Year of Release: 1939Country of Origin: USA
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Priscilla Lane, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George
Plot outline: Three WWI army buddies get mixed up with the mob in peacetime (IMDb).
The Roaring Twenties is an ambitious gangster movie buoyed by James Cagney’s strong performance. Initially, the movie fires on all cylinders. The opening battlefield scenes are great and do a wonderful job of efficiently introducing the characters. As the setting shifts to post-war New York the script compensates for disappearance of Humphrey Bogart’s character with the introduction of Frank McHugh and Priscilla Lane’s, as Cagney’s character begins his rise to prominence. Everything’s working now, and Cagney’s chewing up the scenery, but then, it begins to stumble. Starting with the introduction of a far-fetched love triangle between Cagney, Lane, and Jeffrey Lynn and culminating in a ludicrous finale, the script abandons any sense of gritty realism, and instead wallows in clichés. It drags in the middle and, much like its protagonist, is finished long before the end credits. Nevertheless, there’s some good stuff here. (FML)
My judgement: *** out of 4 stars
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