Great Guy

Starring: Jimmy Cagney Director: John G. Blystone

A government agent blows the whistle on his corrupt co-workers.

DVD Features:

Description by OLDIES.com:

James Cagney gives a gritty performance as the little guy battling big league corruption. When he takes over for the former deputy of the Bureau of Weights and Measures, Johnny Cave (Cagney) butts heads with high-ranking city official Marty Cavanaugh, who is corrupt as the day is long. Johnny is framed by Cavanaugh's office when he tries to turn in a crooked philanthropist. His evidence is stolen and the case falls apart. He finds help in the nick of time from his fiancee Janet (Mae Clarke, recipient of the famous grapefruit in the face in Public Enemy) who aids his attempt to retrieve the incriminating papers from the mugs and save his skin in the process. With his patented tough guy veneer and fists swinging, Cagney roughhouses his way through this first of two screen appearances for Grand National Pictures.

Product Description:

Ex-prizefighter Johnny Cave (James Cagney) exposes corrupt officials and racketeers while working for the Department of Weights and Measures. Eventually the boisterous Cave has to face a corrupt alderman who put the last Inspector in the hospital.

Plot Synopsis:

Department of Weights and Measures Inspector Johnny Cave finds himself in the midst of deceitful government officials when he takes over for his boss, whom the officials have beaten and put in the hospital.
Cave quickly acts to turn everyone in, but his corrupt counterparts refuse to go quietly. Soon he exposes the hidden government agenda that has his coworkers bilking the American taxpayers out of several thousand dollars per year by stealing an equally small amount from everybody.
Although he's on the right side of the law, he has to rely on more than righteous words when it comes to saving his own neck. The villains manage to frame him on a phony blackmail charge that taints the public's view of Cave. Now he not only has to clean up the bureaucracy around him, but he must clear his own name, too.

Plot Keywords:

Action | Boxers | Drama | Organized Crime

Production Notes:

• Released by Grand National
• Additional cast: Robert Gleckler (Cavanaugh); Douglas Wood (The Mayor); Grace Goodall (Mrs. Ogilvie)
• Additional crew: Henry McCarty (screenplay)
• Cagney's appearance in "Great Guy" ended a year-long absence from film. The Warner Bros. brass had decided to lay Cagney off because of the long legal skirmishes that resulted after his contract expired the prior year. He allegedly received numerous telegrams praising his return to the screen.

Cast and Crew: