Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

Hey, this kid can dance.

Mention James Cagney's name and chances are it's his gangster roles that people will remember - white heat , The Roaring Twenties, The Public Enemy.

But give a chance for this fine biopic by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca, The Sea Hawk) from 1931 of American composer George M. Cohan.

Granted, it's a glowing look at the amazingly prolific career of the Rhode Island native. He wrote more than 300 songs including The Yankee Doodle Boy, Mary is a Grand Old Name and You're a Grand Old Flag. Cohan was known as 'the man who owned Broadway' in the early 1900s because of all his shows that were on the boards. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal in 1936. Wow. Cohan lived quite the life.

Yankee Doodle Dandy is great entertainment - good music, fine dance and some wonderful performances from the likes of Cagney, as Cohan, Walter Huston and a very young Joan Leslie.

Cohan grew up performing, and travelling widely, with The Four Cohans. The family act featured his parents and sister. Cohan oozes confidence, but his cocky ways irritate promoters and Broadway producers. He gets his break with Little Johnny Jones in 1904 and his career takes off.

Talk about a multi-tasker. Cohan wrote his songs, produced and starred in his many shows.

Cagney is a joy to watch here, especially when he decides to woo stage hopeful Mary (Joan Leslie), who thinks he's a much older man. Watch his dance moves when he's still in full makeup.

Yankee Doodle Dandy celebrates America and its people. See this film.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: From Cagney by Cagney, published in 1976

"Psychologically I needed no preparation for Yankee Doodle Dandy, or professionally either. I didn't have to be a song-and-dance man. I was one."

Cagney read the script and wasn't impressed by the film's lack of humour. He wanted Julius and Phil Epstein (Strawberry Blonde, The Bride Came C.O.D.) "to liven it up and inject humor."

He studied dance with Johnny Boyle, who appeared in The Cohan Revue of 1916.

Cohan, who died five months after the film was released, gave Yankee Doodle Dandy his blessing.

Yankee Doodle Dandy was nominated for eight Oscars, including best picture and director, and won three (actor, sound, recording).

Joan Leslie is still alive at this writing. Her television appearances include The Incredible Hulk and Charlie's Angels!

Eddie Foy, Jr., is yet another actor who appears in Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood. I have to see this film.

Douglas Croft appears as a young George M. Cohan. He also played Lou Gehrig as a boy in The Pride of the Yankees and was Robin in a 1943 version of Batman.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Fred Dobbs has a bad case of gold fever.

Maybe that's what happens when a middle-aged American is constantly broke in Mexico in 1925.

Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) is reduced to begging, supposedly for meals, but often to cover his bar tab or a shave and a cut at the barbershop. An offer of steady work holds promise. But after slaving away under the cruel heat for several weeks, bossman McCormick (Bruce Bennett) leaves his employees with no pay.

Then, Dobbs knows about being paid an honest day's wages for an honest day's work. He and another American on hard times, Curtin (Tim Holt), find McCormick, beat him and take just the money they're owed. No greed there. Dobbs' good luck continues when he wins 200 pesos from 1/20 of a lottery ticket he purchased. He's overjoyed with his good fortune on a ticket that includes the number 13. The cash inspires an idea from Dobbs. He and Curtin can become partners, recruit Howard (Walter Huston), an old man with experience working at gold mines, and set out to earn their own fortune. Dobbs offers to cover some of Curtin's share of the start up costs. No greed there.

But Walter is wise in many ways for his years. He knows his way around the Mexican countryside. Walter speaks the language. He also knows how gold's lure can eat away at a man's soul. Walter also happens to still be sleeping in a dorm with lots of other men in his latter years. Why isn't he living in luxury after his mining experience?

Funny how it's Dobbs who wants to call it quits as the trio labours through tough terrain with no promising finds in sight.

A sweet spot in a mountain offers plenty of gold for the three men to be comfortable for the rest of their lives. Curtin and Howard have modest goals. Not Dobbs. He wants lots and lots of money. "I need dough and plenty of it," he vows, with plans to spend the cash on fine clothes and women. Greed, and plenty of it, has seeped into Dobbs' veins.

He begins acting irrationally, convinced Curtin and Howard are out to cheat him out of his gold. This happens even after Curtin saves his life twice.

The trio has other problems including Mexican bandits in the area who'd be happy to get their hands on the miners' weapons and stash of precious metal.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre earned three Academy Awards for best director and screenplay (John Huston) and supporting actor (Huston). The film's exploration about greed still stands today. Dobbs becomes totally engrossed by his pursuit for gold. Money and power still hold plenty of lure in 2013, but there's always someone else with similar goals ready to take it away. Outside forces have a funny way of messing around with one man's dreams.

Tim Holt and Bruce Bennett, who makes a brief appearance as another American with a passion for a buck, don't stand up well next to Bogart and the senior Houston. Better casting with these two roles would have made a great film even better. Bogart's Dobbs gets so consumed by riches his judgment is clouded and he risks losing everything he worked so hard to get. Viewer beware.

RATING: 8/10

FUN FACTS: Director Huston appears as a wealthy American who helps Bogart out, repeatedly, in Tampico.

Tim Holt was Virgil Earp in My Darling Clementine.

Barton MacLane also appeared with Bogart in The Maltese Falcon.

The young lad who sells Bogart his winning lottery ticket is Robert Blake (Baretta).

Pat Flaherty, who appeared in Mutiny on the Bounty with Clark Gable, has a small role here as an American who knows about McCormicks's tricks.