These days I have been going way back in time in terms of movies I'm watching on DVD. Like this classic 1939 movie called "The Roaring Twenties" a gangster movie set in the 1920's of fun, jazz and illegal booze. In it, a young man (James Cagney) comes back from World War I and finds out he can't find a job so he ends up selling booze during the Prohibition era. The movie is very real in showing you the stupidity behind Prohibition, a time in which booze was available anywhere and organized crime and gang wars for the control of alcohol distribution were the headlines of the day. While watching the movie one couldn't help noticing the parallels to the "war on drugs" today. Cops getting bribes from the mob, the ridiculous and meaningless police "raids", the politicians in on the action.
But in simple entertainment terms, this is also a great look at a very special era in American history. It also shows you, how intelligent and gritty old movies could be. The fact that its also stars Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, makes it even better.
I found this on DVD, but it plays regularly on Turner Classic Movies
(channel 77-OneLink)
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