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The Roaring
Twenties (1939)
In director Raoul Walsh's semi-documentary styled
action and dramatic crime-gangster film - it told a fatalistic
story, spanning the years from 1919 to 1933 (the End of Prohibition),
about the rise and fall of a rough gangster who was bound to die
a self-sacrificial, bloody death - memorably,
this film marked the third and final screen pairing of Humphrey Bogart
and James Cagney - two quintessential gangster characters:
- in an early sequence during WWI ("The Great
War"), during the US' entrance into the European war in 1918, three
GIs happened to meet in a fox-hole trench in 'no-man's land' during
a shelling: Eddie Bartlett (James Cagney), George Hally (Humphrey
Bogart), and a very scared Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn); George complained: "There's
ten thousand shellholes around here and everybody's got to come
divin' into this one"
- in the foxhole during combat, each of the three
expressed their aspirations if they ever returned home; Lloyd
expressed his desire to set up a law office, while George would
return to the saloon business (and soon enter into bootlegging
when Prohibition passed), and Eddie was hoping to return to his
pre-war job as an auto-mechanic in a garage and eventually own
a shop of his own: ("That's my idea of heaven, boys.
A grease bucket, a wrench, and a cracked cylinder")
- a voice-over narration (by John Deering) accompanied
footage of the GIs returning home in 1919: "...Finally, late
in the year, the last detachments of the American Expeditionary
Forces come back from policing the Rhine, almost forgotten by all
but their relatives and friends"
- upon his arrival back home,
Eddie was informed by his old boss that: "Times
have changed, Eddie" and was not rehired; the desperate, grim-faced
Eddie claimed he was "tired of being pushed around. Tired
of having doors slammed in my face, tired of being just another
guy back from France"; he was forced
to take an off-hours job as a cab driver
- a post-war Prohibition
montage included the narrator's voice-over account of the homefront
faced by returning GI's: "Back in this country, the boys who
had returned from overseas begin to find out that the world has
moved on during the time they spent in France...Everywhere, things
have changed but particularly in New York. The old Broadway is
only a memory. Gone are many of the famous landmarks, for already,
America is feeling the effects of Prohibition. There is a concentrated
effort at readjustment to normal peacetime activities, but unemployment
coming in the wake of the wartime boom is beginning to grip the
country and the soldiers find their return to face - on a different
front - the same old struggle, the struggle to survive"
- Eddie visited his pen-pal during
the war - an "American gal" from Mineola, Long Island;
there, he discovered that young Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane)
lived with her mother (Elisabeth Risdon) and "goes to school,
sings, and dances"; when she skipped
into the room, she was revealed to be a pretty, sweet, and naive high-school
girl who glowingly admired him as her 'dream soldier': "Oh, Mr.
Bartlett, you look just like I pictured you. Brave, strong, romantic,
and handsome"; he advised that he would be in touch with her - but in a few years:
"Oh, in about two or three years when you get to be a great big
girl"
- Eddie slowly eased his way into becoming a career
gangster, when as a cab driver, he was asked by a mobster
to deliver a brown paper bag (containing a gin bottle) to tough-talking
flapper and matronly speakeasy hostess-owner Panama Smith (Gladys
George) in the Henderson Club; he found himself arrested by two
undercover agents for violating the Volstead Act (enforcing the
18th Amendment); he was found guilty and sentenced to sixty days
in jail and fined $100; Panama bailed him out (and paid the fine)
- and soon, she enticed him (calling him a "decent
guy") to join her and become successful in the bootlegging/racketeering
business: "Now the liquor business is gonna grow big and it's
gonna grow fast. So get in line, buster. Hack drivers are a dime
a dozen"
Eddie Delivering Illegal Booze to Panama Smith (Gladys
George)
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Eddie Arrested and Sentenced by Judge
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Eddie Bailed Out by Panama
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Going into Business With Panama
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- Eddie turned to lucrative bootlegging,
first delivering the contraband in his own taxicab, and then becoming
a better-dressed, full-time entrepreneur as he cashed in on the
illegal profits and manufactured his own illegal bathtub gin
- the
narrator in voice-over explained during a montage: "And so, the
Eddie of this story joins the thousands and thousands of other
Eddies throughout America. He becomes a part of a criminal army
- an army that was born of a marriage between an unpopular law
and an unwilling public. Liquor is the password in this army.
