Jandy Hardesty’s review published on Letterboxd:
This is one that's been on my list for a LONG time. I'm not sure why this one rather than any of the other Cagney gangster films I haven't seen, especially since I didn't actually realize it had Bogart in it (that would've put it over the top for sure). But anyway, when it showed up on TCM last week, it had an almost instant DVR turnaround, which is unusual for me.
Cagney plays a WWI veteran who goes into taxi driving after the war, but gets framed for bootlegging - at which point he ends up drawn into bootlegging for real, becoming a leader in the industry. But he's hardly a ruthless guy - it's purely a temporary business for him, and he's buying up cabs right and left as he's able, intending to start his own cab company as soon as he can. That's not Bogart's plan, though. The two met in a foxhole in WWI, and Bogart's lack of respect for human life is seen almost immediately. They become partners in bootlegging later on, but Bogart wants to carry it far further than Cagney ever did.
Intriguingly, Priscilla Lane is a love interest for Cagney, but not the other way around. She's fine in the movie, but the real female standout is Gladys George, the speakeasy owner who gets Cagney into this in the first place and sticks by him when things get rough. It's a powerhouse performance from Cagney, though, who has to be by turns bright and optimistic, hard driving businessman, and down on his luck schmuck. Bogart plays the heavy with enough charisma that you can predict his later stardom, but this is Cagney's movie all the way.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Roaring Twenties > Point Blank
The Roaring Twenties > Carousel
The Roaring Twenties < The Quiet Man
The Roaring Twenties < The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The Roaring Twenties > Sin Nombre
The Roaring Twenties < Election
The Roaring Twenties < An Education
The Roaring Twenties < Wonder Boys
The Roaring Twenties < Henry V (1944)
The Roaring Twenties < The Three Musketeers (1973)
The Roaring Twenties < Hail the Conquering Hero
The Roaring Twenties > Centurion
FINAL #734 out of #3362