr>
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5) STEVE COCHRAN (WHITE HEAT): Points should be given if you snake the main character's girl... And what a woman in Virginia Mayo... As you see in this pic, Steve Cochran's handsome and rugged, downright dirty Big Ed literally holds the Mayo, and not in a very respectful manner...  
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nksvsIanOrVVE2GxHysn2JkRtfaML0qhtjZnpRKknNKOAJgc84gPA8qoCspSmfIPNJHi8miEuho3hlPk8Px3A8A0wuf04hrqkgxJJdf4Jjfc7pZqrbTwtM1VEvwLU74fysSxvpQcL-k/s1600/Picture+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nksvsIanOrVVE2GxHysn2JkRtfaML0qhtjZnpRKknNKOAJgc84gPA8qoCspSmfIPNJHi8miEuho3hlPk8Px3A8A0wuf04hrqkgxJJdf4Jjfc7pZqrbTwtM1VEvwLU74fysSxvpQcL-k/s320/Picture+2.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Virginia Mayo in White Heat</td></tr>
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And in his own sneaky fashion, he's a lover, not a fighter... But he has backstabbing plans to take out James Cagney's hyped-up, resilient, calculating, cold-blooded and yet sympathetic criminal Cody Jarrett to take over the gang that Cody returns to after a prison break, and most important, to keep the not so sweet Virginia for himself... He even did away with Jarrett's gun moll mother, although not without some prompting... Guess Virginia Mayo should be included on this list right along with him... NOTE: If you think of characters we missed, we missed nothing... This is part one of many, many posts concerning this, so, stay tuned! 
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al lettieri, bo hopkins, crime, gangster, humphrey bogart, james cagney, list, michael madsen, sam peckinpah, steve cochran

WRENCH IN THE GEARS: BAD GUYS IN MOVIES ABOUT BAD GUYS

Al Lettieri double whammy You know a character is bad when not even the bad guys can trust them ... And so, h ere ' s a list of ...

Written by James M. Tate / 1/19/2014 / No comments / classic gangster , forties , humphrey bogart , james cagney , thirties

BLOODY BAGFUL OF JAMES CAGNEY AND HUMPHREY BOGART

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rq8eTXm0fk6elfRDJdfTty2vLTznYi8KI1lweqKMaxhF45vCadE5RjYuLTSqJfT53jfgViz3MuGkhroe1E01iXMxkOTnoItbDJl50Stim-FgxU5Nir0lDgL-90weupDtOjCV2BVCT5Qw/s1600/519ii3N35uL._SX425_.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="425" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6rq8eTXm0fk6elfRDJdfTty2vLTznYi8KI1lweqKMaxhF45vCadE5RjYuLTSqJfT53jfgViz3MuGkhroe1E01iXMxkOTnoItbDJl50Stim-FgxU5Nir0lDgL-90weupDtOjCV2BVCT5Qw/s320/519ii3N35uL._SX425_.jpeg" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Roaring Twenties </td></tr>
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James Cagney epitomized the classic gangster era… With a combination of snarky bravado and desperate pathos, as the focal point he was an intense and thoroughly entertaining combination of a ticking time bomb and an exploding one, and yet was always in control: Orson Welles described Cagney, his personal favorite actor as being “focused, like a laserbeam.”  
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzlHe5Cu9LRBFdymRiyu5r70K9dXVLccB-a8zr5MikzmdlZLpf0NgOVgyy34VdZyI2bhbx6qMLVx2TxYSZpglkIsSp_aCSoIa7maRzNNWT-YbmjmnTDXZ7SCTAqaPfIXvtBwNVP-Nkno/s1600/$_35.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzlHe5Cu9LRBFdymRiyu5r70K9dXVLccB-a8zr5MikzmdlZLpf0NgOVgyy34VdZyI2bhbx6qMLVx2TxYSZpglkIsSp_aCSoIa7maRzNNWT-YbmjmnTDXZ7SCTAqaPfIXvtBwNVP-Nkno/s200/$_35.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R20's Artwork</td></tr>
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Meanwhile, Humphrey Bogart, with his quiet cool and slowburn charm, was the kind of shrugging, roguish antihero that grabbed the viewer’s attention, but his hardened intensity shared a mellow quality, allowing other actors to shine bright around him. Here are a bagful of reviews centering on classic Bogart flicks and best yet, Cagney films you might not have seen or only heard about since most of them, as you scroll further down the list, have yet to make the transition to DVD and are, at this point, bootleg only… 
 
