In the role of a talented newsman/dipsomaniac Cagney gives one of his most startling bravura performances. His inability to resist booze causes Cagney to lose his job and also the love of a girl who wants to marry him. He goes on a spectacular bender and, with legs turned to jelly,
Cagney collapses into the gutter, almost getting run over by a truck. He is later thrown into a drunk tank to undergo the horrors of withdrawal and to share the nightmares of those around him. With grim resolve, Cagney vows never to drink again and joins an AA-type group. He regains his job and
rises to the position of city editor but is always "one drink away" from destruction. He lives with Gleason, who keeps an unopened bottle of booze in the kitchen cabinet as a reminder, and to let Cagney know that if he takes a drink from it, the long slide to the bottom will begin all over again.
Cagney's publisher, Massey, comes to him, asking that he help reform his alcoholic nephew, Young, who, ironically, is involved with Cagney's old girl friend, Thaxter. Cagney undertakes the difficult job, which proves almost impossible, and during the course of the conversion, drunkard Young
unwittingly causes the death of Gleason through his mobster contacts. One of the most powerful scenes occurs near the end when sadistic mobster Leonard (did he ever play anything else?), knowing Cagney and Young are reformed drunks, pours booze all over them, then gives Cagney a large drink and
orders him to gulp it down. Cagney throws the booze in Leonard's face, instead of swallowing what he evidently craves.
Cagney's performance is absolutely spellbinding. He easily convinces the viewer that he is stone drunk in some scenes, even though the great actor was never a tippler. When he is sober, his agonizing over the booze waiting in the cupboard makes the viewer's throat feel parched. The realistic drunk
scenes by Cagney were pulled from his own boyhood experiences; his father suffered from alcoholism. The actor also studied the mannerisms of drunks, how an alcoholic forces himself to stagger stiff-legged to compensate for wobbly legs, incorporating these movements into his role.
Cagney's part was based upon the life of one of his close friends, Jimmy Richardson, the famous city editor of the Los Angeles Examiner, whom the actor interviewed at great length. The role of the publisher was originally set for Adolph Menjou, Cagney's choice, but the suave Menjou had commitments
elsewhere, so Massey was chosen. Young's role was tragically close to his own life; the handsome actor (nominated for Best Supporting Actor here) later an Oscar winner for THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? (1969), ruined his career and life with booze, and eventually committed suicide. COME FILL THE
CUP isn't quite as good as THE LOST WEEKEND, but Cagney's unforgettable performance makes the production superior. leave a comment
