The St. Louis Kid (1934) User Reviews (13)

More great Cagney

[stevenfallonnyc · 8/10 · 3 March 2012]

People watch the old Cagney films to see tough Cagney do some beatdowns and charm the girl, and there's a lot of that in this flick. Especially beatdowns - Cagney is always fighting and in and out of jail, even when he can't use his hands (he'll just head-butt everyone within range instead). Heck, he even gives his sidekick a good shot (it was deserved though).

While "The St. Louis Kid" won't win any awards, it's mid-1930's Cagney talking fast and doing his thing, this time battling, well, pretty much everyone. He even goes after a girl who hates him, but she's pretty hot so that's no mystery why he'd do that. There's a few cool old-timey car and truck crashes too that are fun to watch.

Plot? There's a plot in there somewhere, but really this is just simply fun Cagney viewing.

At least it's half of a good movie!...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 22 July 2023]

... because the first half has a hard time getting started. Ed Kennedy (James Cagney) and Buck (Allen Jenkins) are long haul truckers who get into trouble with fist-to-cuffs throughout their runs. Ed decides to stop this behavior, but out on a run a local girl runs into the back of their truck ( Patricia Ellis as Ann Reid) and claims it was all their fault. They get dragged to a local court but get out of their mess by talking up the virtue of the farmer and how he doesn't have a chance against the dairy cartels- Ed just read the local paper. The judge lets them go, impressed with their knowledge of local issues. But they are right back in it again when a real war starts between the dairy farmers in the same locality and truckers trying to bring low priced milk from other places into these areas.

There are just lots of fights and one-upmanship that isn't particularly funny and doesn't lead anywhere until Ed is framed for the murder of a farmer that Ann witnessed, and Ann is missing too, kidnapped by the gangland thugs who really committed the murder. At this point the suspense goes up and the film intensity level became more what I expect from a Cagney film. Had both halves been as good as the second half, I'd have given the whole thing a 7 or 8 out of 10.

Patricia Ellis just doesn't work for me as Cagney's love interest in this. I think WB was trying to build her up into being a new Joan Blondell type, but the character she is playing is just too unlikable and self righteous.

An interesting aside - Cagney was sick of being the guy who goes around punching people, so he had the makeup man wrap his hands in bandages, and in the opening scene tells Allen Jenkins he won't be punching people anymore. When a fight does break out, Cagney hits the other guy's head with his own head, and down they go. Cagney was just trying to vary the old punching formula, but director Ray Enright thought Cagney was trying to hurt his means of making a living and get him in trouble with Jack Warner.

"Somebody ought to talk to him like a mother."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 28 June 2016]

If Cagney made Westerns, Allen Jenkins would have been his permanent sidekick. He's in so many of Cagney's early flicks that I come to rely on his showing up with each one I watch, so I wasn't disappointed here. He makes his first screen appearance with a black eye, courtesy of his buddy Eddie Kennedy (Cagney) always getting into scrapes, with Buck Willetts (Jenkins) usually getting the short end of the stick.

You know, that town name of Ostopolis managed to bug me enough I had to do a quick internet search on it. As I suspected, none of the hits produced a town with that name, although one of them brought up this movie title. So I guess you could go from St. Louis to Chicago without ever showing up there.

As in most of Cagney's early flicks, he's got that brash, fast talking manner here, compounded by a quick head butt when his fists are out of order. Did you catch that quick shoulder shrug of his when he made it down the stairs after rescuing Ann Reid (Patricia Ellis) from the room she was locked up in? That was a nifty preview of his gangster character Rocky Sullivan from "Angels With Dirty Faces", my favorite Cagney film.

I liked Patricia Ellis in this picture, she had sort of that Ann Sheridan kind of sass going for her which made me wonder why she didn't have more of a career, although she mostly appeared in B pictures and never really had a breakout role. A year prior to this picture, she was Cagney's 'real' girlfriend in 1933's "Picture Snatcher", while also appearing as Joe E. Brown's pretty girlfriend in the baseball story, "Elmer, the Great".

What really cracks me up with these early films are the prices one gets to compare against today's cost of living. At Ann Reid's Elite Grill you could have had pea soup for a dime, calf's liver or wheat cakes for thirty five cents, oyster or Irish stew for thirty cents, and if you were really hungry, ham and eggs with toast and coffee for a buck! I was all ready to see what that gas fill up would have been but then Eddie threw that match and things got a bit hairy. I'm guessing about a buck and a half if the tank was real low.

Well chalk up another Thirties Cagney film for this viewer, I've pretty much seen them all now and have enjoyed every one. It helps that the popular hoofer is one of my all time favorites, speaking of which, did you catch that nifty shuffle he did for Ann at the dance? If his pal Buck could have moved like that he would have avoided half his black eyes.

