The best James Cagney’s drama movies

James Cagney

James Cagney

17/07/1899- 30/03/1986
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best James Cagney’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about James Cagney.
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White Heat

White Heat
8.1/10
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and then leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. After the heist, events take a crazy turn.

'G' Men

'G' Men
7.1/10
James “Brick” Davis, a struggling attorney, owes his education to a mobster, but always has refused to get involved with the underworld. When a friend of his is gunned down by a notorious criminal, Brick decides to abandon the exercise of the law and join the Department of Justice to capture the murderer.

The Public Enemy

The Public Enemy
7.6/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 23/04/1931
  • Character: Tom Powers
Two young Chicago hoodlums, Tom Powers and Matt Doyle, rise up from their poverty-stricken slum life to become petty thieves, bootleggers and cold-blooded killers. But with street notoriety and newfound wealth, the duo feels the heat from the cops and rival gangsters both. Despite his ruthless criminal reputation, Tom tries to remain connected to his family, however, gang warfare and the need for revenge eventually pull him away.

Mutiny on the Bounty

Mutiny on the Bounty
7.6/10
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on avenging his captors.

The Roaring Twenties

The Roaring Twenties
7.9/10
After World War I, Armistice Lloyd Hart goes back to practice law, former saloon keeper George Hally turns to bootlegging, and out-of-work Eddie Bartlett becomes a cab driver. Eddie builds a fleet of cabs through delivery of bootleg liquor and hires Lloyd as his lawyer. George becomes Eddie's partner and the rackets flourish until love and rivalry interfere.

Mister Roberts

Mister Roberts
7.6/10
Mr. Roberts is as an officer who's yearning for battle but is stuck in the backwaters of World War II on a non-commissioned Navy ship run by the bullying Captain Morton.

Ragtime

Ragtime
7.3/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 20/11/1981
  • Character: New York Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy
7.6/10
  • Genre: DramaMusic
  • Release: 29/05/1942
  • Character: George M. Cohan
A film of the life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan.

Smart Money

Smart Money
6.8/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 11/07/1931
  • Character: Jack
Two brothers' trip to the big city to do a little gambling results in a fateful turn of events.

Jimmy the Gent

Jimmy the Gent
6.6/10
An unpolished racketeer, whose racket is finding heirs for unclaimed fortunes, affects ethics and tea-drinking manners to win back the sweetheart who now works for his seemingly upright competitor.

Angels with Dirty Faces

Angels with Dirty Faces
7.9/10
In New York, the boys Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connelly are best friends and small time thieves. After a robbery, Rocky is arrested and sent to a reformatory school, where he begins his criminal career. Jerry escapes and later becomes a priest. After three years in prison, Rocky is released and demands the return of $100,000 deposited with his solicitor - prior to his jail term.

The Mayor of Hell

The Mayor of Hell
6.9/10
  • Genre: CrimeDrama
  • Release: 24/06/1933
  • Character: Richard 'Patsy' Gargan
Members of a teenage gang are sent to the State Reformatory, presided over by the callous Thompson. Soon Patsy Gargan, a former gangster appointed Deputy Commissioner, arrives and takes over the administration to run the place on radical principles. Thompson needs a quick way to discredit him.

Man of a Thousand Faces

Man of a Thousand Faces
7.1/10
  • Genre: Drama
  • Release: 15/08/1957
  • Character: Lon Chaney
The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bearer of many personal misfortunes that even his great success could not mitigate.

Blonde Crazy

Blonde Crazy
7.1/10
Adventures of a cocky con man and his beautiful accomplice.

Each Dawn I Die

Each Dawn I Die
7.2/10
A corrupt D.A. with governatorial ambitions is annoyed by an investigative reporter's criticism of his criminal activities and decides to frame the reporter for manslaughter in order to silence him.

Love Me or Leave Me

Love Me or Leave Me
7.1/10
A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.

Picture Snatcher

Picture Snatcher
7/10
  • Genre: ActionCrimeDrama
  • Release: 06/05/1933
  • Character: Daniel Patrick "Danny" Kean
An ex-con uses his street smarts to become a successful photojournalist.

City for Conquest

City for Conquest
7.2/10
The heartbreaking but hopeful tale of Danny Kenny and Peggy Nash, two sweethearts who meet and struggle through their impoverished lives in New York City. When Peggy, hoping for something better in life for both of them, breaks off her engagement to Danny, he sets out to be a championship boxer, while she becomes a dancer paired with a sleazy partner. Will tragedy reunite the former lovers?

Great Guy

Great Guy
6.3/10
A meat inspector sets out to rid his town of payoff deals affecting the quality of meat being sold to the public.

Ceiling Zero

Ceiling Zero
6.7/10
War veteran pilots Dizzy Davis, Texas Clark and Jake Lee are working in an airline. Dizzy is fooling with one of the younger pilot's girl-friend and due to this he changes flights with Texas.

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