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Johnny Eager is an ex-gangster parolee who needs to hide his current criminal activities. He's a classy gangster and always knows how to get what he wants. He runs a dog racing racket and has henchmen to do his dirty work. He seems to have everything figured out until he meets a girl who figures him out but still falls in love with him. A guy like Johnny Eager can't have a respectable dame like her falling all over him, right? Johnny Eager doesn't fall in *love*.

Robert Taylor stars in the title role and is very good as the classy criminal. The lovely Lana Turner plays the love interest Liz Bard. This was still relatively early in Turner's career. She'd feature in DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1941) the same year, but make more of an impression later on in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946). Turner's character is a key component of JOHNNY EAGER, but she spends considerable time offscreen.

Van Heflin won the Oscar for playing Jeff Hartnett, a well-read alcoholic and Johnny's best friend and confidant. He's not interested in the criminal activities, but he keeps Johnny company, offers him advice, and keeps his secrets. A selfish crook like Johnny Eager knows nothing about love or sympathy, but even Johnny Eager needs a friend.

Heflin would go on to such movies as SHANE (1953) and 3:10 TO YUMA (1957) in the 1950s, but he actually won an Academy Award for this film early on in his career. Heflin's performance was my favorite part of the movie and he deserved Oscar recognition. He really stood out among the ensemble. His character is always half-drunk, but functional, honest and prone to colorful literary quotations. The performance is subtle and nuanced compared to the rest of the cast. Heflin is able to convey different emotions throughout the movie and even takes a punch, falls to the ground, rolls around, looks up, and leaves, all in (if I recall correctly) one shot.

(Other viewers have pointed out undertones with Heflin's character that are there if you want to take 'em or leave 'em. The film works fine either way.)

A big-time racketeer who uses people for his own advantage, Johnny doesn't understand love and has no real friends except Jeff. He'd never even had a pet dog growing up. Johnny Eager is like an emotionless robot, until Liz comes along. In the end it is Johnny's newfound shred of humanity that ultimately leads to his downfall. (I guess. The ending never made 100% sense to me.)

JOHNNY EAGER is an enjoyable little film from 1941. Part gangster movie, part film noir lite. I really don't know how best to classify this one. But it has somehow fallen out of the public consciousness, available only by on-demand DVD from Warner Archive and occasionally on TCM. It's hard to understand why, since it's a decent enough movie with two notable stars, Robert Taylor and Lana Turner. And it's an OSCAR_WINNER! One would think people would be interested in seeing the film that provided the Best Supporting Actor of 1941, Van Heflin's shining moment.

I caught this on TCM recently and I'd recommend checking it out if you have the time. It's not essential viewing, but it's worth a look. Catch it when you can.

Any picture that Mervyn LeRoy was able to direct, you can always count on him choosing great actors to make his films a success. His choice of Robert Taylor in this role was outstanding; Taylor played (Johnny Eager),"The House of Seven Hawks",'59, a Taxi Cab driver who wore the uniform in most of the scenes with a small bow tie and cap. Eager was also a very tricky crook who did all kinds of things to make a buck, even Dog Racing. In one scene Eager told his girl friend, 'He did not care to make love at 4PM in the afternoon', however, he fell madly in love with Lana Turner,(Liz Bard),"Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde",'41, who looks young and beautiful in her role as a Judge's daughter who is fooled into killing Paul Stewart,(Julio),"The Joe Louis story",'53. Van Heflin,(Jeff Hartnett),"Black Widow",'54, never stopped drinking through out the entire picture and never seemed to get sober. Edward Arnold,(Jeff Hartnett),"The Devil & Daniel Webster",'41, loved his daughter Liz very deeply but Johnny Eager managed to get him involved in his various crimes in the Dog Racing business which almost broke his heart. This is a great Robert Taylor Classic along with great veteran actors and a very worth while film to sit back and enjoy.

Parolee John Eager (Robert Taylor) has everybody fooled that he's gone straight and is trying to make an honest living as a taxi driver. In reality, Eager hasn't given up his criminal life at all. He's still a racketeer and he's working to open up a new dog track but is finding opposition from a vigilant district attorney (Edward Arnold). Eager starts dating pretty society girl Lisbeth (Lana Turner). When he finds out she's the stepdaughter of the D.A., he tries to use his relationship with Lisbeth as leverage against her stepfather.

Glossy crime drama from MGM with some film noir touches. Love the dialogue and the cast is terrific. This is one of my favorite Robert Taylor performances. Far more enjoyable to me than all of those sappy romantic melodramas from the '30s. Edward Arnold, of course, can do no wrong. Lana Turner looks gorgeous (no surprise) and does fine in a role that requires little from her but to be a naive lovestruck young woman. Van Heflin plays Taylor's cynical alcoholic friend who has many of the movie's best lines. He's the scene stealer in this, by the way, and deservedly won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar. As with any old movie where there's a close male friendship, many reviewers read into it things that may or may not have been intended. Watch it and decide for yourself. The rest of the cast is full of great actors. Just take a gander at the cast list for this and you'll see how much talent was involved here. It's really a quality movie with a solid script, good characters, and a powerful ending.

Robert Taylor (as Johnny Eager) is a racketeer on parole; he is posing an honest taxi driver, but actually runs a successful criminal organization. His companion is Van Heflin (as Jeff Hartnett), an unrequited love-struck alcoholic. Adversarial district attorney Edward Arnold (as John Benson Farrell) has a tempting step-daughter, luscious Lana Turner (as Liz Bard), who complicates life considerably. Mr. Taylor is charismatic as gangster "Johnny Eager" and Ms. Turner is lovely as "Liz"…

Van Heflin (as Jeff Hartnett) is the actor and performer to watch in this film. Every time he is on camera, Heflin is riveting - whether in the background, staring into space; or, when seen in close-up, crying his eyes out. Moreover, he never overplays his hand, or goes "over the top"; instead, he makes the absolute most out of a delicious role. In an otherwise routine production, Heflin delivers an unfolding, landmark supporting performance.

Nothing is quite as good as Heflin's performance in "Johnny Eager", but Taylor's drunken crashing of the "poker party" makes the second half much more entertaining than the first half of the gangster story. Lana Turner watchers should know her clothing choices get sexier during the film's running time. Still, keep an eye on Heflin's "Jeff" - by the end of the film, he is unquestionably Taylor's "leading man".

******* Johnny Eager (12/9/41) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Robert Taylor, Van Heflin, Lana Turner

Snappy dialogue by John Lee Mahin and James Edward Grant, good performances all round, (including an Oscar-winning turn from Van Heflin), and excellent direction by Mervyn LeRoy all contribute to making "Johnny Eager" one of the most enjoyable gangster films of the early forties.

A surprisingly good Robert Taylor is Johnny, an ex-con who hides his Mr. Big status from the parole board by posing as a simple taxi driver and a gorgeous, twenty year old Lana Turner is the rich prosecutor's daughter who falls for him. It's not a great film by any means but it's a cracking entertainment that stands up to repeated viewings.