"Some day, when the weather is all nice and clear, I'm gonna knock your nose right around your ear."

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 2 September 2016]

Jimmy Cagney plays a 'little tough guy' truck driver who is pulled into a dispute between farmers and a dairy syndicate. Great old WB social drama with a cast of solid character actors like Charles C. Wilson, Robert Barrat, Hobart Cavanagh, Addison Richards, Arthur Aylesworth, and the always terrific Allen Jenkins. Patricia Ellis is the girl who hates Cagney at first but comes around to loving him by the end of the picture. Cagney's the main reason to watch, of course, and he's loads of fun as the cocky, wise-cracking runt that's quick with his fists. It's a fast-paced and entertaining movie with a little bit of a then-topical message for flavor. If you're a fan of Cagney or these types of movies WB put out in the 1930s, you'll probably like this a lot.

Cagney defending the underdog on the open road!

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 6/10 · 31 August 2017]

"The St. Louis Kid" was just another routine "Warner Bros" film for James Cagney. By the time of this film's release in 1934, working relations between Cagney and the studio were becoming more strained. It wouldn't be long before Cagney filed his lawsuit against "Warner Bros." The story of the above film is about as simple as it gets. Cagney plays a trucker who takes on a rival trucking firm after they plan a hostile takeover. Real life friend and regular studio player, Allen Jenkins is on hand as the rather dumb sidekick. Patricia Ellis is a capable leading lady after she did well opposite Cagney in "The Picture Snatcher." The fans wanted to see our hero scrap with the villains and charm the ladies. We get plenty of both.

Truckin' with Jimmy

[marcslope · 6/10 · 13 June 2005]

(Possible spoilers) Cagney's a no-better-than-he-should-be truck driver on the St. Louis-to-Chicago route, and Allen Jenkins is his "amusing" sidekick. There's some "socially conscious" Warners nonsense about the plight of underpaid dairy farmers and some odd transitions between comedy and melodrama, and the story doesn't make much sense -- why would Cagney suddenly pursue Patricia Ellis, who has been making his life hell for the movie's first half, and why would he keep guiltily escaping the law (at one point blowing up a gas station to create a diversion), when he's innocent? The wrap-up's too fast, and Ray Enright's direction is as utilitarian as they come. But Cagney in his Irish-cocky-kid mode is always worth watching; here he easily plays someone 10 years his junior, and his breathless delivery and effusive body language were dynamite with early-talkie audiences. He still possesses loads of style, and there's really nobody among today's actors who possesses his brio, forcefulness, and charm.

2 Cagney's

[Michael_Elliott · 11 March 2008]

St. Louis Kid, The (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Exciting Warner Bros. "ripped from the headlines" film has James Cagney playing a truck driver who gets involved in a battle between farmers and the businessmen who aren't paying enough for milk. This is a fast, fun and action packed film, which is what audiences expected from a Cagney film. Cagney is very good in the role of the fast talking, quick to throw punches truck driver and the supporting cast helps him well.

Jimmy the Gent (1934)

** (out of 4)

A crooked businessman (James Cagney) pretends to go straight to win back his ex (Bette Davis). Considering the two leads and director Michael Curtiz, this was a major disappointment that really didn't work on any level. The only real reason to watch this is the performance from Cagney as well as his shaved head. Davis is very boring throughout and really brings down the film because she has no chemistry with Cagney.

**1/2

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 22 June 2016]

Jimmy Cagney is in fine form in this 1934 film playing trucker Eddie Kennedy who has an affinity for landing in jail numerous times for a variety of reasons.

Problem with this film is its length-barely 75 minutes and it appeared that the ending was rushed up.

Cagney is tough but is smooth on the outside as well as he gets involved with a farmer's strike against a local milk company.

Of course, the company hires hoodlums to drive those trucks through the farmer lines and nothing is really serious until a farmer is shot to death and a woman who witnessed this, first an adversary but then friend to Kennedy is kidnapped.

Cagney uses shenanigans to find out her location. That judge is a riot, Cagney shows how easy it is to walk out of jail at night to have a rendezvous with the woman and Allen Jenkins adds much comic relief to a film that would have been rated higher had it not ended so quickly.

Cagney comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 19 July 2023]

Trucker Eddie Kennedy (James Cagney) and his sidekick Buck (Allen Jenkins) get rear-ended by Ann Reid (Patricia Ellis) who starts picking a fight with them. Eddie gets thrown in jail for decking Mr. Brown who is the manager at the diary plant. He ingratiates himself with the judge by railing against the diary and the local farmers start a boycott.

