Johnny Come Lately

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Johnny Come Lately

1943

1h 37m

Comedy

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

43%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Oscar-winning small-town drama about an ex-reporter turned drifter who arrives in a town where corruption is rife. Jailed for vagrancy, on release, he meets up with Vinnie McLeod, editor of the local paper and one of the few honest citizens in town. Together, they set about exposing the corruption, thanks to the revelations of dowager Majorie Main, a woman with a murky past but an honest heart.

TIME Magazine

06/08/2016

These pleasures would have been all but impossible to manufacture in any of the large studios, for they are given their warmth and life by the pleasure that the Cagneys' large cast and the whole production outfit [took in the film].

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Variety Staff

Variety

03/26/2009

Whatever elements of suspense, action and motivation the Louis Bromfield book, McLeod's Folly, may have held to attract the Cagney production staff, the screen treatment which has emerged is, for the most part, familiar melodrama.

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Bosley Crowther

New York Times

03/25/2006

Following Yankee Doodle Dandy, it hurts to see Mr. Cagney wasting his excellent talent on such a curiously second-rate film.

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Edgar Anstey

The Spectator

06/08/2016

The acting, direction, dialogue and photography for the most part are unpolished.

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Adrian Turner

Radio Times

06/08/2016

3/5

A strong performance from James Cagney and a fine supporting cast lift this otherwise unexceptional newspaper picture.

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TV Guide

06/08/2016

2/5

It's pleasant enough, and the period sets and costumes are quite authentic, but it never catches fire.

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04/20/2015

cagney gets loaned out to republic pictures for this com-dram

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03/26/2013

Slow but good film. On Blu-ray.

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12/03/2009

As always, James Cagney delivers a terrific performance, it's a good story, decent direction but it's rather ordinary. The supporting cast is good. Not as memorable as most of Cagney's films.

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01/05/2009

A crusading journalist confronts and ultimatley defeats corruption in small-town America with the help of an elderly lady benefactor - a story you've seen countless times before, and usually it'll have been better. Not one of James Cagney's best movies - although it does feature some of the (unintentionally) funniest fist-fights committed to film.

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06/23/2005

As always, James Cagney delivers a terrific performance, it's a good story, decent direction but it's rather ordinary. The supporting cast is good. Not as memorable as most of Cagney's films.

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William K. Howard

Director

James Cagney

Tom Richards

Grace George

Vinnie McLeod

Marjorie Main

"Gashouse" Mary

Marjorie Lord

Jane

Hattie McDaniel

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Synopsis

Oscar-winning small-town drama about an ex-reporter turned drifter who arrives in a town where corruption is rife. Jailed for vagrancy, on release, he meets up with Vinnie McLeod, editor of the local paper and one of the few honest citizens in town. Together, they set about exposing the corruption, thanks to the revelations of dowager Majorie Main, a woman with a murky past but an honest heart.

Director: William K. Howard
Distributor: United Artists
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 3, 1943, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 7, 2021
Runtime: 1h 37m