And it's a magic password that spells
the dollar sign as it spreads from city to city, from state to
state. The public is beginning to look upon the bootlegger as something
of an adventuresome hero, a modern crusader who deals in bottles
instead of battles"
- Eddie's profits led him to build a
fleet of cabs (The Red & Blue Cab Co.) for his bootlegged liquor
deliveries, and to hire Lloyd as his lawyer
- while backstage collecting on a $700 booze debt
from Masters (George Meeker), a promoter of a musical comedy entitled Pretty
Baby, Eddie - by chance he spotted a pretty chorus
girl dancer ("a cute bundle") in the show, and recognized
her as a grown-up Jean - he greeted her: "Hi, Mineola...A
few years make a big difference" and showed an immediate romantic
interest in her; after an initial rebuffing, and realizing that
she would be looking for a full-time job soon, he arranged for
her to audition at the Henderson Club (Panama's speak-easy) with
a rendition of Melancholy Baby
Young Schoolgirl Jean Sherman (Priscilla Lane)
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A Few Years Later: Jean as a Chorus Girl
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Auditioning: 'My Melancholy Baby'
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- just before Jean's opening night performance
at the speakeasy club, Eddie boasted of his
starlet: "Is this kid a draw or isn't she?", and then took
offense at owner Pete Henderson (Ed Keane) for calling him a "sucker" for
loving a woman who didn't return his affection; Eddie stuffed Henderson's
cigar into his face: "Don't you ever say that to me again,
do ya hear? Never!"
Eddie Insulted After Being Called a "Sucker" for
Jean
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Singing 'I'm Just Wild About Harry' in Panama's
Speakeasy
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Eddie's Spurned Offer of Marriage to Jean
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- after Jean crooned I'm
Just Wild About Harry, Eddie - who was obsessively smitten
and in love with her, offered to marry
her and presented her with a huge engagement ring ("You
want the Brooklyn Bridge, all you gotta do is ask for it. If I can't
buy it, I'll steal it. Well?"); she was grateful to him, but
stalled in answering and was obviously not romantically interested
in him as a marital partner
- during a foggy night, Eddie and his gang (posing
as Coast Guard) conducted a hijacking-raid
about 12 miles from shore on rival bootlegger-gangster Nick Brown's
(Paul Kelly) boat; the rum-running boat was carrying
a shipment of booze worth $100,000 - and to Eddie's surprise was
captained by his own war buddy, now-gangster
George Hally
- after getting reacquainted over a drink, the
scheming George was easily persuaded
to become a partner with Eddie and double-cross Brown: "Between
the two of us, we ought to do all right together...It ain't gonna
be so easy the next time. Brown ain't gonna stand for you
hijackin' his boats like this. The next time he'll be ready for ya.
One fine night, a 5-inch shell is gonna blow the top of your head
right off. You can't spend your profits at the bottom of the ocean....I
got the organization to bring this stuff in and I know where to get
it. You got the organization to peddle"; they both agreed that they
were each a little untrustworthy - the basis for a partnership:
"That sounds like a pretty good basis for a partnership"
- during an ominously-narrated segment set in the
year 1924, composed of a montage of violent scenes during
increased gang warfare, a new weapon was showcased - the 'tommy-gun'
- in one of the film's most tense
sequences, Eddie's gang robbed a quarter of a million dollars
worth of liquor in a shipment (belonging to fellow bootlegger Nick
Brown) that had been confiscated by the government
and stored in a guarded US government warehouse in New York City:
(Eddie: "The government takes it from Nick Brown and we take it from the government.
Pretty neat, huh?"); during the heist using three large transport
trucks, Hally recognized one of two relief guards as Pete Jones (Joseph
Sawyer) - his disliked "old sergeant" during the war,
and unnecessarily and brutally murdered him in cold-blood
(off-screen); Eddie expressed exasperation
for the unnecessary killing, but Hally defended himself: "He had
it coming to him."
