James Francis Cagney, Jr is from the mean streets of Stanford, New York. He started his acting career in 1930 in Sinners’ Holiday prizing the role of Harry Delano. Throughout a 54 year acting career, there were great stops along the way in a variety of different roles. But perhaps the most popular theme in his filmography are his “tough guy” roles. Armed with this knowledge, Turner Classic Movies put together a set of four films that show off the vast abilities of Cagney and the way he demands the attention of the audience through his on screen presence and performances. For this particular collection, TCM chose: G Men, Each Dawn I Die, City for Conquest, and White Heat.
G Men (1935) puts Cagney on the right side of the law, something that was not often done in scripts. He plays James “Brick” Davis, a small time lawyer trying to make it in the client thin East Side of New York City. After kicking Joseph Kratz (Edwin Maxwell) out of his office for proposing the idea that he represent someone who deserves to be behind bars, he is visited by old friend Edward “Eddie” Buchanan (Regis Toomey). Upon the encounter, Eddie realizes that business is slow for the young upstart. So, knowing of Brick’s undying devotion to justice, he hands him an application to join him in the Bureau of Investigation, and become one of the “G” Men. But later on that evening, while attempting to bust known bank robber Durfee (Noel Madison), he is shot and killed by one of Durfee’s bosses. From this revelation, Brick decides to fill out the application, and fill the void left by Eddie in the G Men. This sets up Brick to be at the forefront of this new theory of “hard justice” by the Bureau of Investigation and if he’ll have what it takes to take down the likes of crime syndicate boss “Mack” McKay (William Harrigan),man who made him into something.
Each Dawn I Die (1939) has Cagney prizing the role of Frank Ross, a hard line journalist for newspaper “The Banton Record.” Following through with their creed of truth and honesty, he decides to “blow the lid” off of the embezzlement scandal going down with town giant Banton Construction Co. To these startling accusations, the “big wigs” at the company threaten action if they don’t retract their statements against the company. But the team on the case stand by their word and follow through with the report. In retaliation, goons from the company find Ross and pull off an elaborate scheme to frame him for vehicular manslaughter (actually a really cool scene). The judge, going on just “the facts,” throws the book at the reporter and gives him the max sentence of 1-20 with hard labor in the state penitentiary. During his first days “on the inside” he takes up with fellow inmate “Hood” Stacey (George Raft), despite the “dust up” on their first meeting. While the warden seems to be a fair fellow, his whip, Guard Pete Kassock (John Wray), runs the inmates with an iron fist and demands complete obedience. With this control, and heat from rival Limpy Julien, a division starts among the inmates between the two factions. But just how much will Pete allow to go down in his circus, and will this life affect Frank in achieving his ultimate goal of proving his innocence?
City for Conquest (1940) is a tale of growing up and finding one’s own way amongst the hustle and bustle of New York City in the ’40s. Cagney plays local boxing sensation “Young Samson” Danny Kenny who does it strictly for the love of the sport, and has no plans to use his talents for financial gain. He is accompanied by “his girl” Peggy Nash (Ann Sheridan) and brother Eddie Kenny (Arthur Kennedy). The theme of “going out and getting it” sets a tone for the behaviors and actions of the characters as they all attempt to get their “slice of the pie” and plan to use their talents to get there. Peggy wants to use her swingin’ dance moves to see her name in lights while Eddie dreams of being known for his music, and has aspirations of making it big as a symphony writer. But when his scholarship is cut, he feels like the rug has been swept from underneath him. This, however, doesn’t deter him from seeing his brother destroy chump after chump in the ring. And at one of his fight, big time manager Scotty MacPherson is in attendance and is impressed with what he sees from the young talent. He meets with Danny after the fight and promises he can make him a wealthy man and a boxing champion. But this is something that Danny doesn’t seem to have much interest in. After the fight, he and Peggy go dancing at one of the “happening joints” in the city where she is approached by professional Murray Burns (Anthony Quinn) and says with their combined talents, that he can launch her into stardom. But Danny worries he may be a fox sneaking around the chicken coup and just trying to steal his girl away from him. From the pressure of his needy brother, and wanting to provide a better life for Peggy, he decides to take up with MacPherson and make his way to the top. But will he lose Peggy to “the bright lights” and is he fighting for the wrong reasons?
