Cagney shaved the sides and back of his head for this movie, and you can see a lot of scars on the back and sides of his head.
Was he beaten as a child by his father? Was he in a lot of fights growing up?
The aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and clamorous to be led to safety.
They aren't scars. It's just his hair.
The past is a series of presents. The present is living history we are privileged to witness
Cagney said, in his autobiography, that he was annoyed with the studio for something so when they put him in this picture, he decided to mix it up a little by getting a bad haircut with "scars" as if he may have been in jail previously and gotten knocked around. He was in a lot of fights as a kid, not only his own but defending his brothers who didn't have his moves. He was so good, a manager wanted him to go pro but Jimmy's mother, although she liked the fact that he could defend himself and the family in the neighborhood, said that before he could go pro, he'd have to beat her so he had to look around for something else to earn money (lucky for all of us moviegoers!)
This positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms!Terry-Thomas about US 1963.Hasnt changed much!