The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Since The Strawberry Blonde was the first James Cagney movie I ever saw, I never really saw him as the bad-boy gangster type. He’ll always be sweet Biff Grimes, who’s at the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s the kind of a hairpin he is. Biff is one of the sweetest onscreen characters, and Jimmy’s acting style particularly lends itself to the story. He’s not the most subtle actor in the world, and his old-fashioned style really puts you back in time to when men strutted around in straw hats and women didn’t make eye contact if they wanted to be a “nice girl”.
Jimmy’s pal is the smooth-talking Jack Carson. Jack is a charmer and can talk anyone in or out of anything, which isn’t great when they both fall for the same girl – the titular strawberry blonde, Rita Hayworth. Naturally, Rita likes the richer, more charming, smoother Jack better, and she foists her offbeat friend, Olivia de Havilland, onto Jimmy. Olivia is a feminist, and she tries to be tough; she talks frankly about sex, she smokes cigarettes, and she winks at strangers. It's all an act, though, and deep down, she’s as sweet as Jimmy thinks Rita is. The rest of the love quadrangle is interesting, unpredictable, and irresistible. The Strawberry Blonde really is one of the sweetest old movies out there. If you’ve never seen it, try it out for an adorable slice of Americana. The setting where cars were new and no one knew what spaghetti was is just delightful.
If you like the story, there are two other versions you can watch. The original is from 1933, starring Gary Cooper, and a delightful musical adaptation with Dennis Morgan is from 1948. There’s nothing like this 1941 version, but the musical pays a sweet homage to it.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Rita Hayworth movies here!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of 1933's One Sunday Afternoon here!
Jimmy’s pal is the smooth-talking Jack Carson. Jack is a charmer and can talk anyone in or out of anything, which isn’t great when they both fall for the same girl – the titular strawberry blonde, Rita Hayworth. Naturally, Rita likes the richer, more charming, smoother Jack better, and she foists her offbeat friend, Olivia de Havilland, onto Jimmy. Olivia is a feminist, and she tries to be tough; she talks frankly about sex, she smokes cigarettes, and she winks at strangers. It's all an act, though, and deep down, she’s as sweet as Jimmy thinks Rita is. The rest of the love quadrangle is interesting, unpredictable, and irresistible. The Strawberry Blonde really is one of the sweetest old movies out there. If you’ve never seen it, try it out for an adorable slice of Americana. The setting where cars were new and no one knew what spaghetti was is just delightful.
If you like the story, there are two other versions you can watch. The original is from 1933, starring Gary Cooper, and a delightful musical adaptation with Dennis Morgan is from 1948. There’s nothing like this 1941 version, but the musical pays a sweet homage to it.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Rita Hayworth movies here!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of 1933's One Sunday Afternoon here!