James Cagney: A Celebration

by Richard Schickel

Book Overview

(Applause Books). The study of James Cagney's screen persona is far more than a profile of a great beloved star. It is a meditation on over a half-century of social history. From Cagney's early days... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316773093
• ISBN13: 9780316773096
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Not a Biography! Not really.

Richard Schickel published this book in 1985, a few years after making a documentary about James Cagney that was released around the time of the actor's last theatrical feature, "Ragtime." Schickel interviewed Cagney for the documentary as "Ragtime" was being filmed in 1980, and he based this book on that and other conversations with the actor late in Cagney's life. Although this long essay contains a great deal of information about Cagney's life and film career, Schickel did not set out to write a conventional biography. His main topic is the development of Cagney's screen persona, the "tough guy" character that Cagney (and Warner Brothers) created, played, and refined in more than sixty film roles. Schickel is interested in the way that this cinematic character reflected many of the country's social concerns during the 1930s, Cagney's first decade in the movies, and after. He traces that development from the actor's first major starring role in "The Public Enemy" (1931) through his last major gangster role in "White Heat" (1949). He also shows how that persona emerged, or was altered, in other Cagney films, notably "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), for which Cagney received his only Academy Award. Schickel notes that Cagney was a little ahead of his time when, in 1943, he left Warner Brothers and established his own production company (and made a rather undistinguished string of pictures); and he traces how Cagney's character fared in the late 1940s and 1950s, a time that saw Cagney's star fade until his "retirement" in 1961. The actor came out of retirement in 1980 to appear in "Ragtime" in a small but crucial role; his last film was a rather dreary TV movie made in 1984, by which time Cagney was so frail his lines had to be dubbed by another actor doing a Cagney imitation. Schickel also is interested in Cagney's reluctance to talk about his film career in creative terms (save for a handful of fondly remembered films, such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy"). Cagney seems to have placed very little value on the work he did in the 1930s, on the character he created, perhaps because Cagney's "tough guy" was so at odds with the real man. Like many actors, Cagney did not intellectualize about what he did on the screen; his art was instinctual, visceral, not cerebral. To Cagney, he was lucky song-and-dance man who found a relatively easy way to make a very good living when he was in his early 30s. With few exceptions, each role he played was "just a job" to Cagney, no matter how much those roles enthralled and thrilled his admirers. One might say that this book is less about Cagney and more about Schickel's own reaction to Cagney's screen persona and career. It's definitely more a work of criticism than biography or history. (There is, however, enough biographical information here to provide a good introduction to Cagney for those who know little or nothing about his career. There are also many good photos.) But for those who admire Cagney's w

Not a Biography! Not really.

Richard Schickel published this book in 1985, a few years after making a documentary about James Cagney that was released around the time of the actor's last theatrical feature, "Ragtime." Schickel interviewed Cagney for the documentary as "Ragtime" was being filmed in 1980, and he based this book on that and other conversations with the actor late in Cagney's life. Although this long essay contains a great deal of information about Cagney's life and film career, Schickel did not set out to write a conventional biography. His main topic is the development of Cagney's screen persona, the "tough guy" character that Cagney (and Warner Brothers) created, played, and refined in more than sixty film roles. Schickel is interested in the way that this cinematic character reflected many of the country's social concerns during the 1930s, Cagney's first decade in the movies, and after. He traces that development from the actor's first major starring role in "The Public Enemy" (1931) through his last major gangster role in "White Heat" (1949). He also shows how that persona emerged, or was altered, in other Cagney films, notably "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), for which Cagney received his only Academy Award. Schickel notes that Cagney was a little ahead of his time when, in 1943, he left Warner Brothers and established his own production company (and made a rather undistinguished string of pictures); and he traces how Cagney's character fared in the late 1940s and 1950s, a time that saw Cagney's star fade until his "retirement" in 1961. The actor came out of retirement in 1980 to appear in "Ragtime" in a small but crucial role; his last film was a rather dreary TV movie made in 1984, by which time Cagney was so frail his lines had to be dubbed by another actor doing a Cagney imitation. Schickel also is interested in Cagney's reluctance to talk about his film career in creative terms (save for a handful of fondly remembered films, such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy"). Cagney seems to have placed very little value on the work he did in the 1930s, on the character he created, perhaps because Cagney's "tough guy" was so at odds with the real man. Like many actors, Cagney did not intellectualize about what he did on the screen; his art was instinctual, visceral, not cerebral. Cagney thought of himself as a lucky song-and-dance man who found a relatively easy way to make a very good living when he was in his early 30s. With few exceptions, each role he played was "just a job" to Cagney, no matter how much those roles enthralled and thrilled his admirers. One might say that this book is less about Cagney and more about Schickel's own reaction to Cagney's screen persona and career. It's definitely more a work of criticism than biography or history. (There is, however, enough biographical information here to provide a good introduction to Cagney for those who know little or nothing about his career. There are also many good photos.) But for those who admire