 
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THE ROARING TWENTIES: Beginning with a team-up of both legendary tough guys, this excellent
 gangster flick has James Cagney back from the first World War and 
there's not a job in town, and someone else is driving his cab, so, during Prohibition and the start of the 1920's (and his twenties), he eventually becomes a wealthy bootlegger. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANINULzgNp4E3GQlXsapZTsNC-QbIaFuY2LdUuxbYJxu2QWK-Hp2beEFaaI93UiIxYDZqWNU-BuNsXJcCWWgUHuHLR0X97sO5q_d-iefqRtH8NaXhL2nk-ZCS-wciSvR8Xjxw027SAms/s1600/18659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiANINULzgNp4E3GQlXsapZTsNC-QbIaFuY2LdUuxbYJxu2QWK-Hp2beEFaaI93UiIxYDZqWNU-BuNsXJcCWWgUHuHLR0X97sO5q_d-iefqRtH8NaXhL2nk-ZCS-wciSvR8Xjxw027SAms/s200/18659.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1939 rating: *****</td></tr>
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James Cagney's progression from 
soldier to veteran to crooked businessman to all-out gangster, all the 
while falling for a young lady with a heart of gold, are aided by a docu-style narration encompassing the 
titular decade, eventually crashing into the depression when our hero 
loses everything... 
 
But, in protecting his cherished woman (who loves another man), he
 attempts gaining back his soul by paying his backstabbing war buddy 
turned partner-in-crime Humphrey Bogart, now running everything, a 
visit. 
 
Although sparks hardly fly between Cagney and the reluctant Priscilla Lane, the scenes with a sinister Bogart are edgy and unpredictable, and the true love interest is the "dame" that Cagney pays little interest to... That being a loyal Gladys George as a gin-voiced nightclub manager who, ironically, got him into the racket in the first place.   
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv2bEIiN-zbrHeaPSiqPdIKi0ZytxXFDKRORBSpU20I2qGTRFtSjrva2rthVGJGnh661Qs8iWl_GC5rQpQZzXVfeQFcJAXpcdKjteKQLT9f_6mw0KU8Gj2rQ78zwLVMyp01jCPWWZPAX8/s1600/movie-affairs-bogart-bacall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv2bEIiN-zbrHeaPSiqPdIKi0ZytxXFDKRORBSpU20I2qGTRFtSjrva2rthVGJGnh661Qs8iWl_GC5rQpQZzXVfeQFcJAXpcdKjteKQLT9f_6mw0KU8Gj2rQ78zwLVMyp01jCPWWZPAX8/s200/movie-affairs-bogart-bacall.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1944 rating: ****</td></tr>
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TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT: Energetic, adventurous melodrama, which might evoke a great sense of CASABLANCA deja vu with the same basic premise: tough and independent 
Humphrey Bogart helps a group of foreign patriots for money, meeting within a smoky piano bar, and eventually comes
 around to the cause. 
 
Only the characters are based on the
Ernest Hemingway novel, changing the location from Cuba to France as Bogart's Harry Morgan, a boat-for-hire fishing guide, gets reluctantly involved in 
smuggling two important people with the help of sultry siren Lauren
 Bacall and his alcoholic shipmate Eddy (Walter
 Brennan). 
 
