Word: cagneys
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Always an adept actor, Caine is splendid here. His King, quintessentially seedy, strikes just the proper balance between calculated mediocrity and droll detachment. As Gilbert, Mickey Rooney is equal parts Robinson, Cagney and miniature tornado. It is a broad performance, but Hodges draws firm boundaries for it, which Rooney straddles occasionally but never oversteps. The performance, like the movie itself, deserves to become some crazy kind of minor classic...
Shake Hands With the Devil. Imagine James Cagney in the unlikely role of a professor at the College of Surgeons who doubles as a leader in the Irish Revolution. That's only a minor problem for this film. The dialogue, the direction, and the gratuitous sexual innuendo all work hard to negate the intrinsic historical interest of the period. It's a tough fight...
Mister Roberts, World War II with Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon and James Cagney, 8, Feb. 24. Chan...
...overcome its environment--and, to some extent, its genre. The parables and paradoxes which Christ produces--like a magician running through his patter--are really just excuses for songs and jokes and snappy impersonations. And so, the father of the prodigal son is made to speak like Jimmy Cagney and when he announces the homecoming celebration somebody shouts, "Let's Conga!" After all, no one's going to listen to that old story again if you don't spruce it up just a little...
...manner that is not recognizable. The moment you can see how it's being done, it's no good. The illusion is when you've been had and don't realize it. That's technique. ON INFLUENCES: I think I learned to act from people like James Cagney and Paul Muni. And I'm sure I learned more from Bette Davis than anyone. She has enormous presence, a sense of surprise. She sets you up like a great boxer and BAM! she gives you something else. She does have a certain consistent style, but when you examine her work...