This is the film that made Jimmy Cagney a star and, along with LITTLE CAESAR and SCARFACE (with Paul Muni, not the modern ultra-violent version), made the gangster genre king at Warner Brothers in the 1930s. And, while there were so many more similar films after it, very, very few came close to it in style, impact and story. In fact, it's Cagney's best gangster film other than WHITE HEAT (his tour-de-force and Film Noir classic from 1949).<br /><br />A lot of the reason it's such a great film is that since it was a new-style film, it doesn't seem clichéd or derivative. Plus, it takes a strong and unflinching tone that NEVER would have been possible under the stricter guidelines of the Hays Office only a few short years later. Instead of just telling you that Cagney is a heartless jerk or showing him do some "sanitized" violence, he is a cruel man who is vile enough to slam a half a grapefruit in his girlfriend's face--just because he's bored with their relationship. And, he becomes a top gangster by being an enforcer--slugging, stealing and killing his way through organized crime. And, in the very end, the film ends with the best final scene in gangster history (except, once again for WHITE HEAT and its amazing finale).<br /><br />You can see why this film made Cagney a star--a great film in every way.