Great Guy (1936)

Just perfect...

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Interesting B movie from Grand National that reunites James Cagney with his Public Enemy co-star Mae Clarke. This was one of the movies Cagney made during his contract dispute with Warner Bros. The plot has tough guy Cagney taking over the position of Chief Deputy of the Departments of Weights and Measures, where he fights corruption with a good right cross. It never ceases to amaze me how bureaucrats were held in high esteem in 1930s movies. Name just about any government official and there was at least one movie with him as a crusading hero. More naive about government back then, I guess. Anyway this is not a bad movie but nothing exceptional. It moves along quickly. Cagney elevates the film above its Poverty Row backdrop. It's nice seeing him with Clarke again. The two have a playful chemistry. James Burke is a little annoying as Cagney's "Lucky Charms" sidekick. Worth a look for all Cagney fans, if for no other reason than to see him doing mundane things like shopping for groceries and putting gas in his car. All in the name of justice, of course.

. . . documenting how pretty much every American business in 1936 was short-changing its customers by 3% to 50% (the higher percentage always was in effect when defenseless orphans were involved) on EVERY transaction. Law enforcement existed primarily to squelch any dissent, destroy all evidence of greedy gouging, and to liquidate any particularly troublesome followers of the Ten Commandments. In GREAT GUY, James Cagney portrays the title hero, the one honest man left in the U.S., the chief deputy of New York City's Weights and Measures Bureau. He's under constant physical attack and lethal threats in GREAT GUY, and doesn't seem long for this world. America always has fancied herself "The City on a Hill," but if the Second Coming came tomorrow, GREAT GUY shows how the whips would be flying as a lot more than the money changers' tables got overturned. Things are far worse now than in 1936. Gasoline prices SPIKE as the value of a barrel of oil nose-dives and record inventory fills every storage tank available. Food packagers put less and less product in bigger and bigger containers. I recently bought a pair of jeans from America's largest retailer, and the pockets turned out to be weaker than this national chain store's brand of facial tissues. Laws seem to be written to allow the One Per Cent to filch and hoard 99% of the country's wealth. Are we Mice, or are we Men? Watch GREAT GUY to see the Fat Cats licking their chops!

ONCE KNOWN AS "the Professional Againster", a handle hung on him by Studio head honcho, Jack Warner, James Cagney had two periods in his career when he booked from his home studio. Seeking some sort of sweeter deal or possibly recognition as a producer, he took legal action in order to assure his exit.POVERTY ROW STUDIO, Grand National Pictures (they with the huge building clock as trademark)came calling and Jimmy answered. A two picture followed, SOMETHING TO SING ABOUT (1937) and today's honoree, GREAT GUY (1936).THIS PARTICULAR STORY had Cagney as the Good Guy, rather than being the Anti-Hero* criminal. Mr. Cagney was an investigator for the Department of Weights and Measures in NYC. His job was to protect the public from unscrupulous merchants and their cheating scams. From gas stations to meat markets, he and assistant James Burke, exposed and brought wrong doers to justice.INASMUCH AS THIS may have been just a tad too tame, not to mention dull and uninteresting, a subplot was in order.ROUNDING OUT THE story was a personal look at the man away from the job. We are shown how an honest public official may struggle in trying to live the American Dream.IN THIS CASE, Johnny 'Red' Cave and Fiancé, Janet Henry (Mae Clarke*) are shown making plans for a life of matrimonial bliss; but running into the proverbial brick wall of too little money with so much of the month to go. One scene cleverly opens with the couple discussing these problems; while they were sitting on a couch and easy chair in their living room. A long camera shot revealed them to be in a furniture store.FILLING OUT THE cast were such staunch and enjoyable supporting actors; such as James Burke, Ed Brophy, Mary Gordon, Joe Sawyer and Dwight Frye; the guy who had gained such recognition at Universal with such creepy characterizations as Fritz (FRANKENSTEOIN, 1931) and Renfield (DRACULA, also 1931) and Carl (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, 1935).** SOME OF THE scams portrayed in GREAT GUY were reprised in the 1950's TV Series, RACKET SQUAD with Reed Hadley as Captain Braddock.AS FAR AS the financial rewards of the Cagney-Grand National Pact, we guess that Mr. Cagney did okay; but these two movies spelled disaster for Grand National, who went belly up, drowning in a deluge of red ink.CAN YOU SAY law of diminishing returns?NOTE * Yes, this is the one and same Mae Clarke who portrayed fiancé, Elizabeth, in FRANKENSTEIN and Cagney girlfriend, Kitty in THE PUBLIC ENEMY. Good thing there were no grapefruits on the set! NOTE ** Mr. Dwight Frye, who met fame through his uncanny ability in creating the most horrifying characters, oddly enough was known for his work in romantic and musical production on stage. He appeared in both Cagney-Grand National collaborations.

This movie was different from most of Jimmy Cangey's films of the 1930s in that it was NOT done by Warner Brothers/First National, but was a loan-out to a smaller studio. Because it was a "poverty row" studio, the production values are lower than you might be used to seeing with Cagney films. Plus, the plot is certainly one of the strangest I have seen. Instead of him being a gangster, he was a good guy in this one--fighting for the law. This isn't all that unusual because Cagney frequently played lawmen--such as an OSS leader (the forefather of the CIA) of FBI agent. BUT, to make him an investigator for the Bureau of Weights and Measures was indeed odd--especially since, at times, he acted pretty much the same way he did in the movie G-MEN! All in all, a time passer and that's about it.Finally, the videotape I saw this on from Memory Lane Video was perhaps one of the poorest I have ever encountered. The sound was terrible and scratchy and the print looked very white and had lots of torn film and gaps.