A Lion Is in the Streets

The title alludes to one assassinated overreacher, Julius Caesar; this oddball Cagney family production concerns another, Huey Long - or, as the script has it, Hank Martin. A somewhat compromised treatment of the life and political crimes of 'The Kingfish' (director Walsh advised abandonment rather than capitulation to Long family threats of legal action), this covers much the same ground as Robert Rossen's earlier feature, All the King's Men, and Robert Collins' later telemovie, The Life and Assassination of the Kingfish. In decidedly more idiosyncratic style, however, with Cagney's aggressive energy suggesting the particular populist allure of the Southern shyster/demagogue.