Tête chaude

Years ago, I read James Cagney's autobiography. In it he talked about 'the Irish mafia'--a group of very close friends he had on and off camera. This is a rare case where all four members of this group were together in the same film--Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Frank McHugh and Allan Jenkins (fine, I don't think Jenkins was Irish--but he was still a member of this group of friends). It looks like the friends had a lovely time making the film but it is an awfully lightweight and rather brainless film. Enjoyable...but brainless.

Ma O'Hara (Mary Gordon) has three grown sons that live with her: Danny (Cagney), Pat (O'Brien) and Mike (McHugh). While Pat and Mike respectable jobs, Danny, the youngest, is a bit of a dreamer and hopes to make his fortune managing boxers. However, he has nothing to show for his efforts and Ma is hoping he'll soon follow in his brothers' footsteps.

Into this family come two people. First, a brainless boxer named 'Carbarn' (Jenkins)--and he's the least likely looking boxer I can recall having seen in film. Second, Pat brings home Lucille (Olivia de Havilland) and plans on marrying her. However, they barely know each other and Pat is seriously premature. To make it worse, Lucille has already met Danny...and is quite interested. So what's to become of all these characters? Well, it all comes to a head at one of the most ridiculous boxing matches on film where a first-time fighter gets to fight the champ!!!

The whole picture is ridiculous and mindless...but also kind of fun. It's a turn your brain off and enjoy sort of time-passer. Agreeable but very, very slight due to the fluff-like plot that never seems the least bit real. What saves it is the likability of the actors...period.