Tag Archives: James Cagney

Yankee Doodle Boy

It’s James Cagney’s birthday today (thanks for the reminder, Kim), which I didn’t realize yesterday when I wrote the post about Cagney’s death scenes, so in honor of his birthday today, here is a clip I love from 1955’s The … Continue reading

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“The Animal Died In A Slow and Amazed Way.”

Peter Bogdanovich, in his essay on James Cagney in Who the Hell’s in It: Conversations with Hollywood’s Legendary Actors, writes: One of the guests asked [Cagney] how he had developed his habit of physically drawn-out death scenes, probably the best … Continue reading

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20 Favorite Actors

Joining the fun that’s been going on, and to quote Nathaniel who started this whole thing: “In no particular order and extremely subject to change.” For example: where the hell is Robert Mitchum? And William H. Macy? And Sean Penn … Continue reading

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Sergio Leone presents:

Professor Serverus Snape’s Sorcerer-Tastic, Muggalicious Mid-Summer Movie Quiz. Long anticipated. Questions are awesome, thought-provoking (your SECOND favorite Francis Ford Coppola movie? Love it!) – and the answers are even better. I was unable to participate in the last two quizzes … Continue reading

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“Almost eighty years after the picture was made, that grapefruit half smashing into Mae Clarke’s face still makes most of us wince.”

A great post by The Siren about Mae Clarke and that grapefruit scene in The Public Enemy. The still you always see of Cagney smushing the grapefruit into Clarke’s face – the one that is usually used to represent the … Continue reading

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My 2 All-Time Favorite Cagney Moments:

— his death scene in The Roaring Twenties – he makes it into a tragic ballet – all in one long take. The way that guy moved! — the scene where he freaks out in prison about his mother dying … Continue reading

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Cagney’s Death Scenes: “He used to be a big shot.”

Great still from a great scene. I think it’s one of the best death scenes ever filmed, at least in the top 5. It’s a long drawn-out run, all one take, almost balletic, Cagney running and tripping and swooning up … Continue reading

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Faces I love, part 2

Here’s part 1.

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Speaking of William Holden’s Death Scene

(were we? Yes. We were.) … Here’s a post of 5 death scenes (on my new addiction – Matt Zoller Seitz’s blog) I found myself nodding in agreement at the inclusion of Sean Connery’s death in The Untouchables. I haven’t … Continue reading

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Casablanca Appreciation Day

From The Making of Casablanca: Bogart, Bergman, and World War II: “Bogart had competence,” says Billy Wilder. “You felt that, if that big theatre where you were watching Casablanca caught on fire, Bogart could save you. Gable had that same … Continue reading

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