It's great to see James Cagney dancing again, even though it is only briefly in this musical about union corruption in New York City in the troublesome 1950's. Cagney practically steals an election (and that's nothing small), and decides to use his lady friend (Cara Williams) to try and seduce young attorney Roger Smith away from his wife (Shirley Jones) to keep him in line. Had this dealt more with the graft and vice in the union rackets, it could have been much more powerful, and there's only a tiny handful of songs and a few dance numbers. There are still some very amusing moments, particularly the union's way of getting rid of members whom they don't think will vote for their preferred candidate (which results in a very funny reaction from Cagney), a commercial parody of a department store advertisement, and a great song and dance between Williams and Cagney over her desire for the most expensive car in the world to do what he wants her to do.
That song, "I'm Sorry, I want a Ferrari", is a camp classic, and Cagney, with the help of a conveyor belt, does a few nice steps. Smith, fresh from his role as older Patrick in "Auntie Mame", is stiff-upper-lip (and rather dull) as the attorney, and Jones only gets to show off a little bit of her gorgeous voice in two songs. Cagney is fantastic as always, a complete charmer, although I wasn't thrilled by his passes towards Jones when it should have been the sultry redhead Williams that he really went after considering that they were far more in tune with each other. Williams walks off with the film as she tries to seduce Smith, gets a kiss out of him as Jones unfortunately walks in, and sets the stage for Cagney to move in on Jones which gave me the "eew!" factor just like I had in all those mid to late 1950's comedy romances with Audrey Hepburn and an assortment of older leading men they paired her with. Had this dealt more with the politics behind the union and put the romantic rectangle as a supporting story, this would have further stood the test of time. But for Williams, she is the one who deserves the title, because stealing a film from the likes of James Cagney is never anything small!
That song, "I'm Sorry, I want a Ferrari", is a camp classic, and Cagney, with the help of a conveyor belt, does a few nice steps. Smith, fresh from his role as older Patrick in "Auntie Mame", is stiff-upper-lip (and rather dull) as the attorney, and Jones only gets to show off a little bit of her gorgeous voice in two songs. Cagney is fantastic as always, a complete charmer, although I wasn't thrilled by his passes towards Jones when it should have been the sultry redhead Williams that he really went after considering that they were far more in tune with each other. Williams walks off with the film as she tries to seduce Smith, gets a kiss out of him as Jones unfortunately walks in, and sets the stage for Cagney to move in on Jones which gave me the "eew!" factor just like I had in all those mid to late 1950's comedy romances with Audrey Hepburn and an assortment of older leading men they paired her with. Had this dealt more with the politics behind the union and put the romantic rectangle as a supporting story, this would have further stood the test of time. But for Williams, she is the one who deserves the title, because stealing a film from the likes of James Cagney is never anything small!