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6.5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The St. Louis Kid remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have a soft spot for pre-code era scrappiness, sure. It is not a masterpiece, but it moves. If you hate old movies that feel like they were stitched together in a weekend, stay away. This is pure 1934 popcorn fodder.
James Cagney is basically playing... well, James Cagney. He is a truck driver with a temper that makes a tea kettle look calm. He spends the first half of the movie just being an absolute nuisance to a woman who owns a diner. It is the kind of "romance" where they just yell until they fall in love.
The whole thing feels like two different movies glued together with some industrial-strength adhesive. One minute it is a lighthearted bicker-fest in a beanery, then suddenly it is a gritty noir-lite about milk monopolies and thugs in suits. It is jarring, but honestly, that is kind of why I liked it.
There is a moment where the dialogue gets so rapid-fire it feels like they were trying to finish the scene before the film ran out. You can practically hear the script supervisor tapping their watch.
It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Royal Family of Broadway, though maybe a bit less stagey. Still, there is a certain charm to how unpolished this feels. You can almost see the wires holding the plot together.
Cagney just owns the screen. He is doing that thing where he leans in way too close to people while talking. It’s a very specific brand of intimidation that makes you wonder how he ever got any actual trucking done.
The ending feels like they ran out of ideas and just decided to wrap it up with a few punches. It doesn't really land, but by that point, you’ve already spent the time, so who cares. Sometimes a movie is just a movie, you know? 🚛🥛