The Roaring Twenties

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The Roaring Twenties

1939,

1h 44m,

Crime/

Drama

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Watchlist

100%

19 Reviews

Tomatometer

89%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

19 Reviews

89%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

After World War I, friends Eddie (James Cagney), George (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) return to America with ambitions for the future. Lloyd becomes a lawyer, but Eddie can only find work as a cab driver and eventually falls into the bootlegging business. Eddie and George become partners in crime, but the stock market crash destroys their operation and turns the old friends against each other, while Eddie falls in love with Lloyd's girlfriend, Jean (Priscilla Lane).

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Kevin Maher

The Times (UK)

Mar 8, 2024

5/5

The performances are fabulously hard-boiled, while the script features one of the standout last lines in movie history...

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

Sep 12, 2016

Walsh unfolds the practical details of bootleggers' nocturnal maneuvers with quiet comedic flair alongside harrowing violence.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Feb 3, 2005

3.5/4

An epochal rise-and-fall epic of the gangster cycle.

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Sean Burns

Crooked Marquee

Jun 20, 2026

The third-billed Bogart is so electrifying you remember him as being in more of the movie than he actually is.

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Mar 27, 2024

3.5/4

the most ambitious and successful of the late 1930s gangster films

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Mar 2, 2024

3.5/4

Yet one more exemplary gangster flick produced by Warner Bros. during the 1930s, this one closed the decade in style.

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Feb 2, 2019

The best gangster movie ever made!

Kylo L

Oct 17, 2017

Kind of a must-see for film fans - with classic casting. One wonders though, how did James Cagney break-out as a Hollywood star? But it happened. Priscilla Lane was one not seen before. Nice, as the nice girl. "Roaring ..." is a good compendium of the films of the era being depicted - before, during, and after Prohibition, and the lot of returning WW1 vets. Good show. | - Norm de Guerre

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Raoul Walsh

Director

James Cagney

Eddie Bartlett

Humphrey Bogart

George Hally

Priscilla Lane

Jean Sherman

Gladys George

Panama Smith

Jeffrey Lynn

Lloyd Hart

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Synopsis

After World War I, friends Eddie (James Cagney), George (Humphrey Bogart) and Lloyd (Jeffrey Lynn) return to America with ambitions for the future. Lloyd becomes a lawyer, but Eddie can only find work as a cab driver and eventually falls into the bootlegging business. Eddie and George become partners in crime, but the stock market crash destroys their operation and turns the old friends against each other, while Eddie falls in love with Lloyd's girlfriend, Jean (Priscilla Lane).

Director: Raoul Walsh
Screenwriter: Mark Hellinger, Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Robert Rossen
Distributor: Warner Bros., MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Warner Brothers
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 23, 1939, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Mono

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