Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

source: Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

Love the story, love the cast and love that Jimmy Cagney. This movie gets my undivided attention constantly. I've seen this one about forty times, and still can't get enough. Does anyone know what kind of car the rich girl drives?

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Harry Brown from the novel by Horace McCoy. It stars James Cagney, Barbara Payton, Helena Carter, Ward Bond, Luther Adler and Steve Brodie. Music is by Carmen Dragon and photography by J. Peverell Marley. Ralph Cotter (Cagney), career criminal, escapes from prison and crudely murders his partner during the escape. Hooking up with Holiday Carleton (Payton), the oblivious sister of the slain partner, Cotter quickly gets back into a life of crime and violence. Will his evil deed stay a secret? How long can he keep the corrupt coppers under wraps? And is his "other" romantic relationship with Margaret Dobson (Carter) doomed to failure? Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye seems to have gotten lost in the slipstream of White Heat which was released the previous year. An undoubted classic of the gangster/crime genre, and featuring one of Cagney's greatest acting performances, White Heat has unsurprisingly dwarfed many other below par genre entries. However, while it doesn't equal the searing ferocity of White Heat, both in tone and character performance by Cagney, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a seriously hard as nails movie. Energetic from the off, film is often brutal and cynical and awash with potently memorable scenes, with some deemed as being just too much, resulting in the film even being banned from theatres in Ohio! Female or a cripple, it matters not to the menacing force of nature that is Ralph Cotter. Gordon Douglas was a multi genre director, unfussy and able to keep things taut, he gets some super performances from the cast while never letting the pace sag. Cagney is a given, give him this sort of character and let him run with it and the rewards are plenty, though to an extent it's arguably a detriment to the film as a whole that it can't match Cagney's blood and thunder show. that said, Bond (big bad corrupt copper), Brodie (Cotter side-kick) and Adler (shifty lawyer) do shine through with imposing in character turns. Of much interest in the narrative is the dual lady characters that are firmly in Cotter's life. Both are very different from each other, and this gives the film a double whammy of femme fatales in waiting. Payton takes the honours, in what is the best written part in the film, where her Holiday Carleton is a good girl drawn in to a murky life by a bad man. While on the other side of the fence is Carter as bored rich girl Margaret Dobson, she likes fast cars and dangerous men, and this allows the actress to deftly sidle in to impact with potency in the smaller role. Photography isn't out of the ordinary, where the pic cries out for some film noir styled psychological menace, and the music is standard boom and bluster for a crime picture. But really this is about Cagney's super performance and the grim thematics contained within the piece, where much like Ralph Cotter himself, it doesn't ever pull its punches. The deal well and truly sealed by an ending that firmly pulls the movie into the film noir universe. 8/10

It's hard to believe that Above The Line talent like Gordon Douglas, Harry Brown and Horace McCoy could fall so badly into the old Flashback trap; you know the one, one character begins to tell another or, in this case, a crowded courtroom of something that happened in the past and almost as soon as we're in full flashback mode the character narrating disappears leaving us to watch a series of events at which he was not present and by extension could have no knowledge of. Perhaps the fact that this film is now 59 years old and what was arguably fast-moving then now veers toward the pedestrian draws attention to this basic flaw. It's quite possible that viewers at the time were prepared to put up with sloppiness like this if they were caught up in the plot. Clearly it was a cynical ploy to cash in on the success of the previous year's White Heat which provided Cagney with one of his finest gangster roles. He has another good gangster role here but it's never going to get even close to Cody Jarret. Neither Barbara Payton nor Helena Carter have any real charisma as the two love interests competing for Cagney and stalwarts such as Barton McLane, Luther Adler, Ward Bond and Rhys Williams appear to be walking through it and/or phoning it in. It's certainly watchable as a filler on television which is where I saw it and it did keep me watching til the finale which, inevitably, ended in tears.