- later that night at Panama's speak-easy, Eddie's
lawyer Lloyd (who was secretly dating the love of Eddie's life,
Jean), refused to continue working for Eddie's deadly racket after
he learned about the killing: "I'm
not drawing up any more contracts for you...Eddie, you stuck up
that warehouse tonight, didn't you?...You killed the watchman...You
were responsible for it...No, Eddie, it won't work. This is where
I draw the line. I said I'm through and I mean it"; George
threatened to kill Lloyd but was prevented by Eddie's intervention
- during gang warfare, Eddie attempted
to set up a truce with Brown's gang, not realizing that
Hally was intent on double-crossing him; Eddie sent his long-time
cab driving friend/associate Danny Green (Frank McHugh) to Nick Brown's
place, but it was a deadly trap; Danny's corpse
was deposited at the front door of Eddie's new PANAMA CLUB; Eddie
knelt down and sadly spoke: "Well Danny, I told you this wasn't
your racket"
- a gunfight in Brown's Italian restaurant
led to Eddie's retaliatory murder of Nick Brown, and afterwards,
Eddie broke up his association with his corrupt associate George
Hally in his apartment: ("The only thing that's savin' your
neck is I can't prove you dealt me a second. But if I ever find
out, I got one in here with your name on it. Remember that");
he warned that if he had proof that Hally had betrayed him, he
would return to kill him
- in a short sequence outside his club, Eddie (although
blind to the obvious fact of Jean's romance with Lloyd) was finally
confronted by the truth;
he punched his romantic competitor in the mouth, but with Jean
standing loyally at Lloyd's side, Panama's advice rang true to
Eddie and he apologized: "I'm
sorry. Sorry"
- soon after, Eddie's
fortunes were wiped out with the 1929 Stock Market crash, and he
was forced to sell all but one taxi-cab in his company to George
for $250,000 to recoup all of his debts: ("I ain't gonna take
all your cabs away...I'm gonna leave ya one, just one, cause you're
gonna need it, pal"); now that Eddie's life was reduced
back to what he had done years earlier, he often reminisced with
Panama about the old days, and began to drink heavily
- Eddie happened to pick up the married
Jean as a cab passenger (earlier, she had been the love of his
life, but was now married with a four year-old son); the earlier
threat of Eddie's ex-colleague George Hally to kill her husband
- now prosecuting DA Lloyd, was much more likely; in a scene
of desperation while fearing for Lloyd's life, Jean begged a drunken,
down-and-out Eddie in a third-rate saloon to help defend against
George, but he initially refused, but then had a change of heart;
he took a taxi with Panama to George's apartment as Panama waited
outside
- Eddie was facing a deadly
confrontation and shoot-out with ex-colleague George Hally in his
fancy upstairs bedroom on New Years' Eve; Hally was threatening
to eliminate Lloyd - and Eddie too: "You got more
on me than any guy in this town and I'll lay ya odds that the minute
you get out of here, you're goin' straight to the cops and spill
everything you know. Well, I'm just gonna beat ya to the finish.
Goodbye, Eddie, and uh, Happy New Year" - a
decrepit and ruined Eddie snarled at his sniveling and cowardly
rival as he emptied his gun with three shots:
"That's one rap you won't beat" - and as Eddie fled down
the stairs and into the snowy street, he was lethally shot in the back
by one of Hally's henchmen
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Eddie's Violent Shoot-Out with Corrupt
Ex-Associate George Hally
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- in his memorable, self-sacrificial, redemptive death
scene (evoking Michelangelo's Pieta and other Christ imagery),
the mortally wounded Eddie found sanctuary outside
the nearby Community Church; there, he stumbled, climbed, wobbled,
and then tumbled down the church's flight of snow-covered steps
- weeping Panama Smith ran to him and cradled his head in her arms as he expired
on the steps of the church; she answered a curious
cop's inquiries about the deceased man's identity ("Who is
this guy?") and laconically provided his epitaph and eulogy in the film's final
poignant line: (Panama: This is Eddie Bartlett. Cop: Well, how are you hooked up with him?
Panama: I could never figure it out. Cop: What was his business? Panama: He used to be
a big shot.)
Eddie's Memorable Death Scene
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Fox-Hole in Europe: Eddie, George and Lloyd
Expressing Their Aspirations For the Future After the War
1919: Return of the GIs
Eddie - Unable to Get His Old Job Back: "Times have changed, Eddie"
Returning Veteran Eddie Bartlett - Unemployed
Eddie - A Lowly Bootlegger
Eddie - A Rich Bootlegger
Nighttime Raid on Bootlegger's Boat - Eddie Again Met Up with
George and They Became Partners
Warehouse Booze Heist
Hally's Vengeful (Off-Screen) Murder of Relief Watchman-Guard
Lloyd's Threat to Quit As Eddie's Lawyer
Hally's Threat to Knock Off Lloyd
Danny's Dumped Corpse and Eddie's Sad Tribute to His Pal
Eddie's Retaliatory Murder of Nick Brown in Restaurant
Eddie's Threatening Break-Up with George Hally
Jean's Secret Romance with Lloyd Revealed to Eddie
After the 1929 Crash, Eddie as a Lowly Cab Driver
Jean Begging Drunken Eddie to Help Defend Her Husband DA Lloyd Against George
Last Line - Panama's Ode to Eddie: "He used to be
a big shot"
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