Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Excellent gangster thriller based on Horace McCoy's novel about an escaped con first ruthlessly betraying his partner, and then planning an ambitious robbery. Strong performances from a great cast and Douglas' taut, classical direction place it among the best of the post-war gangster movies, but it is of course Cagney who is most memorable: strutting, snarling, and lashing out in almost psychopathic anger at all around him, his immense energy conveys the spirit of callous violence far more effectively than the explicit acts perpetrated in later movies.