White Heat (1949) is a stunning picture that really harks to the nitty gritty of these classic gangster “talkies.” In this one, Cagney is Arthur “Cody” Jarrett, who is the ring leader of a group of heist artists. The first robbery we see them commit is of a Federal train that is transporting $300,000 through the California mountains. They decide to lay low while the heat dies down and they can make a clean break with the money. Weeks pass, then a storm comes through that gives them the necessary cover to make a break for it. But Jarrett, being the heartless soul he most often is, leaves one of his wounded men behind to die in the hideaway. This gives an opening to Detective Philip Evans (John Archer) and supplies him with enough evidence to convict Cody and his boys on the charges. While running an errand in town, Cody’s mother Ma (Margaret Wycherly) is spotted and gets trailed by Evans and his group. But Cody, Ma, and his wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) are able to narrowly escape from the hotel. When the coast is clear, Jarrett tells them that he plans to travel to Illinois and take the rap for a much lesser charge on a robbery that happened the same day as the train heist that will carry with it a much shorter sentence. This false alibi is purposefully cleared by Det. Evans who then gets undercover specialist Hank Fallon (Edmond O’Brien) to become cell mates with Jarrett and learn of the location of the stashed $300,000. Thus begins the cat & mouse game between Cody and Hank in his attempt to get at the location of the money, while Ma tries to keep everything in order til her shot-calling son gets out of the pen.
Although I knew who James Cagney was, I hadn’t viewed many of his works until watching these films. I was quite impressed with the variety of roles that were on display in this set. Each Dawn I Die and G Men both put him on the right side of the law, one he isn’t used to doing. But this doesn’t deter him from stealing the show in both of them, especially so in Each Dawn… because of the way in which he teeters on the edge of staying the course or resorting to a more violent temperament that is being bred in prison. City of Conquest is another good movie which really shows the range of Cagney considering his role is not one of great power or influence. The “underdog” position is not really his style considering his body of work, but such trivial matters are not a concern to true greats like Cagney. The movie as a whole, however doesn’t seem to fit with “greatest gangster films.” The strong romantic tones put it in a different category. This is not to say that it’s not a solid film, it just has more in common with, say, Jerry Maguire than it does The Public Enemy. But the selection that makes this collection complete is the addition of the spectacular White Heat. This is James Cagney at his absolute best. The job he does at portraying a criminal maniac with a mama’s boy complex is quite astonishing, especially for it’s time. Think Jack Torrence (The Shining) meets Norman Bates (Psyco). And everyone else in the film does a great job as well, especially John Archer being the no nonsense Detective Philip Evans with steel reserve and ice water running through his veins. Another awesome addition to this set are the surprisingly good special features on each disk.
While all of them feature commentary, trailers, and blooper reels (which are pretty funny considering the age of these films), and Warner Night at the Movies (which represents everything that would have been seen in the original theatrical release such as newsreels, shorts, and cartoons), each movie has a featurette that is connected to the film in some way. G Men includes “Morality and the Code: A How to Manual for Hollywood” that details the history of the first “talkies” and how the films were often overtly violent and racy which established the foundation of the ratings board that is in place today and features interview footage from greats like graphic novelist Frank Miller and Director Martin Scorsese. Each Dawn I Die has “Stool Pigeons and Pine Overcoats: The Language of Gangster Films” which goes int the vernacular, accents, and phrases that makes the dialogue in these movies the internal ebb and flow of the genre and a huge part of the popularity of these classics. City of Conquest displays “Molls and Dolls: The Women of Gangster Films” that looks at the roles of women in this particular genre and about their positions in the films being opposite these “tough guys” and how that creates very rounded, deep characters. White Heat offers “White Heat: Top of the World’ which is a featurette all about why this film is so great and what elements are in place that make the thriller work.
Despite City… not quite fitting in with the motif of the set, this is yet another good set from the people at Turner Classic Movies. James Cagney’s abilities, charisma, and showmanship are on great display in all of these films. And yes, one can argue that there isn’t much pizzazz to these movies considering the “assembly line” style by which they were produced. But what separates classic movies are the actors in them, and the performances they put on. And with that, Cagney and his supporting casts do a fantastic job and makes this set of movies the cat’s meow.
