Throughout America’s history, the 1920’s stand out as the most scandalous era known to date. Never has America been encapsulated by such a roaring storm. Every waking event, from the beginnings of Prohibition all the way to the 1929 stock market crash is compiled into Raoul Walsh’s 1939 gangster classic The Roaring Twenties (1939). The film opens with a foreword by the writer, Mark Hellinger stating:
“It may come to pass that, at some distant date, we will be confronted with another period similar to the one depicted in this photoplay. If that happens, I pray that the events, as dramatized here, will be remembered. In this film, the characters are composites of people I knew, and the situations are those that actually occurred. Bitter or sweet, most memories become precious as the years move on. This film is a memory – and I am grateful for it” (The Roaring Twenties).
In the highly underrated film, Hellinger’s introduction sets the mood for the rest of the film, establishing the movie itself as a memory that of a time when essence of society existed in the streets.
The film begins in 1918 with a progressing WW1, showing soldiers fighting and making a world safer for Democracy. The wonderful James Cagney portrays the role of Eddie Bartlett, a down-on-his-luck mechanic, who stumbles into the foxhole of George Hally (played by a young Humphrey Bogart) and soon become acquaintances. As the bombings increase, Lloyd Hart flies into the hole with the other two. All three then become acquainted, and the characters are equally established, and yet Eddie, George and Lloyd are all opposites of one another. Eddie is the protagonist, a kind-hearted, sympathetic man just trying to work hard and live a rich life. George is the antagonist, a black-hearted, unsympathetic man trying to backstab as many people to get ahead in life. Lloyd is the third wheel, a generous, humanistic lawyer trying to help out as many people in need. Eddie shares with the men all his letters from the many America women desiring a dream soldier, George boasts about the “good life”, and Jeffrey announces his intentions of opening up his own practice in the city. Although before the men can relax too soon, the war is over and the gentlemen head back home where opportunity and heartbreak awaits.
The story jumps a year ahead in 1919 with the events after the war. A news reporter announces the sudden alteration of culture with women’s  skirts becoming shorter, bobbed hair popularity, inflating cost of living, and Prohibition becoming the law of the land. Eddie arrives back home surprising Danny, his cab-driving brother, and discovers his old job had been given to someone else. Eddie ends up helping his brother drive cabs making up for the rent.
Another leap forward in 1920 when on 16th of January, the Volstead Act illegalizes the sale of alcohol and incriminates anyone involved in selling or distributing alcohol. One day Eddie is asked to deliver a package in a club for a woman  named Panama Smith. He delivers the package, but two federal agents stop Eddie and open the package, revealing alcohol, which breaks the Volstead Act. With the aid of his old lawyer buddy Lloyd, Panama is released, but Eddie is forced to serve time. Soon after spending a few hours in jail, Panama returns the favor and bails Eddie out. She introduces him to the great underground world of bootlegging. Together, Panama, Eddie and Danny use the cabs to transport illegal alcohol around town. After two years, Eddie racks up a large business with the restraints created by Prohibition. While making one delivery, he runs into Jean, his dream girl from the letter. Eddie tries to make Jean swoon with his money, but she is not impressed. After a while, he introduces Jean to Panama and Henderson, the nightclub owner, and gets her to sing for an audition. Jean slowly becomes the next big star as she performs late nights for the big buyers. Eddie introduces Jean to Lloyd, who shows much attraction towards Jean, but Eddie fails to notice.
 Two years after that, in 1922 Prohibition is entirely protected by law and enforced by full authority. College kids take an interest in the new trend of underground purchasing of alcohol and prices reach an all time high. Eddie heads back on the streets making buys with head gangsters. He persuades a deal with Nick Brown, an Italian who maintains a connection with the mob, but Nick refuses to compromise. While commandeering alcohol off Nick’s vessel, Eddie runs into his other longtime friend George, who ironically works for Nick.
