Taxi! (1931)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Made just one year after 'The Public Enemy', James Cagney had truly made it in Hollywood when this film was made, and here he's engaging as always. However, while it's wonderful to see him dance a couple times (and to see George Raft dance as well), it's less than wonderful to see his character's pugnaciousness extending to threatening to hit his girlfriend (Loretta Young) several times. If you're sensitive to that, you may want to skip this one. Even at age 19, Young was practically an industry veteran given her filmography, and she turns in a good performance, both standing up to Cagney (at least to some extent) and falling for him. She also confessed to falling for him in real life, and maybe some of that chemistry shows. It's a tight script and story-telling from director Roy Del Ruth, but it is a little silly how much Young's character helps Cagney's enemy (David Landau). I loved the stock city shots in New York that are used in transitions, and the film zips along in its 69 minutes. The scene in the nightclub, with music by the Cotton Club Orchestra and some sexy dancing, is also a nice little bit of pre-code fun, as is Young briefly in her lingerie in a typical pre-code dressing scene. The main reason to watch the film, though, is to see Cagney's range. He's playful, romantic, speaks Yiddish, dances, and of course gets tough, busting off lines like "Come out and take it, you dirty yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" Despite its flaws, it's entertaining, and worth seeing.

I was expecting a typical Warner's social-consciousness expose of unfair working conditions affronting cab drivers or whatever, but this short programmer is largely a love story, and a convoluted one. It has cabbie Jimmy Cagney falling for Loretta Young, whose dad, Guy Kibbee, died in prison after killing a rival driver who was unfairly moving in on his territory. The courtship is so rushed as to be incomprehensible--one scene he's chewing her out for failing to back him on his organizing efforts, next scene they're making goo-goo eyes at each other. Cagney plays such a hot-tempered, unreasonable lout that even this actor's charm and magnetism don't transform him, and you're not really rooting for the two of them to end up together. She's typically pretty and appealing, but hasn't much to play, and you have to endure Leila Bennett as her unbearably droning-on-and-on girlfriend--she plays her all too well. Jimmy and Loretta do get to dance together a bit, and some good character actors are hanging on the sidelines, notably David Landau as the evil rival who triggered the whole conflict, and ends up paying for it. But it's neither believable as a romance nor revealing as a working-class study, and the screenplay, from a stage play that one has to assume was rather different, doesn't make much sense.

Matt Nolan (James Cagney) is a cab driver, but a group of new cabbies are trying to muscle into the area. They use intimidation and force when they feel it is necessary which tends to be sooner rather than later. Take Pop Riley (Guy Kibbee) for example. He'd been running the same route for years until the new gang came to town and decided they didn't want the competition. They totaled his car and got him sent to prison when he retaliated. His little girl Sue (Loretta Young) doesn't want to see anyone else suffer the same fate, so when she falls in love with Matt, she does her best to keep his temper under control. It isn't easy, especially when the opposing group starts harassing him.Roy Del Ruth keeps the story exciting with the typical Warner Brother's format. Taxi! features a great cast, quick dialogue, fast action, and a short run time. Cagney is the true star of the movie; he can lay it on thick with the romantic scenes, pop out the cocky one-liners like no other, and even dance around like a pro. (We are treated to a preview of his talents; they would not be utilized in film until a few years later.) Young is absolutely beautiful, as she is in all of her pre-code movies, and her acting abilities hold up against Cagney's. Also notable are the sidekicks of the two leads: Leila Bennett and George E. Stone who play great backup.This movie is definitely worth catching late night on TCM.

Starting out, I'd have to say that you'd be hard pressed to come up with a more attractive screen couple than the young James Cagney and Loretta Young. What got them there however, and what ensues is a somewhat haphazard mess of a story, though memorable for a lot of great scenes and characterizations, not the least of which is a quick appearance by George Raft during a dance contest!As always, Cagney lights up the screen with his commanding presence; here he's an independent taxi cab driver about to get embroiled in a dispute against a rival cab company that threatens the livelihood of the independents. Young's character, Sue Riley, is the daughter of a cab driver who dies in Sing Sing after killing a Consolidated goon who wrecked his vehicle. Uncharacteristically, Sue pleads for restraint at a meeting of the independent drivers, embarrassing Matt Nolan (Cagney) who wants more aggressive action. The first 'huh?' moment of the story occurs when Nolan and Sue are seen getting lovey dovey on line at a movie theater, when in the moment earlier scene she slapped his face, prompting the Cagney quote in my summary line above. But say, wasn't that the slickest wedding proposal ever when Cagney slipped the ring on Young's finger? - very smooth!The film gets some good mileage out of secondary characters as well, with George E. Stone as Nolan's pal Skeets, and Sue's girlfriend Ruby, played by Leila Bennett. Ruby is comically annoying with her ceaseless chatter about nothing in particular, though conversations about fish dying an unnatural death and her own matrimonial prospects are noteworthy. It was probably convenient for her to be dating Skeets whenever the couples went out, but how would you like to be on the receiving end of "Come on, I feel like being bored and you can do the job better than anybody I know." You know, it didn't surprise me when she told Skeets her favorite actor was Joe E. Brown - who would have guessed? Still, if you examine the film with any sense of credibility, you'll be left wondering about a whole host of questions. Like what did Marie (Doroth Burgess) ever see in Buck Gerard (David Landau)? What would make ANYONE think they could get financial help for the killer of one's own brother-in law? How could Sue rat out her husband when the cops came calling on the Gerard apartment (quite convenient timing I might add)? And why, oh why, didn't Nolan, or anyone, ever reveal to Sue Riley that it was Buck Gerard who set up her father's 'incident' that sent him away to prison? Which makes the ending just a little TOO tidy for my taste, not that Matt and Sue couldn't live happily ever after, but geez, she pulled a gun on him just a few scenes earlier. BUT, if you're a James Cagney fan, this is a pretty good showcase for his talent, including some snappy Yiddish dialog, a fox trot that should have beaten Raft, and a quick tap dance at Sue's apartment. I'll watch it again!