68 James Cagney Movies, Ranked Best to Worst

Cody Jarrett is a gang leader who plans heists despite suffering from horrible headaches. When a train robbery goes wrong, he ends up shooting an investigator. He eventually ends up in prison, and authorities plant an undercover agent named Hank, in his cell, to find out more about Cody and his plans.  

Angels with Dirty Faces is a crime drama film which revolves around two young boys who were pickpockets, but gets separated when one of them gets arrested. Later one of them becomes a gangster while the other becomes a priest.

This musical is a biopic about the life of George Cohan, who used to produce, direct, write and star in his own musical shows and eventually received a legendary status.

Mister Roberts is a war comedy drama film which tells the story of a Naval officer who is longing for active duty, but he finds himself in conflict with his captain.

The Roaring Twenties is a crime drama thriller film which tells the story of three friends Eddie Bartlett, George Hally and Lloyd Hart, who meet during the final days of the First World War. After returning home, they each attempt to make a living in their own ways.

The Public Enemy is a crime drama film which tells the story of a street criminal, who manages to make it big in the criminal underworld, and becomes a powerful gangster.

This American political comedy film is about an executive working for Coca Cola who is also given the task of taking care of his boss’s daughter, who is a socialite. When she falls for a German communist having anti capitalistic views, he is tasked with preventing her from getting married to him.

Footlight Parade is a musical comedy film which tells the story of Chester Kent, a Broadway director, who was once well-known for his musical comedies. With changing times, he begins to produce musical numbers called ‘prologues’, which are shown in movie theatres before the main feature is shown. Things get terrible for him, as one of his rivals is constantly stealing some of his ideas, probably with assistance from someone inside his own company. Meanwhile, his secretary has started falling for him, but Kent is so overwhelmed with his work that he doesn’t realize it.

Based on the 'Mutiny of 1788,’ this Academy Award-winning movie follows British Naval vessel HMS Bounty, captained by tyrannical Bligh, on its voyage to Tahiti. When Bligh’s ruthless discipline causes surgeon’s death, and he shackles crew-members in chains, ship’s Lieutenant Christian leads rebellious crew into mutiny, setting Bligh adrift in a boat. Later, midshipman Byam, though not part of the mutiny, faces court martial.

An upper-class family residing in New York finds a baby of African-American origin abandoned in their garden. They soon find out that the police are about to charge the mother with child abandonment and attempted murder. The mother decides to take the child in into their home, although the father is reluctant. However, things get complicated when the child’s father enters the picture.

The story of the film, adapted from Rearden Conner 1933 novel, follows a Dublin doctor and college lecturer Sean Lenihan who also works as the commander of the IRA. Fighting against the special British forces in 1921, he tries to convince his students to join him. One of them Kerry O'Shea, joins him, but soon realises that Lenihan is obsessed with his own dark and violent ideals.

Based on the play by William Shakespeare, A Midsummer’s Night Dream is a fantasy romantic comedy film in which the royal wedding plans of Theseus, the Duke of Athens and Hippolyta, overlaps with the antics of several mischievous fairies residing in the forest.

The Mayor of Hell is a romantic crime drama film which tells the story of Patsy, a former gangster, who is appointed as the new officer of a state reform school.  He falls for an activist nurse, and she inspires him to take over the administration to run the place on radical principles.  

Veteran taxi driver Pop Riley dies in jail after killing a criminal responsible for destroying his cab. Another young cabby, Matt Nolan, and part of a resistance against the same criminals who want to control the cab industry falls for Riley’s daughter Sue, pulling her again into a world of violence. 

A small time con artist named Lefty Merrill, has co-organized a danced marathon, and has set it up in a way, that his girlfriend will win the prize money. However when his partner disappears with the money before the contest is over, he has no other way but to come up with a series of cons to pay it back.

Based on Louis Bromfield's novel, Mcleod's Folly, the film focuses on an journalist turned drifter, who arrives in a small town, rife with corruption. Put on trial for vagrancy; he is saved by a lady, who gives him a job in her newspaper. Helped by a rich eccentric lady, they soon start exposing her rival newspaper owner, a powerful man with a large clout. 

Businessman Steve Bradford travels to his hometown to find the son he put up for adoption twenty years ago. He befriends orphanage owner, Ann Dempster, who is sworn to keep the identity of adoptive parents secret. Steve resorts to betraying Ann but ultimately experiences a change of heart after meeting an abandoned pregnant girl Suzie. 

Bill White and Jack Kulper are both engineers. While Bill is an irresponsible womanizer, his friend Jack is more solid. When Bill comes to stay with Jack for a while, he finds himself falling for Jack’s wife Lily. Although Lily feels the same way for him, Bill decides to leave, since he doesn’t wish to hurt his friend. However, Jack finds something suspicious, and when he confronts Bill about it, it leads to a fight. Jack gets seriously injured in the fight, and Bill soon finds himself consumed with guilt.  

This war drama short film tells the story of an air force officer named John Jones, whose daughter is preparing for a school event, when he is suddenly called away due to an air raid alarm. He soon realizes that he is quite lucky to be in America, as there is no bombing and no suffering like the war-torn nations of Europe.

Producer Harry Eberhart, aiming to lure his cadet nephew, Tom Fletcher, towards Broadway, hires impoverished Broadway director Bix Bixby to help the cadets at West Point put on a professional-level show. However, Bixby soon runs afoul of the Commandant of Cadets for his disregard of disciplinary rules and is recruited as a temporary cadet himself.

During the First World War, while stationed at France, lifelong rival,s Captain Flagg and 1st Sergeant Quirt, compete for the love of French beauty Charmaine. While their shenanigans land them in trouble, they also form a brotherhood as the horrific realities of the War set in.  

Nick’s bar-restaurant, ‘Pacific Street Saloon', is a place where the regulars are a group of misfits, each having their own story which slowly unfolds. The motley crowd includes an aspiring dancer-comedian, a broke hired as pianist, an imaginative cowboy, an ex-burlesque actress harassed by a bully, bar-owner Nick and wealthy enigmatic Joe who gently prods and nudges them to achieve their goals.

Chester O'Connor decides to join the US Navy to antagonize his nemesis, Chief Petty Officer, William ‘Biff’ Martin. He ends up falling in love with Biff’s sister, Dorothy, but makes an enemy out of other sailors with his demeaning attitude towards the Navy. However, he manages to redeem himself and outrank Biff by the end. 

This film revolves around a New York bandleader who journeys to Hollywood after being offered a contract with a studio. However, he is determined to work his way and not theirs.

In an Irish family of mother and three sons, Pat and Mike hold respectable jobs as policeman and fireman, while Danny struggles as a boxing promoter. Pat wants Danny to get a steady job and support their mother, so he can leave home to marry girlfriend Lucille. But everything turns topsy-turvy when Lucille meets Danny and discovers that she loves Danny, not Pat.

During the 1850s, Bat Morgan, a sailor is robbed and kidnapped by the crew of another ship. However, he manages to escape, and over some time, he rises to a position of power in the infamous Barbary Coast .                     

An Air Force crewman, Rick, lies to Neil Wayne, a film star, that he is headed to the war zone, in order to impress her. She eventually develops a liking for him, but chaos ensues, when she finds out that he was lying. 

Golf expert Bobby Jones arrives at the golf course, along with few actors, waiting for the director to arrive, in order to film an instructional video. In order to pass the time, he answers several questions from the actors, and also demonstrates a few practice shots.

The Union army sends a Confederate prisoner to a lawless town in Arizona, where he takes up the job of the Sheriff. He is forced to deal with hostile residents and a crooked saloon owner who is peddling rifles.