Transitioning two year further in 1924, madness hits the streets with the organization of big-business gangs and the new invention of the Tommy gun. The murder rate hits sky high with brawls of rival gangs growing out of hand. Eddie and George team up and form a mob of their own, breaking into factories and George even begins killing people. After a while, Lloyd and Jean become a  pair. Eddie begins questioning George’s dependability when George informs him about the couple’s relationship. Nick Brown’s men put a hit on Danny and leave his dead body lying in front of the club. This sends Eddie overboard, searching for help from George, but has no luck. George even betrays Eddie by informing Nick about his friend’s plan. Eddie and his men break into Nick’s place and kill everyone. When returning, Jean breaks Eddie’s heart, announcing her intentions of running off with Lloyd, who has become fed up with Eddie’s gangster-like persona.
Five violent years later in 1929, Black Tuesday sends pandemonium through the city with American fortunes ruined. Everyone from the  hardworking farmer to the gangster felt the wrath of the crashing economy. Franklin D. Roosevelt is sworn in as president and the first act he accomplishes is putting an end to Prohibition. With the re-legalization of alcohol, the bootleggers soon find their business going down the drain with the economy. Eddie uses his share of the business for compensation of his own debts. Once out of the business, he becomes a bum, driving the cab for a living and runs into Jean again, who informs him that Lloyd has a job with the district attorney and is being coerced into sharing information regarding George and his business. She claims George sent out men warning her that if Lloyd talks, then he will die. Eddie, who slowly grows a conscious again, confronts George and kills him. While making an escape, Eddie is shot and dies.
An important fact is that Eddie went off to fight a war and came back jobless and without expenses. Bootlegging acted as the only solution for surviving. So in a sense, America created the gangster. Prohibition left a key to a door that would soon turn the gangster into an icon (Karpf 48). At first, these were poor Irish, Black, and other immigrants who came to America in search for a dream, but later once bootlegging took off, these dirty, hardworking fugitives became rich, and instead of taxation from alcoholic goods benefiting America’s capitalistic society, instead, profits went into the pockets of these poor men and women. This translates into an even trade: compensation for veteran and poor negligence.
Another fact is the symbolism of the picture itself. Director Raoul Walsh formulated a message for the film as not only a stamp in American History, but in cinematic history as well. Walsh used the film showing an analogous connection with the gangster film genre itself (Parish 137). By the late 1930’s, gangster films had reached their prime with such releases as Little Caesar (1931), William Wellman’s Public Enemy (1931), Howard Hawk’s Scarface (1932), and Michael Curtiz’s Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) (Dirks). Walsh, at this point in time, had mastered the genre of western pictures and even brought together the western and the gangster genre (Gomery). He grew up on the streets and knew the life of his gangster, so he mastered the genre better than most. Walsh desired making a film capturing the essence of the genre itself, and so The Roaring Twenties contains a storyline very similar to the gangster film genre (Dirks). Eddie works really hard to build a successful business from only what he learned on the streets, just like Walsh with the genre. And once the business hits its prime, everything falls apart leaving Eddie thrown back on the streets with no money and more importantly, without any recognition.
The film genre itself went through the great trend of the gangster films of the 30’s, showing off the morbidity of the Great Depression containing themes of poverty-stricken individuals (Dirks). Even the look of the gangster films in the 30’s, possess a real caliginous, grainy feel of realism in the picture quality itself. Film historian and director Martin Scorsese claims, “The Roaring Twenties shows a gritty reality that romanticizes the dark side of human nature” (A Personal Journey). Scorsese basically means that it is the gangsters themselves who are at fault because they are victims in a ruthless society. These individuals have been pushed around and through personal narrative, the film shows what happens when they just cannot take it anymore. All of this leads to the finale, where Eddie is shot and feebly stumbles through the streets he once was remembered on, walks up a few steps to a large church and collapses onto the steps where he dies in the arms of Panama in a frame paying homage to Michelangelo's Pieta (Dirks). A police officer emerges in the scene and asks about the man’s identity. Panama, while crying says, “This is Eddie Bartlett. He used to be a big shot” (The Roaring Twenties). This pivotal memory in cinematic history marks not only the end of a man and the 20’s, but also the astonishing era of the gangster film (Parish 138). Just like Hellinger avowed in the introduction, the glorious pictures of the 30’s are simply memories stamped in the history books just like those in the Roaring Twenties. |
