Hello there and welcome to Thursday Movie Picks a weekly series where you share your movie picks each Thursday. The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.
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This week's Thursday Movie Picks is Gangsters
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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Four friends heavily in debt after a card game go wrong scheme to rob a gang of robbers and ultimately have to go against a myriad of other criminals when their paths intersect. I rewatched this and my pick below pretty much back to back. If had to choose, I prefer this better. Four friends totally out of their depth made for a funnier story.
Snatch (2000)
Different story and characters but still very much like the above, involving a bunch of different criminals with their individual schemes overlap and intersect resulting in chaos that is very funny.
Layer Cake (2004)
I don't watch a lot of gangster movies so I almost thought that I had few to pick from until I remembered two that I recently rewatched.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Four friends heavily in debt after a card game go wrong scheme to rob a gang of robbers and ultimately have to go against a myriad of other criminals when their paths intersect. I rewatched this and my pick below pretty much back to back. If had to choose, I prefer this better. Four friends totally out of their depth made for a funnier story.
Snatch (2000)
Different story and characters but still very much like the above, involving a bunch of different criminals with their individual schemes overlap and intersect resulting in chaos that is very funny.
Layer Cake (2004)
You know what...I've forgotten the plot to this. The only thing I remember is that I was surprised at how good it was and how much I liked it when I saw it so long ago. This is will be my next rewatch.
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I've seen all three though it's been some time. I liked but didn't love all three but got a bit more of a kick out of Lock, Stock....
ReplyDeleteI like gangster flicks and have seen many, many of them which made it a bit of a challenge to winnow down to just three. So I chose one of the ultimate gangster stars-James Cagney-and went with a trio of his pictures.
The Public Enemy (1931)-Tom Powers (Cagney-in the role that made him a major star) is a small-time hood, vicious and consciousless who climbs to success on the back of Prohibition and his willingness to do whatever necessary-rob, maim, kill-to gain advantage. The film chronicles that rise, and fall, as well as his entanglement with two women Gwen (Jean Harlow, this was one of her earliest appearances, don’t judge her on it-she’s awful-look to her MGM comedies where she’s great) and Kitty (Mae Clarke) who famously receives a grapefruit in her kisser when she mouths off to Cagney. This William Wellman directed picture is one of the formative films in creating the gangster drama.
The Roaring Twenties (1939)-Eddie Bartlett (Cagney), George Hally (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd Hart (Jeffrey Lynn) strike up a friendship in a foxhole during WWI. Once back in the States they go their separate ways but eventually circumstances bring them back together in the bootlegging business where they find enormous success until jealousies, rivalries and the stock market crash brings it all tumbling down. One of the last great gangster films of the 30’s with a fantastic cast including Priscilla Lane and a scene stealing Gladys George as the lovelorn songbird Panama Smith who delivers the film’s iconic last line.
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)-Amoral gangster Ralph Cotter (Cagney) breaks out of prison along with fellow prisoner Carleton (Neville Brand).When Carlton is injured Cotter murders him to speed his escape and jumps right back into crime blackmailing Carleton’s sister Holiday (Barbara Payton) into a relationship to conceal her part in aiding their jailbreak. Discovering graft Cotter pressures a couple of crooked cops (Barton MacLane and Ward Bond) and an equally corrupt lawyer (Luther Adler) into a scheme to bilk heiress Margaret Dobson (Helena Carter) out of a fortune. Things do not go as planned. This was the highpoint of leading lady Barbara Payton’s career. A beautiful if somewhat hard looking blonde at this time she was considered a rising star but after a scandal plagued and notorious career she fell as far as it’s possible to go ending up a drug addicted skid row hooker (once being mistaken for a pile of garbage after being left next to a dumpster following a beating) before her death from organ failure at 39.
I am the opposite of you, having seen few gangster flicks, and so I haven't seen any of your picks.
DeleteSadly, haven't watched any of these :(
ReplyDeleteBut I'm interested with Snatch and Layer Cake, so thanks for the recommendation!
I haven't seen your first pick though I know I should eventually. I loved Snatch. Layer Cake I've kind of forgotten about.
ReplyDeleteLayer Cake - I forgot the plot but I think the tone is very much like Lock and Snatch which was why I had liked it. I'm going to rewatch it soon.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these but I've heard great things about Snatch and I'm interested in seeing it.
ReplyDelete3 movies I know about and haven’t seen but really want to. Great picks
ReplyDeleteAll three are excellent. Snatch is my fave of the bunch thanks to Brad Pitt's hilarious turn.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand anything his characters says, which was intentional of course...thankfully there were subtitles.
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