The smash hit of "White Heat" (after years of mostly forgettable crime films) made Warner Brothers take James Cagney again, keep him brutal, throw in some high society hijinks, another floozy blonde (this time Barbara Payton), repeat the violent nature of his anti-hero and hope success will strike again. The result is mixed, a confusing narrative told through flashbacks from courtroom witnesses, of how Cagney basically got law makers to become law breakers. One classic scene (Payton tossing coffee at Cagney as he humorously keeps asking her for the extra ingredients) is a valentine to the famous grapefruit scene from "The Public Enemy". However, the remainder of the movie is poorly edited that makes the film flow awkwardly. This film attempts to soften the brutality of Cagney's epileptic character from "White Heat" with the introduction of a thrill-seeking socialite (Helena Carter) which leads into the slow-moving mid section that covers more of how Cagney bribed and blackmailed each of the participants involved in his robbery scheme, introduced in the opening scene where Cagney's whereabouts are in question by the audience. As for the replacement of Virginia Mayo (who moved on to light-hearted musical comedy's) with Payton, they've got a new vixen on their hands, one you watch go from innocent to vindictive, in spite of being the typical blonde floozy with extremely black roots. This makes her multi- dimensional character even more interesting than Mayo's especially when Cagney confronts her with a broken booze bottle. Her rising anger, expressed though rage in her eyes, makes her character unforgettable.

This flick is awesome. James Cagney and his brother made this with their own company and had all the right ingredients for a classic good guys and bad guys gig. I can never get enough of this movie as I am enamored with everything of the 20's, through the 50's films. I am also a certified car nut and wonder if anyone can identify the huge sports car driven by the young rich woman in the film? It looks like an import but with left-hand drive, I'm not quite sure. This film is a real work of an almost lost art. Films like it can be made today (such as L.A. Confidential) but not very often. Thank you to film preservation which unfortunately is too slow to save them all.

How fickle film history is! To think that this most intense crime thriller has been totally overlooked. I wouldn't say underrated, because it seems that everyone who has watched it agrees with me. I woke up ten minutes before this movie started on TV, flicked the switch, and thought, OK cool, a James Cagney movie. I wasn't prepared for the roller-coaster plunge through abyssal night. Or the violent way with which the riders carom off into the void. The ending scene is totally classic with dialogue and revelation that pitches the film into the darkest reaches of noir. Everything about this movie is hyped, Cotter (Cagney) hasn't got a bottle of champagne, he's got a jeroboam, he hasn't got a revolver, he's got an automatic, he hasn't got one honey, he's got two, we don't do 100 kilometers per hour, we do 100 miles per hour, and in a car the size of a carnival float. The guy's a total psycho, but not in the Robert Ryan way that turns you against his character, in the Cagney way where it's all like some big game to him. There are a lot of totally mesmerising scenes in this movie. Two stand out just for the sheer exhilaration factor - this is the bit where you coo out loud. When Barbara (Holiday Carleton) throws a pot of coffee at Cotter he says, 'No cream?', so she throws the cream at him, 'No sugar?' so he gets the sugar, and finally 'No cigar?'. I was on the floor. Then there is the scene where Helena (Margaret Dobson) takes him out for a drive in her sporty little number. She takes it up to a hundred to scare him, and then he stamps his foot on hers and takes it to 110 whilst she frantically swerves. Some people have commented on how the framing device of the court-case doesn't work. But for me it's total brutality, the director doesn't waste time with the minutiae of court proceedings, he just uses them to makes plain right from the very start that its all gonna end badly. It's a complete train wreck of a movie, there isn't an honest man in sight, and the casual nature of the violence just shocks you. Cutting kills people like he's taking out the trash, it's just another chore. There's also classic support from Ward Bond, in this movie he always looks like he's gonna screw you up and toss you away. This role stands apart from the usual supporting roles he gets, either buffoonish (Fort Apache), ineffectual (Johnny Guitar), foolishly vigilante (On Dangerous Ground). OK so we got broads with pzazz, we got dialogue to die for, we got utter magnetism from the lead actor (as only Cagney can be), and we've got total, anthracitic, ebonic, pitch-black noir. 11/10

As far as early-1950's Crime/Thrillers go, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (KTG, for short) was definitely something of a major let-down. This film, which starred veteran actor James Cagney (who at 51 was clearly too old and too tired-looking for his part), had the distinctive feel of being a "quickie" written all over it. And, speaking about James Cagney, I think (in his latter years) that he made for a mighty poor leading man. And here in KTG the viewer was expected to believe that this 5' 6" pipsqueak was a real lady-killer who was able to juggle, not one, but 2 hot, young babes (who were both bitterly jealous of each other) at one time. I mean, c'mon, this "lover-boy" business was just too unconvincing for words, especially since Cagney's character was such an unlikable, little bully with a huge chip on his shoulder to begin with. KTG's story was primarily a courtroom drama where each of the characters got their chance to recall (in extended flashbacks) their involvement in a payroll caper. This predictable, little tale featured the usual line-up of crooked cops, slimy lawyers and, yes (get this!), even newlyweds who slept in separate beds. My advice would be to pass on this dud. With there obviously being so many superior films from that era to chose from, there's no point in one wasting their time watching something as mediocre as this.

