Absolutely the worst movie.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

. . . documenting how pretty much every American business in 1936 was short-changing its customers by 3% to 50% (the higher percentage always was in effect when defenseless orphans were involved) on EVERY transaction. Law enforcement existed primarily to squelch any dissent, destroy all evidence of greedy gouging, and to liquidate any particularly troublesome followers of the Ten Commandments. In GREAT GUY, James Cagney portrays the title hero, the one honest man left in the U.S., the chief deputy of New York City's Weights and Measures Bureau. He's under constant physical attack and lethal threats in GREAT GUY, and doesn't seem long for this world. America always has fancied herself "The City on a Hill," but if the Second Coming came tomorrow, GREAT GUY shows how the whips would be flying as a lot more than the money changers' tables got overturned. Things are far worse now than in 1936. Gasoline prices SPIKE as the value of a barrel of oil nose-dives and record inventory fills every storage tank available. Food packagers put less and less product in bigger and bigger containers. I recently bought a pair of jeans from America's largest retailer, and the pockets turned out to be weaker than this national chain store's brand of facial tissues. Laws seem to be written to allow the One Per Cent to filch and hoard 99% of the country's wealth. Are we Mice, or are we Men? Watch GREAT GUY to see the Fat Cats licking their chops!

Just saw this movie for the first time last night and I really enjoyed it. It's not every day you see a film about the Weights and Measures investigator. I got to tell ya, even watching Cagney in this B movie was completely enjoyable. These movies are a lot different when the lead actor shows up to act the walls off the place. He is 100% believable from start to finish and it really ups the value and watch-ability of the film.My favorite scenes are his Investigation scenes. The film has several twists which are nice and some fun action scenes. Pretty intense fight scene at the end between Cagney and one of the bad guys. The two stuntmen were really duking it out.

I found this an extremely satisfying movie. Well-plotted, Cagney has integrity and won't buckle to corrupt businesspeople or civic officials and can't be bought off. It's not a big movie, but it's a notable movie for upholding the importance of retaining one's integrity. Too often audiences become jaded and criticize the pacing or some minor plot weakness but in this film Cagney doesn't sell out and it seems to me that that is more important than any minor oversight in the creation of the film. I found this movie very very enjoyable and satisfying. Just a great little movie and folks might say it's simplistic or Cagney is just being a tough, but the point is, the man cannot be bought and that's a value that, if you hold on to, cannot be taken from you.

The interesting role for James Cagney is probably the main reason to watch "Great Guy". The role in itself is a fairly uncommon one for a leading role, and Cagney gives it his own distinctive style. The movie overall is a solid if rather predictable crime drama, with a couple of interesting details.Cagney plays a new official in charge of the bureau of weights and measures, which is a relatively creative choice for a movie hero. As Cagney goes about investigating various instances of fraud, his character gradually takes on more and more of the tough guy persona that you associate with Cagney. At the same time, the stakes become ever higher in his battle with the sources of corruption.The supporting cast is adequate, but they are generally overshadowed rather easily by Cagney. Mae Clarke is relatively appealing as Cagney's fiancée, but she mostly has to react to situations, since the script and dialogue don't give her much more to work with.The movie as a whole largely follows a familiar pattern, and with a lesser star it would have been a rather routine affair. Cagney brings it up a couple of notches, and his own performance certainly won't disappoint anyone either.