TAXI

title: TAXI!
year: 1932
cast: James Cagney, Loretta Young
rating: ***

Begins as a predictable, clichéd melodrama dealing with the haves… a monopolizing consortium cab company… against the have-nots: independent cabbies trying to make it on their own without getting killed in the process. But soon the message peels away into an involving gangster-driven fare with James Cagney, uttering his famous “You Dirty Rat” line despite movie trivia saying otherwise. In one scene he says very loudly: "Come out and take it, you dirty, yellow-bellied rat, or I'll give it to you through the door!" This, to film historians, has been mistakingly condensed into the famous three word motto. But in the beginning of the film, as Cagney’s exciting his cab – sandwiched between two trucks – he does in fact mutter under his breath: “You dirty rat!” (watch and listen closely to the linked video for proof). Now for the movie itself, which gets better as the more stress enters Cagney’s life – thugs from the consortium move in, and every woman, from the good to the bad, annoy the hell out of him: providing the famous firebrand the usual classic tantrums. Cagney’s character… hard boiled cabbie Matt Nolan… is like most of Cagney’s tough guys, he’s angrier here than ever. He's fighting the good fight here and you'll back him all the way, so much so the other characters seem nonexistent when he's on, or off, the screen.