... and no this is not a remake. I just recently rewatched this, and for some reason I had thought Barbara Payton was actually Virginia Mayo. A second look taught me otherwise. I guess it was because that she looks so much like Virginia Mayo and she plays a role in this film similar to Ms. Mayo in White Heat. Ralph Cotter (James Cagney) is a prison inmate who breaks out with the help of another inmate, or maybe that is vice versa, because everybody involved in helping them make a run for it is involved with the other inmate - his sister, Holiday (Barbara Payton), his friends. The other inmate was shot by the guards trying to escape and, out of the view of the guards, Cotter kills the brother. This was probably seen as a necessity by Cotter to keep him from talking, but he didn't seem to not enjoy doing it. Cotter blames the brother's death on the guards. Back at her apartment, Cotter seduces his victim's sister, although his facial expression doesn't show affection, just conquest, probably as her apartment is a matter of convenience for him, a wanted man. This is a great examination of a psychopath, part gangster picture, part film noir. From the perspective of Cagney's character it is a gangster picture. From the perspective of his new gun moll, Holiday, it is a film noir. The story of a girl who never did anything wrong until she tried to help her brother escape because she thought he was framed and was going stir crazy. And then it is downhill from there with Cotter in charge of her life. And plus you sense she might have always been a little crazy too. She's at least very hard on walls as far as throwing things at them whenever her temper is ignited. Cagney pulls lots of questionable moves and crimes here that just happen to work out, some due to planning and bravado, some due to luck, some due to the fact that he has no conscience. Cagney does not get much meaningful dialogue, but he really doesn't need it. His character is written on his face. Cagney smiles when things are going his way. Expressionless when things are not with that cold stare. But then a surprise. What started out as a meaningless incident in the middle of the film that may have you wondering - What is THIS doing here?, well that incident comes back around at the end to what would have been a lucky break for anybody else, but would be a trap for Cotter. But again, he just loves risk and decides to chance it. Taking on all of this danger, thinking he can handle anyone and anything is his undoing. I said this was like White Heat in an alternate universe. And this is what I mean by that. Cagney is not doing a Cody Jarrett imitation but the comparison does hold up - cold and vicious yet he thinks on his feet. Payton's character is not like Mayo in White Heat. Mayo was as psychopathic as Cagney in that film and seemed to be married to him and staying with him for the high level of excitement and the occasional fur coat. But ultimately she loved nobody but herself. Payton's problem is that she loves him to death. With William Frawley as a chatty creepy prison guard a year before he became Fred Mertz. And with Ward Bond in probably his meanest role as a crooked police inspector who can stand toe to toe with Cagney in his portrayal of someone with ice water in his veins. He makes baddie Barton McLane look tame by comparison. Quite a bit of range when you consider that just two years later Bond was friendly failed fisherman Father Lonagan in "The Quiet Man". Highly recommended as a crime film where the tension never lets up.

The criminal Ralph Cotter (James Cagney) and his partner Carleton (Neville Brand) flee from the prison, but Carleton is wounded and Ralph executes him with a bullet on the head. Carleton's sister Holiday (Barbara Payton) helps Ralph to escape and kills a guard. The clever Ralph manipulates Holiday and she becomes his lover. Then he blackmails and bribes the dirty Inspector Charles Weber (Ward Bond) and Lieutenant John Reece (Barton MacLane) and associates to the corrupt lawyer Keith 'Cherokee' Mandon (Luther Adler). Ralph gets a new identity and he gets a license to carry gun. When Ralph meets the wealthy Margaret Dobson (Helena Carter), Mandon advises him that she is a dangerous woman, since her father is the powerful Ezra Dobson (Herbert Heyes). But the ambitious Ralph does not pay attention to Mandon's advice and leaves Holiday with tragic consequences. "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" is a combination of film-noir and gangster movie perfect to James Cagney in his usual role. The violent story is developed in flashback and Ralph Cotter is a ruthless and ambitious criminal that ends his career due to a female fatale, in an environment of crooked cops and lawyer. My vote is seven. Title (Brazil): "O Amanhã que não Virá" ("The Tomorrow that Will not Come")