marcslope 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.

dougdoepke It's Cagney at his most energetic. He better be because he's trying to survive New York's cut-throat taxi competition. It's the big fish, like Consolidated Cab Co., trying to eat smaller ones, like Cagney's Matt Nolan, while the Depression era jungle festers outside. Consolidated's already killed old Pop Riley (Kibbee) and left his daughter (Young) vulnerable, that is, until Cagney steps in. But when they kill Cagney's brother, he swears a vendetta, and we know what happens when the Irishman gets angry. Now it's mano-y-mano with Consolidated's brutal Buck Gerard (Landau).Fortunately, Young's unforced sweetness manages to hold its own amidst Cagney's human dynamo that sweeps up the rest of the film. Needed comic relief is supplied by sarcastic waitress Ruby (Bennett) with a voice like a squeaky tire and an accent right off Brooklyn's streets, which leaves poor Skeets (Stone) with little to do but meekly follow the dynamo around.It's noteworthy that Cagney's Matt Nolan is not particularly likable. He's belligerent, aggressive and completely self-assured, not exactly qualities that invite affection. But then, the actor always seemed more interested in being persuasive rather than likable, a rare quality for a star. Nonetheless, there is that compelling Cagney charismaAll in all, the two leads are the whole show since the plot is typical hard-boiled Warner's fare of the period. But then, for Cagney fans, that's more than enough.

Michael_Elliott Taxi (1932) *** (out of 4) Silly but extremely entertaining crime film from Warner deals with two rival cab companies who resort to violence to settle business. James Cagney leads one side of the fight while slowly falling for the girl (Loretta Young) who lost her father in the taxi wars. This is certainly a silly film but if you enjoy watching Cagney kick ass then this is highly entertaining. The film opens with Cagney knocking around a few guys and continues throughout the film, which runs a very fast 68-minutes and doesn't have one dry moment the whole way through. One of the men Cagney beats is played by a young George Raft who smarts off after a dance contest. Cagney is as fast and as wild as he has ever been and his performance is top-notch. Young is also very good in her role as his wife as she must try and talk Cagney out of seeking vengeance on the man who killed his brother. The screenplay is rather smart even though most of its just there for the action but this is the perfect time killer and great fun for fans of the two stars. George E. Stone, Guy Kibbee and Leila Bennett co-star.

sol (Minor Spoilers) Yiddish-speaking and two-fisted Irish New York taxi driver Matt Nolan ,James Cagney, learns the hard and deadly way that violence isn't the answer to solving one's problems. With the Consolitated Cab Company trying to run all the independent taxi drivers out of business the company's hired hoodlum Buck Gerard, David Landau, tries to get Pop Riley, Guy Kibbee, off his corner by threatening him.Pop refuses to leave and later one of Gerard's thugs truck diver Bull Martin,Nat Pendleton,rams his truck into Pop's cab totaling it. Pop mad as hell tries to slug Bull but is knocked down and then pulls a gun from his pocket and shoots Bull dead. Given ten years behind bars poor Pop doesn't last a week in Osssining, the State Pen, and dies a broken man. Pop's daughter Sue, Loretta Young,is so hurt over his death and what caused it, his losing his cool, that at a taxi union meeting she gives a level-headed talk that's opposite the rip-roaring speech that Matt gave, against those who caused Pop to end up behind bars and later dead,that he want's to belt her right in the kisser for giving it. Matt soon starts to fall in love with Sue and later they get married. After the wedding at City Hall the newlyweds go uptown to the popular "Cottonpickers Club" to celebrate only to run into Gerard, who's dead drunk. Exchanging words Matt lays out the nasty Gerard after he made a very insulting remark about Sue with a quick right. Matt's kid brother Danny, Ray Cook, jumped in between the two to breakup the fight only to end up getting a knife in his back by Gerard. At the local hospital young Danny never regained consciousness and died leaving Matt hurt bitter and vengeful to make Gerard, who fled the scene of his crime, pay for what he did. Sue remembering what happened to her dad due to his loss of control doesn't want the same to happen to her husband Matt and tries to prevent him from killing Gerard and to let the police and the court do the job of bringing him to justice. Trying to get Gerard away from Matt's retribution Sue together with Gerard's moll Marie, Dorthy Burgess,try to get him out of the country before Matt gets his hands on him in order to prevent Matt from becoming a murderer by offing Gerard. Early James Cagney and Loretta Young movie that tell's and show's it's audience that using one's brains is far more effective then using one's fists to try to make things right. it was a lesson that Matt needed to make him realize how destructive he was, to both his friends and enemies, in his harsh and Neanderthal ways of doing things. Look for a young George Raft in the movie as a competing dancer, with his girlfriend, to Matt & Sue at a local dance contest. Raft win the contest only to get belted by a sore losing and angry Matt.