That's the question this 70 minute little movie asks in reference to hot-head independent cab driver Matt Nolan (James Cagney) and waitress Sue Riley (Loretta Young). The two are brought together after Sue's dad, Pop Riley (Guy Kibbee), has his cab deliberately smashed by a truck driver due to a war between the independent cab drivers such as Pop and Consolidated Cab. Pop grabs a gun and shoots the smirking truck driver dead in the back.
Pop dies in prison and Sue becomes a pacifist, urging the other cab drivers to shun violence. Matt wants the cab drivers to take the fight to the Consolidated Cab company. Matt and Sue are attracted to each other despite their differences and marry. Matt promises to change and keep a lid on his hot head. But then a drunken member of Consolidated Cab's muscle men, Buck Gerard, kills Matt's brother and Matt wants to kill the guy himself before the cops can find him - anything the police can dish out is too good for his brother's murderer, he figures. But then Matt would be a murderer too and Sue will do anything to prevent having a second loved one sent to prison. How does this all work out? Watch and find out. Sure, Matt is in the wrong here, but Sue takes some questionable actions herself begging the question - why doesn't she just call the police and TELL THEM where Gerard is, once she knows? Warner Brothers keeps this rather routine plot interesting with a good solid cast. Besides leads Cagney and Young you have George E. Stone as Matt's cab driving friend and constantly gabbing Leila Bennett as Sue's friend Ruby, which make for very colorful double dates. Then there is David Landau who looks as mean as he acts here as Buck Gerard, the drunken muscle that kills Matt's brother. Dorothy Burgess is Marie, Buck's girl. She's an attractive well-spoken girl and you can't help but wonder what she sees in such an abusive slob who is bound to turn his violent personality on her from time to time.
Some strange coincidences of film history make this one worth watching closely. Notice who James Cagney's character loses the dance contest to in the opening half hour or so - George Raft, famous for his Charleston, as an uncredited extra! During that dance contest a small part of "Yankee Doodle" plays, 10 years before Cagney plays the song's author, George M. Cohan.
Also, when Sue and Matt are double dating with Skeets and Leila they are going to the movies. The camera shows they are going to watch "Her Hour of Love" starring Donald Cook and Evelyn Knapp, both Warner Brothers stars of the day. They even show a rather stilted love scene from the movie once inside the theater. Problem is, that film never existed! I wonder why Warner Bros. just didn't show a clip from a real film they were trying to promote at the time rather than going to all of this trouble? It would have been cheaper, and, after all, the word "cheap" was music to Jack Warner's ears.
Pop dies in prison and Sue becomes a pacifist, urging the other cab drivers to shun violence. Matt wants the cab drivers to take the fight to the Consolidated Cab company. Matt and Sue are attracted to each other despite their differences and marry. Matt promises to change and keep a lid on his hot head. But then a drunken member of Consolidated Cab's muscle men, Buck Gerard, kills Matt's brother and Matt wants to kill the guy himself before the cops can find him - anything the police can dish out is too good for his brother's murderer, he figures. But then Matt would be a murderer too and Sue will do anything to prevent having a second loved one sent to prison. How does this all work out? Watch and find out. Sure, Matt is in the wrong here, but Sue takes some questionable actions herself begging the question - why doesn't she just call the police and TELL THEM where Gerard is, once she knows? Warner Brothers keeps this rather routine plot interesting with a good solid cast. Besides leads Cagney and Young you have George E. Stone as Matt's cab driving friend and constantly gabbing Leila Bennett as Sue's friend Ruby, which make for very colorful double dates. Then there is David Landau who looks as mean as he acts here as Buck Gerard, the drunken muscle that kills Matt's brother. Dorothy Burgess is Marie, Buck's girl. She's an attractive well-spoken girl and you can't help but wonder what she sees in such an abusive slob who is bound to turn his violent personality on her from time to time.
Some strange coincidences of film history make this one worth watching closely. Notice who James Cagney's character loses the dance contest to in the opening half hour or so - George Raft, famous for his Charleston, as an uncredited extra! During that dance contest a small part of "Yankee Doodle" plays, 10 years before Cagney plays the song's author, George M. Cohan.
Also, when Sue and Matt are double dating with Skeets and Leila they are going to the movies. The camera shows they are going to watch "Her Hour of Love" starring Donald Cook and Evelyn Knapp, both Warner Brothers stars of the day. They even show a rather stilted love scene from the movie once inside the theater. Problem is, that film never existed! I wonder why Warner Bros. just didn't show a clip from a real film they were trying to promote at the time rather than going to all of this trouble? It would have been cheaper, and, after all, the word "cheap" was music to Jack Warner's ears.