a fantastic film hampered only by the ending foolishness of bogart's character, and the silliness of the narrator who insists upon telling rather than showing. great stuff by both bogart and cagney; the singer adds a great feminine touch; and gladys george is a snarky, entertaining lil' devil.

It was good fun to see an early version of the relatively recent gangster movies (like Goodfellas) that I grew up with. Cagney is decent in the lead, and Bogart playing a crook works really well.

A homage to the great gangster films almost a decade later. Cagney's performance is first rate, and Gladys George and Bogart are fine in support.

an absolute blast!

One of the best gangster film's of the 30's. In his first film for WB Raoul Walsh choose docu-melodrama style of narrative, and tells the story of the whole decade, rather of one individual. Protagonist is portrayed as a victim of social conditions, not a criminal by choice. Made under the Hays code where the only ending gangster movie could have was the death of criminals, it is distinguishable by good acting, production values and directing, that goes way above 'director-for-hire" standard.

968

Something about this really clicked with me and I was engaged and entertained all the way through.

#936

"An epochal rise-and-fall epic of the gangster cycle." - Eric Henderson

A classic. This is a great piece of film which not only works on you as crime story but as a deep well of historical facts, knowledge and cultural life of a pre-war America. Wonderful how this kind of movies can be so enthralling and not too cruel at the same time.

It's good, but I didn't feel it stood apart enough from Cagney's other gangster stuff. Should re-watch.

Quite good but never great. I prefer Bogart to Cagney for sure.

Classic.

Cagney's return to the gangster pictures has a pretty formulaic structure: a fall from grace following WWI, Cagney treads to keep his neck above water until he becomes a highfalutin gangster running a liquor racket. Watch as he sweats bullets when the cops lean on him hard.

I thought this could have been better. I'm not sure how, but there was something missing here that limited my enjoyment -- maybe the themes are just too dated and haven't aged well.

lots of great action augmented by some poor (but short) singing sequences, a dicey second half, but strong finish, and some of bogart's best work. i was happy with cagney, and the other actors. my main complaint is some hot/cold editing, but this movie is overall impressive considering how much gunplay it has compared to its peers.

Cagney is a force that would intimidate modern audiences. The precursor to Goodfellas.

Great film, working with three characters (one good, one in the middle and one bad- naturally Bogie!). Cagney is the star of the film and carries it extremely well. Gladys George also gives a great performance.

Among the last of the Warner gangster cycle, this was perhaps the best production of them all, despite the familiar plot line: stars and studio were in cracking form.

I was hoping for more Bogart. I still don't like Cagney that much, but he's better in this film than in White Heat. I really don't have any strong opinions about the movie one way or another... I didn't love it, but nothing about it annoyed me or bored me.