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"Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is about a jail convict (James Cagney) who escapes from prison and goes on the run, relentlessly pursued. He eventually winds up in a small town where he gets a girl and starts a normal life, but begins to corrupt everyone around him.

The movie is not very well known and I'm not sure quite why. Although this movie might not be definitive film noir it surely carries certain elements of the genre, and of course it's got James Cagney in it, one of the ultimate veterans of the genre! Cagney delivers a really solid performance and comes across as both likable and despicable. We feel for him and those around him as his bad influence spreads and the tragic tale takes a turn for the worst.

Although it's a very clear moral tale and ends up exactly where we can expect, "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is nevertheless a very good, underrated film whose virtually nonexistent reputation is as depressing as the film itself.

Spoilers here.

If they made this movie today, they would call it "White Heat 2: Cody Lives". Cagney is as ruthless as in White Heat, but here, his pathology is under control, (brain surgery after his Oil Tank "accident" in Part 1?) so he can blackmail cops and smoothly double-cross his erstwhile moll while skimming wherever else and whenever he can. In the first couple of minutes of the film, he shoots a fellow prison escapee "just because". His sense of loyalty to his supposed accomplices goes downhill from there.

Barbara Payton is a more resonant and convincing actress than Virginia Mayo, and it can be argued that her strength as an actress creates much of the tension here: We want to see her get wise to the Cagney character's dirty game, and also succeed in avenging her brother's death (the fellow escapee shot in the beginning of the film). And unlike the case of Virginia Mayo's unsympathetic moll in White Heat, we actually do root for her to gain a comeuppance against the Cagney character. But we're torn. Cagney has so much natural charisma, even when playing a snake, that we can never entirely want him to get his. There is a sense of justice and inevitability to the ending. But there remains the nagging hurt feeling at what Cagney-- with all that bristling energy and industry and charisma-- COULD have accomplished if he hadn't succumbed to the dark side. Ten stars. See it!

James Cagney shines, and at times even seems to glow in the dark in this rugged follow-up to White Heat, directed with great verve by Gordon Douglas. It's a somewhat neglected film, maybe because it's basically a gangster picture rather than a noir, and rather late in the day for such things. The supporting cast features Barbara Payton; Luther Adler, in a Howard Da Silva role, as an eccentric lawyer, and who almost steals the show from Cagney; Rhys Williams, effortlessly playing an American; William Frawley, for nostalgia; and Ward Bond, neanderthal as ever, as a dogged, corrupt plainclothesman. Good, fast-paced and at times surprisingly violent, this movie will not put you to sleep.

I can't believe that this film is not well known. Get rid of the terrible courtroom framing device, and you have a gangster masterpiece. Coming on the heels of Cagney's better known White Heat, this film takes violence and corruption to a new level. This film starts off with a brutal jail break and never slows down. The cold blooded violence portrayed is quite jaw dropping. Cagney was born to play this role. He is clearly relishing his cold blooded character. The freshness of this film is surprising. You are totally caught off guard. In this sense, it reminds me most of Kiss Me Deadly. For anyone with a passing interest in Cagney, or gangster films, or film-noir, or film violence, watch this film!!!!!!!

The criminal Ralph Cotter (James Cagney) and his partner Carleton (Neville Brand) flee from the prison, but Carleton is wounded and Ralph executes him with a bullet on the head. Carleton's sister Holiday (Barbara Payton) helps Ralph to escape and kills a guard. The clever Ralph manipulates Holiday and she becomes his lover. Then he blackmails and bribes the dirty Inspector Charles Weber (Ward Bond) and Lieutenant John Reece (Barton MacLane) and associates to the corrupt lawyer Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon (Luther Adler). Ralph gets a new identity and he gets a license to carry gun. When Ralph meets the wealthy Margaret Dobson (Helena Carter), Mandon advises him that she is a dangerous woman, since her father is the powerful Ezra Dobson (Herbert Heyes). But the ambitious Ralph does not pay attention to Mandon's advice and leaves Holiday with tragic consequences.

"Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is a combination of film-noir and gangster movie perfect to James Cagney in his usual role. The violent story is developed in flashback and Ralph Cotter is a ruthless and ambitious criminal that ends his career due to a female fatale, in an environment of crooked cops and lawyer. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Amanhã que não Virá" ("The Tomorrow that Will not Come")