I'm watching The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney.
Some of my favorites from that era -
The Petrified Forest - Humphrey Bogart, a young Leslie Howard and Bette Davis. This is a classic, mostly due to the acting that carries it alone. Howard died so young and is sadly only remembered for that awful Gone With The Wind movie, but this is proof he could've been a big star.
Little Cesar - Can't mention these movies without bringing up Edward G Robinson and his best one. Fun fact, the RICO law against organized crime is named after his character in this movie.
High Sierra - This is the movie that made Humphrey Bogart's career in Hollywood as he went from a B movie actor to soon landing the Maltese Falcon role after this came out. He plays an old, past his prime gangster who comes out of prison and tries to do one last job. The season 2 finale of True Detective ripped this movie off hard with the whole shootout in the forest.
Angels With Dirty Faces - James Cagney again. This movie sadly was tampered with and the original ending never saw the light of the day cause the gangster films had to push a 'tough on crime' deal, but it's a fascinating movie where Cagney is a gangster. The ending, despite being forced is one of the most terrifying things I ever seen in these old movies. Ann Sheridan was in this and god she was beautiful.
High Sierra is a real classic, the first movie where Bogie established his character as the world-weary cynic that he would find variations of in like a dozen amazing films.
I love High Sierra. Ida Lupino was great in it too. Critics back then used to label her a "poor man's Bette Davis" and I don't think that was fair. She could hold her on as an actress on screen.
do you have links to some free ones? I'll add em to the megathread
I grew up watching those movies.
If you like James Cagney, check out White Heat sometime. It's the last gangster film he made and it came out in the late 40s, so it's often lumped in the category of noir. Some of the best acting I have ever seen. That's my favorite gangster film of all time.
You won't be disappointed. The prison scene where he freaks out, that is some of the best acting ever. My favorite scene is what he does to the guy in the trunk of the car. Because that movie was made after the 30s, it's a lot more grittier than the 30s gangster films.
oh movies from the thirties, not a three day binge of movies and liquor. This is much healthier.
Some say Hawks made the genre with Scarface, but Cagney was modernity.