Much of the film takes place in one setting: although this 
hotel has a tavern area and many rooms, each providing Bogart ample time
 to outwit the local authorities whilst falling for Bacall and keeping 
his rummy sidekick alive. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSYT8WptN6jne4kri_6s_ncM2Za5B2D3TDzS0r7eElKAB6kRsWsM-eyXADGN8SRvBrgplXmDjXQX9exUBv_vr-PzCabsbOOeOVinlb-xmLBMgS5E_hfeMJTPJVdd8CujZLSvovS-LgbU/s1600/Humphrey-Bogart-High-Sierra.2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5507944162954972290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSYT8WptN6jne4kri_6s_ncM2Za5B2D3TDzS0r7eElKAB6kRsWsM-eyXADGN8SRvBrgplXmDjXQX9exUBv_vr-PzCabsbOOeOVinlb-xmLBMgS5E_hfeMJTPJVdd8CujZLSvovS-LgbU/s200/Humphrey-Bogart-High-Sierra.2.jpg" style="float: right; height: 138px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 175px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1941 rating: ****</td></tr>
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HIGH SIERRA: There's
 a cute little dog that, wherever he goes, gives bad luck to whomever takes him in: 
this happens to be both Humphrey Bogart and Ida Lupino, who meet each 
other, then the pooch, in a rural small town whilst Bogart and three mysterious men plan a caper to rob a plush mountainous hotel. 
 
Bad luck 
usually dogs these kind of 
characters, doomed from the start while plotting a big easy score. 
Although Bogart isn't altogether villainous as he, after meeting a 
down-home family which includes a beautiful young girl with a club foot,
 invests in real people (hoping for her hand in marriage)... 
 
Born to lose, he's more suited for Lupino, a gun moll whose bittersweet performance 
adds to Bogart's seasoned usual, and from one edgy moment to the next, HIGH SIERRA is a
 thoroughly enjoyable ride centering on tough cookies that are human enough to crumble. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7O_DmqWMgsTmM62DD9HUJ3zmcbMZ8meM6_Lux0fcrdb5f4JqVAy8zn9mwR6okp5urwGiLlXHLBpdgjn0vo12Z6DUUb3faLIHftVJheyv3M5rDfoeBhwUukvHv8FX8HsN-kUVoe-fqJ8/s1600/72745-004-94A90B62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-7O_DmqWMgsTmM62DD9HUJ3zmcbMZ8meM6_Lux0fcrdb5f4JqVAy8zn9mwR6okp5urwGiLlXHLBpdgjn0vo12Z6DUUb3faLIHftVJheyv3M5rDfoeBhwUukvHv8FX8HsN-kUVoe-fqJ8/s200/72745-004-94A90B62.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1941 rating: ****</td></tr>
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THE MALTESE FALCON: Unlike
 a lot of private eye/gumshoe flicks where the main character goes from one scene to another gathering clues, everyone comes to Bogie's Sam Spade since he 
has what they want... but what is it other than a statue of a Falcon... and is this thing all it's cracked
 up to be? 
 
Who's the killer of Spade's dim partner and how 
long will he survive in the middle of a den of cutthroats?  And 
is that beautifully vulnerable "dame" one of them? 
 
Nothing really matters 
but it's terrific viewing no matter. This is a John Huston directed classic that forces the audience to turn off completely but listen closely at the same time. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS0099bJl_gt1GSzwz0aj9FSmW-vO5V51mVawqGYT_CFVZInkU8_cYR6TCVyELWyHqT5AnL8QneDmD5teRgPzv1b32ApN78iPeLQ89tuWJNP_eW20xodA-oMw8Q9wJPM0NKuoueaYmu3g5/s1600/ladykiller1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS0099bJl_gt1GSzwz0aj9FSmW-vO5V51mVawqGYT_CFVZInkU8_cYR6TCVyELWyHqT5AnL8QneDmD5teRgPzv1b32ApN78iPeLQ89tuWJNP_eW20xodA-oMw8Q9wJPM0NKuoueaYmu3g5/s200/ladykiller1.jpg" width="171" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1933 rating: ***</td></tr>
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LADY KILLER: James
 Cagney plays a smart-alleck usher at a movie theater: his character’s 
geared towards the lights, camera and action from the very start. But 
he’s quickly derailed, conned by a beautiful siren into a rigged card 
game – and instead of getting angry, he joins and 
eventually leads the group into a bigger heist that lands them in real 
dough, and real trouble. 
 
