The Roaring Twenties

Released Oct 23, 1939

1h 44m

Crime

Drama

List

100%

Tomatometer

19 Reviews

89%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

After World War I, friends Eddie (James Cagney), George (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) return to America with ambitions for the future. Lloyd becomes a lawyer, but Eddie can only find work as a cab driver and eventually falls into the bootlegging business. Eddie and George become partners in crime, but the stock market crash destroys their operation and turns the old friends against each other, while Eddie falls in love with Lloyd's girlfriend, Jean (Priscilla Lane).

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Kevin Maher

Times (UK)

The performances are fabulously hard-boiled, while the script features one of the standout last lines in movie history...

Rated: 5/5

Mar 8, 2024

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

Walsh unfolds the practical details of bootleggers' nocturnal maneuvers with quiet comedic flair alongside harrowing violence.

Sep 12, 2016

Full Review

Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

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

Rated: 3.5/4

Feb 3, 2005

Full Review

Roger Moore

Movie Nation

The sound-staginess of it all, with even World War I battlefields recreated indoors, and the sprint-through-the-era nature of the narrative seriously date the picture, dulling some of the impact of the tight performances and crackling dialogue.

Rated: 3/4

Apr 19, 2024

Full Review

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

the most ambitious and successful of the late 1930s gangster films

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 27, 2024

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Yet one more exemplary gangster flick produced by Warner Bros. during the 1930s, this one closed the decade in style.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 2, 2024

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Steve D

The problem with these films is that you have no reason to care about any of the characters.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/16/24

Full Review

Harry N

A sweeping panorama of the lives of three WWI vets. It has two key observations which are largely ignored but I think bear significance. One is when Cagney spends a night in jail with an accused robber. The robber tells Cagney his only wish is for a gun. To either commit another crime or kill himself. Cagney asks him if he was a WWI vet. and he replies yes. Cagney counsels him not to do anything rash. Such scene examines what we call PTSD now. A later scene reunites Cagney with his younger attorney friend. The friend offers to help Cagney and indicates Cagney can work his way up and be back on his feet after some effort and time. Cagney declines indicating "I always took a short cut to the top." Again a very perceptive scene which demonstrates the criminal mindset of those who reject societies values. The writers understood their material.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

09/28/23

Full Review

merick h

Must see classic tragedy.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Liam D

The End of The Gangster era went out with an explosive Bang

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/09/22

Full Review

Luca D

I don't know if another film will capture prohibition so well. The acting, setting, music, and wardrobe really made it seem like the roaring twenties. Plus, you gotta love the shootout/explosion scenes. I thought the action scenes were surprisingly violent for a 1930s movie, but that just adds to the realism of the scenes of mob violence. This is my first James Cagney film and I will be watching more. I feel like the Cagney Bogart bond in the film wasn't held onto long enough though. Overall a really fun film about the 1920s prohibition mob scene. I would mostly recommend this to men, not really much that's relatable to women in this film. Will be watching again.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/23/21

Full Review

Audience Member

The title implies a fun movie, but in fact is depressing throughout. The movie starts out with three infantrymen in a trench, with Bogart rather than Cagney proving to be the nasty psychopath who genuinely loves killing. The war ends and Cagney finds he cannot get his old job back in the automotive repair shop after two years' absence. He gets a job as a taxi driver, unaware that he is part of a liquor bootlegging racket, and is caught and arrested...and later is essentially forced into working in this racket. He prospers and his war buddy becomes his lawyer, but wants out when a mutual friend gets killed. Then there is the other war buddy who is a rival in the rackets... Unlike "The Public Enemy", Cagney does not voluntarily join the rackets, and is never happy while in them. Arguably one of the strongest gangster movies which is not a morality play as such.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

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Raoul Walsh

Director

James Cagney

Eddie Bartlett

Humphrey Bogart

George Hally

Priscilla Lane

Jean Sherman

Gladys George

Panama Smith

Jeffrey Lynn

Lloyd Hart

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Synopsis

After World War I, friends Eddie (James Cagney), George (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) return to America with ambitions for the future. Lloyd becomes a lawyer, but Eddie can only find work as a cab driver and eventually falls into the bootlegging business. Eddie and George become partners in crime, but the stock market crash destroys their operation and turns the old friends against each other, while Eddie falls in love with Lloyd's girlfriend, Jean (Priscilla Lane).

Director: Raoul Walsh
Producer: Hal B. Wallis, Jack L. Warner
Screenwriter: Mark Hellinger, Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen
Distributor: Warner Bros., MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 23, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Mono

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