Two iconic gangster stars - James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart - once had a showdown in a lesser-known Western movie,The Oklahoma Kid. Neither actor was ever famous as a Western star, and only had limited experience in the genre. Cagney, for his part, was renowned specifically for his work in gangster movies.
Humphrey Bogart also had a great deal of historywhen it came to gangster flicks. Though they don’t account for many ofHumphrey Bogart’s best movies, they did make up a sizable portion of his filmography. During the 1930s, in fact, gangster movies were almost exclusively the projects that Bogart was cast in. One exception to that was a Western that united him with one of his gangster movie co-stars, James Cagney.
Humphrey Bogart Fought James Cagney In The Oklahoma Kid - What It’s About
Humphrey Bogart Is The Main Villain Of The Oklahoma Kid
From 1938 to 1939, Bogart and Cagney made three movies together, the first beingAngels with Dirty Facesand the last beingThe Roaring Twenties. Sandwiched between the two releases wasThe Oklahoma Kid, a Western that placed Cagney in the heroic lead role of gunslinger Jim Kincaid a.k.a. The Oklahoma Kid. Bogart played Whip McCord, who was - perhaps unsurprisingly - a notorious outlaw and the leader of a gang of train robbers. What placed them in conflict was McCord taking over Kincaid’s hometown.
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The lawlessness that McCord brought toThe Oklahoma Kid’stake on the city of Tulsa drove the story of the movie, with Kincaid and his family being firmly against Bogart’s character. Their rivalry came to a head when McCord killed a member of the Kincaid family, turning their beef into something much more personal and setting up a heated final battle.
Why The Oklahoma Kid Is Worth Watching
The Oklahoma Kid Is An Underrated B-Movie Western
Though the film is outside the wheelhouse of both Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney,The Oklahoma Kidstill makes for a worthwhile viewing experience. Admittedly, it failed to perform well with critics, but still offered a fun, albeit traditional Western story. Humphrey Bogart’s propensity for playing rugged, rebellious characters lent itself well to the role of a ruthless outlaw like McCord, and Cagney - despite not being an obvious fit for Western films - didn’t seem out of place inThe Oklahoma Kid.
The story provides nothing unfamiliar, but is enjoyable nonetheless, as it employs some of the best Western tropes.The Oklahoma Kidbuilds toward an exciting revenge tale, and pays it off with a popular staple of the Western genre - an intense fistfight between the two stars at the end of the movie. All things considered,The Oklahoma Kidis a fun deviation from the work that both Bogart and Cagney typically deliver.
The Oklahoma Kid Couldn’t Compete With Bogart & Cagney’s Other Movies
Angels With Dirty Faces & The Roaring Twenties Are Even Better
The Oklahoma Kidis indeed an underrated film, but that’s not to say that it’s the best of Humphrey Bogart’s collaborations with James Cagney. While solid,it’s still the weakest of the films they made together. WhereasThe Oklahoma Kidis a largely forgotten entry in the Western genre,Angels with Dirty Facesis widely regarded as one of thebest gangster movies ever made. Cagney and Pat O’Brien are the co-leads of the film, which explores a tragic friendship between two men, who start out as childhood friends but wind up on very different paths.
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O’Brien is the film’s heroic lead, with him as the priest and Cagney as the gangster. The journey they go on as O’Brien’s Jerry tries to reach what’s left of the goodness in Cagney’s character helpsAngels with Dirty Facesstand out as one of the latter actor’s most memorable roles. What’s more,Cagney’s performance landed him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. As for Bogart, his role as a gangster associate to Cagney’s character isn’t of great significance, but it’s an important step toward the actor becoming a Hollywood star.
The Roaring Twentiessees the redemptive qualities of Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett gradually emerge, allowing his character development to be one of the film’s highlights.
Bogart received a lot more to do in bothThe Oklahoma Kidand his third and final film with Cagney,The Roaring Twenties. Once again, Cagney had top billing in a film that explored the rise and fall of a gangster played by the actor. In this one, Cagney and Bogart play members of a trio of soldiers who embark down different roads after World War I. Cagney and Bogart’s characters both become career criminals while the third - played by Jeffrey Lynn - joins the opposite side of the law as a district attorney.
Similar toAngels with Dirty Faces,The Roaring Twentiessees the redemptive qualities of Cagney’s Eddie Bartlett gradually emerge, allowing his character development to be one of the film’s highlights. Bogart’s performance provides a boost to the story, as his status as an unapologetic villain creates a clear contrast with Eddie and makes their dynamic compelling to watch. Given all its strengths, it’s no surprise thatThe Roaring Twentieshas a reputation as an outstanding gangster movie.
Other Humphrey Bogart & James Cagney Westerns To Watch
Bogart & Cagney Made A Few Other Noteworthy Westerns
The Oklahoma Kidmay not have been a hit, but it wasn’t the last time studios took a change on Cagney and Bogart with their Western movies. Bogart appeared in another just a year later when he co-starred inVirginia City, one of a handful of Errol Flynn Westerns produced by Warner Bros.Virginia Cityisn’t Flynn’s best Western, but it’s a lot likeThe Oklahoma Kidin that it delivers a fairly straightforward but entertaining story where Bogart is an amoral outlaw and the main villain.
Without question, Bogart’s greatest contribution to the Western genre wasThe Treasure of Sierre Madre. UnlikeThe Oklahoma KidandVirginia City,The Treasure of Sierra Madrewas made at a time when Bogart was already a household name and one of Hollywood’s most reliable stars.The Treasure of Sierra Madre’s100%Rotten Tomatoesscorealone is indicative of its overall quality and success in utilizing Bogart’s screen persona to create a great Western protagonist.
James Cagney doesn’t have a major Western to his name that matches the legacy of Humphrey Bogart’sThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre, but he dabbled in the genre a bit more well over a decade afterThe Oklahoma Kid. As interest in gangster movies waned, Cagney branched out a bit, returning toWesterns in the 1950swith two low-profile films,Run for CoverandTribute to a Bad Man, both of which being films that gave him top-billing but paired the aging star with younger, male co-leads.
The Oklahoma Kid
Cast
The Oklahoma Kid is a Western film directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney as the titular character. The plot centers on a cowboy who returns to his hometown to find it plagued by corruption and lawlessness, led by a nefarious gang. Facing personal and moral dilemmas, he takes it upon himself to restore justice and bring peace to the community. The film also features Humphrey Bogart in a notable role.
