Johnny Eager

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.

'Johnny Eager' had a good cast going for it, though those involved haven't had careers that were consistently good in films and performances in my personal and respectful opinion, and an interesting idea for a story. Director Mervyn LeRoy had good and more films under his belt, with 'Random Harvest', 'Waterloo Bridge' and 'Gold Diggers of 1933' coming out on top, all three wonderful films.

Found myself really enjoying 'Johnny Eager' and finding a lot to like. It is not a flawless film, but the good things far outweigh what doesn't quite work and these good things are actually great. Those who love classic film, films of this type and are fans of LeRoy or any of the cast members are likely to not feel disappointed in 'Johnny Eager', with what the film was seen for in the first place not being wasted at all. A good thing as a bugbear of mine with film and television, and have seen this too many times over-time, is waste of potential.

Sure the story is a little over-complicated in spots and at times the film does feel slightly over-plotted, meaning that not everything makes sense.

Paul Stewart's accent, and this is going to come over as a nit-pick, is pretty indecipherable and his performance was on the odd side.

The rest of the cast are on the money though. Robert Taylor has varied with me as an actor, in some films he's good and in others he comes over as dull compared to stronger colleagues in more interesting roles. His performance is the former in 'Johnny Eager', he is very well cast as one of his more interesting characters and commands the screen with ease. He has a scintillating chemistry with charming and epitome of glamour Lana Turner, making the most of relatively little. Edward Arnold gives a typically strong performance. The acting honours go to Van Heflin, absolutely delicious in a complex role and his Oscar was more than well deserved.

LeRoy's direction is tight yet controlled when needed. 'Johnny Eager' looks very lavish without being overly glossy, particularly the production design while the photography is beautifully slick and atmospheric. Bronislau Kaper's score is suitably haunting, and the script is suitably taut and thoughtful, making an effort to not make the characters and storytelling cliched. The story moves at a lively, but seldom rushed, tempo and has suspense, sensuality and emotion, that pent house balcony scene is very hard to forget.

Summarising, enjoyable film with much to like. 7/10

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.

Robert Taylor is a reformed gangster on parole at the beginning of "Johnny Eager." After meeting with his parole officer and two sociology students - one of whom is the gorgeous Lana Turner - Johnny transforms himself into the gangster he has remained.

It's in this identity that he runs into Turner again at a nightclub. The gangster interests her more than the cabbie. Little does he know, her father is the prosecutor who has an injunction to keep a dog track from opening in which Johnny has a financial stake.

According to Lana Turner, she and Taylor flirted and made out, and Taylor told Stanwyck he wanted a divorce. Turner didn't want to break up the marriage and told Taylor it was no go. Stanwyck, however, never spoke to Turner again. Turner and Taylor make a beautiful couple and they sizzle on screen.

Both turn in excellent performances. Turner plays a love-struck, vulnerable young woman who will do anything to protect her man - she's great. Taylor, sporting a mustache, is terrific as Johnny - a goody two shoes around his parole officer, a mean, selfish tough guy around everyone else. He has no idea how to love or to be loved.

Van Heflin won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as Johnny's friend Jeff, an alcoholic philosopher and Johnny's conscience. Heflin plays up the sensitivity of Jeff and his love for Johnny, giving the role gay overtones. He is fantastic.

If you're under the impression that Taylor and Turner were just two of Hollywood's non-acting pretty people, think again. During their careers, both played many worthwhile roles and played them well.

If the critics dismissed them because of their looks, or in Turner's case, the headlines she garnered in her private life, too bad, but the audience always got their money's worth with these two pros.

Wonderful film!

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.