After his fair-weather friends betray him, 
Cagney hides out in Los Angeles and soon becomes an extra on a movie 
lot. This is where the ridiculousness begins – seeing Cagney riding a 
horse in Indian get-up, with fake scenery moving behind him, is a kitschy
highlight. Then, as our confident hero falls for a famous (and humble) actress, and soon becomes a top-billed movie star on his own, his once 
unlucky life begins to pan out: but those double-crossing wise guys 
return and want a piece of his action. 
 
A fun distraction in the Cagney 
crime film canon, and you have to continuously suspend disbelief to 
really enjoy it: especially scenes showing the fictional movies... Or one
 silly segment as he provides his girlfriend with monkeys and a painted 
elephant on her birthday. But as a wise cracking con artist beneath the 
polished veneer, it’s all about enjoying Cagney even in a silly role, 
because no matter what the part, he always takes it seriously. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2zJ_KtuwoDG8eRkuVsQKzxJXPinqWp8Vb3ZxTkkcmHijumn7FHTtCDHTpQjR9qqDKiIunugiSFSRLdSd0K-nA-oermPt1S-ZFRmGyeBeOToO4gmV1LTeTScVHnjqxEr7dZ4UxMbJy_EW/s1600/blonde+crazy.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA2zJ_KtuwoDG8eRkuVsQKzxJXPinqWp8Vb3ZxTkkcmHijumn7FHTtCDHTpQjR9qqDKiIunugiSFSRLdSd0K-nA-oermPt1S-ZFRmGyeBeOToO4gmV1LTeTScVHnjqxEr7dZ4UxMbJy_EW/s320/blonde+crazy.jpg" width="220" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1931 rating: ***1/2</td></tr>
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BLONDE CRAZY: What
 is it about James Cagney – he brings out the best, and worst, of his 
leading ladies: the best performances and the worst attitudes... 
 
And Joan
 Blondell’s dealing with Cagney’s conniving Bert Harris is half the 
fun of this 1930’s comedy/melodrama centering on Harris, a suave hotel 
employee who sees the right girl is hired: and it’s the blonde bombshell
 Joan, as Anne Roberts, who fits the bill. 
 
She’s not only sought after
 by Harris, but seedy rich guys melt at her feet. Here’s where our 
climbing antihero sees his future mapped out: and together this 
made-in-heaven duo goes from one sucker till the next, swindling 
relativity small time cash till meeting Louis Calhern, a successful con 
artist with a tempting-apple for the couple with a bigger worm inside. 
 
One scene
 involving a horse race and revenge against Calhern is confusing, and 
not all the con games are fleshed-out yet the chemistry between 
Cagney and Blondell, and the hidden desire for his platonic partner that
 slowly comes to light, is what makes this CRAZY shine. 
 
A very young 
Ray Milland plays Joan’s sophisticated new gent – making Cagney realize 
what, or rather, whom his drive’s been centered. And while a tacked-on 
“crime will pay” ending is a letdown, the rest works just fine: 
Especially a pre-Code bathtub scene with Blondell that’s quite… 
revealing. 
 
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpLfJrzkhoyL9bASfdbFI24xlsXvhuvFfx0OGRcOjemK84UBPZkW-FxKB6bjl4C_aiH8x47laPevbwzPI-ZSuZwX8BxdClbZW37tGHxNsLg1vj-ob7s-bvu5gm10dPtT8Soh8rFSWBw8/s1600/Winner%252BTake%252BAll%252B050132.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDpLfJrzkhoyL9bASfdbFI24xlsXvhuvFfx0OGRcOjemK84UBPZkW-FxKB6bjl4C_aiH8x47laPevbwzPI-ZSuZwX8BxdClbZW37tGHxNsLg1vj-ob7s-bvu5gm10dPtT8Soh8rFSWBw8/s200/Winner%252BTake%252BAll%252B050132.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1932 rating: ***</td></tr>
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WINNER TAKE ALL: James
 Cagney plays a down-and-out boxer named Jimmy Kane who, from the 
outset, isn’t boxing. Not only has he reached rock bottom but swallows 
his pride as a crowd of fans during fight night… someone else’s 
fight… throws him loads of pocket change to get by. 
 
