I'm taking a break between James Cagney film reviews to do what seems to be another James Cagney blog. Now I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, what makes James Francis Cagney, Jr. so great? Well, for one thing, it's his amazing ability to do a wide variety of roles; another thing is his amazing charisma and the fact that he could spark up the the screen with his personality and his lightning energy (does that make sense?) Orson Welles once said that "watching James Cagney acting was like watching a bunch of firecrackers going off." James Cagney probably c
ould do every genre possible: drama, war, gangster, musical, crime, comedy, adventure, Western, biopic, epic, film noir, etc. And somehow his proficiency (did I spell that right?) as an actor ranged as far as Shakespeare, which he had no experience in, but conquered (not so well) in
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). (And let me tell that that movie is the only thing do with Shakespeare that I would ever touch.) And it seems ironic that even though we know Jimmy Cagney as a tough guy, he won his only Oscar™ for his portrayal of song-and-dance man George M. Cohan in
Yankee Doodle Dandy. So, tell me, folks; what do you think makes James Cagney so great. Please comment w/ your input. Thanx.
I'm taking a break between James Cagney film reviews to do what seems to be another James Cagney blog. Now I ask you, ladies and gentlemen, what makes James Francis Cagney, Jr. so great? Well, for one thing, it's his amazing ability to do a wide variety of roles; another thing is his amazing charisma and the fact that he could spark up the the screen with his personality and his lightning energy (does that make sense?) Orson Welles once said that "watching James Cagney acting was like watching a bunch of firecrackers going off." James Cagney probably c
ould do every genre possible: drama, war, gangster, musical, crime, comedy, adventure, Western, biopic, epic, film noir, etc. And somehow his proficiency (did I spell that right?) as an actor ranged as far as Shakespeare, which he had no experience in, but conquered (not so well) in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). (And let me tell that that movie is the only thing do with Shakespeare that I would ever touch.) And it seems ironic that even though we know Jimmy Cagney as a tough guy, he won his only Oscar™ for his portrayal of song-and-dance man George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. So, tell me, folks; what do you think makes James Cagney so great. Please comment w/ your input. Thanx. 
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