All right, fellas... let's go and say a prayer for a boy who couldn't run as fast as I could.
This is my first "make-up" post. Can't believe I missed this one when I was making my list of 365. Feel free to suggest another that you may feel like I have passed by along the way... I cut "Go West" for this film because I figured you had heard enough about the Marx Brothers... ;)
Throughout this list you'll probably see that I definitely lean towards certain genres of movies more than others. I usually don't like crime/mob dramas. That said, this is by far my favorite mob movie of all time. James Cagney is a caricature of a mob boss with "short-man" syndrome (probably because his roles in this, White Heat, and other films are the standard for the sterotype). He plays opposite Pat O'Brien who is a priest trying to help "at-risk" young boys. The interesting twist in this movie is that these two supposed polar extremes were actually childhood friends and delinquents. This sets up a very interesting dynamic that shows how much gray there can be when a situation looks black and white. The bottom line is that this is my favorite mob movie because it cares about its characters instead of simply dancing them around on the screen for our enjoyment (a'la "say hello to my little friend").
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