This film can only be described as On The Waterfront if it were a musical comedy. Cagney's a singing Jimmy Hoffa who will do anything to get ahead as president of a local shipyard union.
Never Steal Anything Small is a very weird musical to put it mildly. The film has about 3 1/2 songs. Cagney barely performs in one of them which pretty much leaves Shirley Jones to carry the load.
Time must have started to catch up with the old hoofer, he really isn't the same guy who danced down the White House steps in Yankee Doodle Dandy. However he is a complete pro at stealing every scene from the other actors in the film.
The plot hinges on Cagney manipulating everyone to become president of the union. One also has to believe that he has the hots for naive married virgin Shirley Jones who is the wife of Roger Smith future husband and manager of Ann Margaret. This all seems very unlikely.
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| James Cagney shows Shirley Jones who's the boss on set. |
The film was written and directed by another old Hollywood pro Charles Lederer who wrote some of the better Howard Hawks films. Henry Mancini before he turned into Henry Mancini arranged the music.
This is worth a look for Cagney and the overall strangeness of the whole film.
94 minutes
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