It's either 'White Heat' or 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' for me. Two completely different worlds of entertainment, both done superbly by JC. I can't make up my mind which is the greatest. Or is his greatest performance something else yet again? You tell me.
Hi, Bob.
1) Yankee Doodle Dandy
2) White Heat
3) Love Me or Leave Me
"I told you to keep away from that radio. If that battery is dead it'll have company." Cody Jarrett
1) YDD
2) Roaring Twenties
3) White Heat
4) Strawberry Blonde or Angels With Dirty Faces
It's probably easier to list his bad performances.
Cagney gave a bad performance?! I don't believe it exists...
"Now what kind of man are YOU dude?"
Truly Cagney never gave a bad performance. It doesn't exist. Two of my favorites not mentioned: MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES and RAGTIME.
shareI too love Man of a Thousand Faces. It was the first Cagney film I ever saw, so I think I'll always hold a special place for it. He did such a great job of giving the role a certain depth that few actors could have achieved.
shareCagney gave a bad performance?! I don't believe it exists...
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I think he was miscast as a tough Marine captain in "What Price Glory". He tried his best, but it was a role better suited for John Wayne. Cagney was overweight by then, and I just didn't buy him in that role. Twice in that movie he knocks down the much taller,leaner Dan Dailey with one punch, who was supposed to be a tough drill sergeant. I know Cagney was tough, but come on!
The other iffy performance was "A Lion Is In The Street". He was over the top all the time, unlike his character in "White Heat" who had his quiet moments.
I know most people liked Cagney in "One Two Three". I didn't care for it. Constantly barking out his lines and behaving like the Warner Brothers cartoon tasmanian devil. Has there ever been two more different performances back to back like this one and the one he delivered a year earlier in "The Gallant Hours" which was his quietest performance?
You are all right. Cagney was always terrific. White Heat is hard to beat. But my favorite Cagney movie and my favorite musical is FOOTLIGHT PARADE. Cagney and Joan Blondell were dynamite together.
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good... St. Matthew 5:45
Cagney was never bad. Some of the material he was in wasn't the greatest sometimes, but that's what happened to stars in the studio system.
It was also why Cagney and other stars rebelled against it.
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He played a general in a movie about the second world war. Cannot remember the movie, but he was fabulous! Just fabulous!
I can't believe Captain Morton isn't considered great. "Mister Roberts". The final scene where Ensign Pulver confronts the Captain in his cabin reading a comic book is phenomenal.
I can't believe Captain Morton isn't considered great. "Mister Roberts". The final scene where Ensign Pulver confronts the Captain in his cabin reading a comic book is phenomenal.
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Hard to say. This movie was right up there though - 8.5
"She let me go."
~White Oleander