These Wilder Years

These Wilder Years marks the only teaming of James Cagney and Barbara Stanwyck. It would have been nice if they had been teamed for a better film. Can't you just see Stanwyck in Virginia Mayo's part in White Heat?

Still These Wilder Years is not a bad film, high class soap opera the kind of stuff that became popular on television in the Eighties.

James Cagney is a millionaire industrialist looking for the son whose paternity he denied when he was sowing his wild oats. Barbara Stanwyck runs the home for unwed mothers where the girl who Cagney was involved with came and gave up her kid for adoption.

Cagney has the resources to get his way, but Stanwyck with the confidentiality of adoption records has the law on her side. Or has she?

Walter Pigeon plays Cagney's attorney and Don Dubbins, a young actor whose career Cagney was pushing plays the son and both do well. Look for bit parts from Tom {BillyJack} Laughlin, Michael Landon, and Dean Jones all at the start of their careers.

Cagney and Stanwyck are both players with an edge to their parts. It's like they've been taken down into second gear for this film. Still it's a pleasant enough movie. Look for young Betty Lou Keim who is a current unwed mother in Stanwyck's charge. Her scenes with Cagney are quite poignant.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Cagney in this movie. I must admit, after viewing a lot of his films I've grown accustomed to his famous tough-guy image. But, after seeing "These Wilder Years" I was a little surprised to see a softer, gentler Cagney. It's a pleasant contrast in light of his previous roles. Cagney is a splendid and versatile actor and I've always relished seeing him play comedic and dramatic parts as well as gangster/hoodlum roles. He's simply irresistable to watch on screen and I'm always interested to see how he's going to react. You never know when he's going to "sprinkle the goodies" in a scene. He is always good to his audience. In "These Wilder Years", Cagney plays a successful businessman in search of a son that was put up for adoption twenty years ago. Even though Cagney's character pretty much has everything he wants, there's just something missing and he has to fulfull this part of his life. I don't want to give away what happens in the movie but the interactions between Barbara Stanwyck and Betty Lou Keim are compelling and at times, very touching.

Although, I wouldn't say this is Oscar material and there are plenty of good movies out there, this is one definitely worth seeing -- Cagney fan or not :)

The two old pros, Cagney and Stanwyck are the reason to watch this one. Neither chews the scenery; there's no romantic subplot between them, yet their scenes together are wonderful. Stanwyck shows no femme fatal sexiness or been there done that humor. She's just a nice, hard working person, and when confronted with Cagney's type A "I'm used to getting what I want", she sweetly deflects it instead of the fireworks you'd normally expect from a Stanwyck character. For his part, Cagney drops his tough guy image and when faced with the pain his past misdeeds have caused, makes no attempt to evade responsibility.

They're on opposite sides, yet show a respect for each other.

No motivation is shown for Bradford's sudden desire to drop everything to find the son he abandoned 20 years before. It might have been better if a chance meeting with Betty Lou Keim's abandoned, pregnant teen had served as the spark. Clearly, she reminds him of the girl he abandoned.

The other major flaw, is that being in his 50s, it would have been more realistic if Bradford's abandonment of his newborn son been 30 years before instead of 20. The guy that plays his son (Don Dubbins) looks and acts much older than a 20 year old. Also, 20 years before, Bradford would have been in his mid 30s, way too old to be a callow college boy. And is 20 years enough time to build such a large business? I also can't help wishing they'd cast someone who looked like Cagney to play Cagney's long lost son, like Richard Jaeckel.

I was drawn to this, as I so often am with many TCM movies, by the cast, and was very impressed with the film as a whole. Dealing with the issue of adoption, it centers on an unmarried tycoon who seeks out his son, the offspring of the girl he abandoned in his youth. It is an intelligent script which deal sensitively with the competing rights and needs of adopted children and of biological parents. Cagney is wonderful as the tycoon, reminding us that he was a better actor than just his gangster roles would lead us to believe. Walter Pigeon is marvelous as the lawyer, and though I've never been a fan of Barbara Stanwyck, she and Cagney play beautifully against each other here. As some have said the plot is a bit contrived, but all stories are contrived to some extent. In this the relationships play out convincingly, and I found the ending genuinely touching. This overlooked gem is well worth watching.

Not quite a weeper, These Wilder Years is one of those small-scale, thoughtful dramas that rarely if ever are made nowadays. It's about a steel tycoon (James Cagney) who, in mid-life crisis, tries to find the son he abandoned, along with the mother, twenty years earlier. Used to getting his own way by means of money and mouthpieces, he runs into the head of a home for what once were called "wayward girls" (Barbara Stanwyck). She refuses to bend to his charm, his money, or, finally, his legal talent (Walter Pidgeon).

The story -- possibly more resonant today than when it was released -- takes some unexpected (not to say far-fetched) turns; it's sentimental, all right, but stays on the dry side of mawkish. Its main problem is one of audience expectations. Starring two of the most powerful actors in the history of movies -- Stanwyck and Cagney -- it keeps them at half-throttle throughout. Of course they acquit themselves admirably: they're both seasoned troupers with a wide range. But the confrontational fireworks we hope for and expect never quite come. Nonetheless, These Wilder Years remains a solid and fairly credible film.