Cagney’s manager sends him 
to New Mexico to recuperate. Here he meets former nightclub 
waitress/single mother who, as fate would have it, is about to lose her 
home unless she has the exact amount of money needed for Cagney 
to get back into the ring: only he does it without being persuaded. 
 
The 
title of the movie fits the pivotal bout, and thus the film truly 
begins: Kane's back in the city on a winning streak till meeting a 
conceited, good-for-nothing society girl (are there any other kind?) who
 takes him for a ride. That ride, for both fans of James Cagney watching
 the movie and Jimmy Kane fans watching the fights, is very frustrating 
indeed: For not only does he get plastic surgery to mend his dented puss, but becomes a cowardly “dancing fighter” and worst yet, enrolls in 
etiquette classes. 
 
While not one of Cagney’s best, it’s great 
seeing him slugging his opponents with the energy of a 
bionic jumping bean. And his performance as a dimwitted boxer, straying 
from the usual snarky gangster, has just the right touch of punchy 
pathos. 
 
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1949 rating: *****</td></tr>
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WHITE HEAT: Okay so this one's not rare... In fact it's the masterpiece that James Cagney's best known for and there are several
 stories within, and Cagney stars in each as Cody Jarrett, 
possibly the most sinister and at the same time, endearing gangsters to
 appear on the silver screen... 
 
One story centers on the leader of a group of
 thugs who rob a train and and hide out. Another is about the demented son 
of a overbearing, meticulously wicked mother who will protect her boy 
till the bitter end. Then there's the husband of a two-timing gun moll 
Virgina Mayo, holding out for a taller, handsome thug who wants Jarrett
 out of the way. And finally a prisoner slowly conned by an undercover
 cop in the big house.... And that's the best yarn of all. 
 
Edmund O'Brien
 is the "narc" who eventually gains Jarrett's trust. Their relationship,
 as the two bond behind bars, is the highlight. And although O'Brien, 
after a jailbreak, turns his back on Cody much too quickly during the 
famous "top of the world" climax, this perfectly solid classic gangster
 film... the peak of Cagney's tough guy career and return to the gritty genre after almost a decade of WWII propaganda films... is like reading a 
multilevel book you can't put down. 
 
Cagney performance is top-notch and
 not just when he's suffering from those horrible headaches, causing 
him to writhe on the ground like a poisoned viper. It's the subtle 
moments that count, because after all, it's Cody's world we're inside and on top of: and 
he's not going down without a fight.

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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">year: 1932 rating: ***</td></tr>
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TAXI: Begins as a predictable, cliché melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… against the have-nots: independent cabbies trying to make it on their own without getting whacked in the process. 
 
Soon the message peels away into an involving gangster-driven fare with James Cagney as Matt Nolan, who may really utter the famous “You Dirty Rat” line despite movie trivia saying otherwise... Here's why... 
 
In one scene he states very loudly: "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" This, to film historians, has been mistakenly condensed into the famous three word motto, making up every and any Cagney imitation. But in the beginning of the film, as Cagey's Nolan exits his cab – sandwiched between two trucks – he seems to mutter under his breath: “You dirty rat, I'll beat the lemon off ya!" (Watch the video below to find out if he says "rat" or something else.) 
 
Now for the movie itself, which gets better as the more stress enters Nolan's life – thugs from the consortium move in, and every woman, from the good to the bad, annoy the hell out of him: providing the famously stocky firebrand his usual classic tantrums. 
 
Matt Nolan is like most of Cagney’s tough guys, and angrier here than ever. He's fighting the good fight and you'll back him all the way, so much so the other characters seem nonexistent whether he's on, or off, the screen. 
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loretta Young with James Cagney and purchase <a href="https://www.ioffer.com/selling/capone29">hard-to-find Cagney films at this seller</a></td></tr>
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classic gangster, forties, humphrey bogart, james cagney, thirties