There is some good light fun for awhile with Cagney's antics. Then the movie goes a bit darker with the strike. The change of tone does leave the rest of the movie with depressed humor. I also don't know why Eddie spends most of the movie in a suit. He would be funnier as an everyman character and a working class hero. All in all, there are some fun to be had at least for awhile.

Whadaya hear? Whadaya say?

[jonerogers · 10/10 · 17 November 2018]

Well here again in this film we have the lovable James Cagney playing a tough guy come foolhardy character and it's a short 67 minute ride full of giggles, slaps and even a touch of the charisma.

It's the story of two guys Cagney and Alan Jenkins who drive trucks delivering goods and along the way trouble finds them and several jail sessions occur which are humerous scenes in themselves. Cagney during all this catches the blonde and a little romance ties it all in.

The pairing of cagney and Jenkins is great, they bounce of each other in this 1930s print.

Overall this film is fun, entertaining and a joy to watch.

just post prohibition

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 13 August 2023]

Tough guy eddie kennedy and his sidekick buck are a truck driver team. They run into trouble in a little country town when they cross the local big shot. But eddie does hit it off with the cute owner of the local diner. And gets caught up in a battle between the local farmers and the big boss. Cagney already had his quick, new york city mobster accent, yeah, see? He and the nasal allen jenkins had been in hollywood for a couple years. Milton kibbee, one of the kibbee brothers, is in here as the supervisor. Pretty good script ! Some pretty dated references, like when two local girls sit at buck's table and ask for the expenseive champagne cocktails, and he yells "two beers!" to the bartender. Beer would be much cheaper, as prohibition had just been repealed when this was being shown in theaters. A whole lot of story stuffed into this warner brothers tale of 67 minutes. Directed by ray enright. Pat ellis died so young at 53. And cagney would get his oscar for yankee doodle about ten years after this film. It's pretty good. Very entertaining. A snapshot of the times.

Milk Run film

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 14 June 2005]

By the time the St. Louis Kid was made Warner Brothers had gotten the James Cagney persona fixed in the mind of the movie going public. The cocky wiseacre working class hero in perpetual motion who always gets what he's after, be it money, power or a girl.

Here it's a girl, but he also gets himself mixed up in a labor dispute between dairy farmers and the trucking company that ships their product in between St. Louis and Chicago. In those early years of the New Deal labor disputes were a pretty hot topic in the newsreels.

Robert Barrat, a leader of the farmers, is killed by one of the goons hired by Cagney's trucking company and the cops think Cagney did it. Patricia Ellis, the girl Cagney's been courting, witnessed the murder so the goons have snatched her.

Will the ever resourceful James Cagney will find a way to set all this right? You have to see the film to see if and how.

Cagney has Allen Jenkins along acting as Pancho to his Cisco Kid. Jenkins is funny, but you know Cagney only keeps him around for his amusement value. The plot calls for the pair to spend some time in the jail of the local town constable played by Spencer Charters who is also a dim bulb.

Fast paced {is their any other kind of Cagney film} action makes the 67 minute running time go by real fast. St. Louis Kid is very typical of the stuff Warner Brothers would continue to give Cagney throughout his years with them.

Jimmy is just too unlikable and cocky--even when compared to other Cagney films of the era

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 25 November 2006]

In practically every Jimmy Cagney film of the early through mid 1930s, he plays a fast-talking lovable jerk. However, in this film, he is so obnoxious and so pugnacious that the character actually crosses an invisible line for me--to being unlikable and even ridiculous. This is saying a lot because I generally love Cagney films and will put up with a lot from his loud-mouthed characters! In this case, he plays a guy that seems to be in court ALL THE TIME for assault. His character makes Mike Tyson's out of the ring behaviors seem restrained--he's that quick to fight. In fact, in the first half hour, he goes from one jail to another in the space of a day--he's that out of control. As a result, I kept thinking to myself that sooner or later, this character MUST be sent to prison for "hard time" instead of bouncing in and out of jail again and again. Plus, even if he never got sent away for a long stretch in prison, he should be in debt for the next 600 years due to his getting fined almost every day for fighting.

All this fighting just defies common sense--as does his behaviors when trying to woo the lady who hates his guts. He's in jail in a small town and he waits until the jailer falls asleep and lets himself out of jail so he can stalk and annoy her! And, naturally being a Hollywood film, he DOES charm the lady with his relentless and obnoxious ways! This pushiness is NOT vintage Cagney, but once again a super-obnoxious and ridiculous character--the guy once again crosses the line.

The rest of the film does get better once you get to the final third, but by then I was so irritated with this film (in particular Cagney's character), that I just wanted it all to end. This has to be among the worst Cagney films I have seen despite the improvement towards the end.