‘The Roaring Twenties’ is a classic film-noir crime thriller starring Hollywood heavyweights James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, set in, well, the twenties. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the movie’s plot covers many of the defining events of this decade, including the end of World War I, the beginning and end of Prohibition, and the famous stock market crash of 1929.

The movie begins with Eddie (Cagney), George (Bogart), and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) meeting in the midst of the extenuating circumstances of World War I. The men share thoughts on what they will do upon return to the US. Eddie plans to return to his job at an automobile shop, George plans to get into the liquor business, and Lloyd, the younger and more educated man in the trio, wants to practice law. It is the early twenties, and Prohibition goes into effect. Illegal trade of liquor is rampant, with speakeasies becoming ubiquitous. The stock market is also rising.

Upon return, Eddie is disappointed to learn that his employer does not want to hire him in his previous capacity. He begins work as a cab driver. While delivering a package to Panama Smith, a woman who runs a bar, he is arrested because the packet he is delivering contains liquor, unbeknownst to him. When Lloyd is unable to acquit Eddie, Panama Smith steps up to bail him out, and soon he becomes her business partner. Eddie is also falling hard for a young girl, Jean (Priscilla Lane), he has got to know after his return and convinces Panama to hire her at the speakeasy as a singer and performer. He even gives Jean a ring, hoping that she will accept his hand in marriage once he has made enough and retires from the illegal liquor trade.

A misguided Eddie goes into the bootlegging business, seeking his fortune. He soon acquires a fleet of cabs to transport his liquor. When another bootlegger, Nick Brown, refuses to buy his liquor, Eddie and his gang attempt to hijack a ship containing Brown’s liquor shipment. While committing the act, Eddie discovers that his army buddy George is working for Brown. George abets Eddie in the hijacking and convinces the latter to take him on as a partner. Eddie does not realize then that he is making a deal with the devil.

Eddie and George inform the authorities about another of Brown’s shipments. The authorities seize the shipment and hold it in a warehouse. Eddie and George break into the warehouse and steal the consignment, as George murders a former sergeant who is now working at the warehouse. Lloyd learns of this and has a falling out with George and refuses to do business with either George or Eddie. The fallout between George and Lloyd will have large repercussions later in the plot.

A feud is about to break out between Brown and Eddie. George tries to seize this opportunity by tipping off Brown about Eddie’s planned hit on him. Eddie, however, comes out on top and kills Brown and is certain that George is behind this attack. He breaks off his partnership with George.

Now, the dominoes begin falling on Eddie’s life. The 1929 stock market crash leaves him penniless, and he is forced to sell his cab business for a huge loss to George. Eddie realizes that Jean and Lloyd are in a clandestine relationship and want to tie the knot.

With just one cab in his possession, a gift of charity from George, Eddie returns to being a cab driver. His heartbreak from Jean’s actions drives him into alcoholism. A few years later, he meets Jean, now married to Lloyd, who has become the DA. He also learns that Lloyd is seeking to prosecute and implicate George for his illegal dealings and that George is going to make a hit on Lloyd in response. Eddie is destined to have one final confrontation with George. Can Eddie redeem himself from his deeds from the past? “The Roaring Twenties” is not a happy tale. It is a tale pf destroyed dreams of several youngsters who served their country but returned to find that the country they had fought for did not repay them or help make their ambitions a reality.

This fast-paced, action-packed movie is among the 10 best gangster movies by the American Film Institute. It was made as a homage to other great gangster movies made in the pre-code era a decade earlier. It is also significant for chronicling events from the 1920s era, an important time in American History.

The confrontations between anti-hero and villain, Cagney and Bogart, are particularly high points in the movie. Cagney is at his best in a negative role, where he portrays a deluded, misguided army vet, unlike the evil psychopaths he played in ‘White Heat’ or ‘Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye’. While Bogart had not reached the top of his career, he is the fitting adversary to Cagney’s character. I recommend this movie wholeheartedly to thriller and film noir buffs.