Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Animenter There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

weezeralfalfa Immigrant Nick(Eddie Robinson) runs a barber shop in a small town, but there's a gambling operation in the back room. Nick is an adrenalin junkie. He doesn't mind risking all his savings and that of others in a high stakes poker game with the acknowledged king of high stakes gambling: Hickory Short. Losing all his stake to an imposter doesn't convince him that his lucky star has set. He raises another stake and returns to play Sleepy Sam(the imposter) and gang again. He wins this time, but the gang beats him up when he wants to run with his earnings. Nick raises another stake and, bravely, returns to Sleepy's lair once more. He plays Sleepy alone this time, in a winner take all arrangement, and wins. When the gang goes to beat him up again, two accomplices with guns burst through the door at a signal, and he leaves with his earnings. His deed is written up in the newspaper, which pleases him. He now tracks down the real Hickory Short, and wins in an even high stakes game. Now, he really feels like the king of the hill. But the police are being pressured by the public to reign him in, now that he has several casinos in the city. He somehow fixes it so that technically, he's not the owner of any of these illegal casinos, thus the police can't arrest him. Nick rubs the head of an African American for luck, has Cigars made in Cuba to his specification, always dresses smartly, takes pride in his manicured finger nails, has a weakness for cute blonds, is pleasant to everyone except those who cross him, and likes to be recognized as a famous hood who always outsmarts the cops.Nick and his pall Jack(James Cagney) are out riding when they are asked to take care of a nearly drowned young woman(Irene) who has been fished out of the river. Instead of taking her to the hospital, they take her home to revive her, and suggests she stay there until fully recovered. She tells them that she tried to kill herself because she's wanted by the police for blackmail. Nick's right hand man, Jack(Jimmy Cagney), doesn't trust her and wants her to leave. But Nick overrules him, and even hints at giving her an engagement ring. The police devise a scheme where they will capture Irene and offer her a reduced sentience if she will cooperate in a sting operation.(Sort of a legalized blackmail). At first, she nixes that idea, since Nick has been so kind to her. During the raid on one of Nick's casinos, Irene slips a horse racing card into Nick's jack pocket. Nick is not aware that there is an obscure law against possessing such a card. Thus, he thinks nothing of it when he discovers it. But, Jack saw her do this, and argues she must be working for the police... I will stop here, and let you discover the ending. Although this is the one film that includes both Eddie and Cagney, it's pretty much Eddie's film. Cagney's best scene is when he does a pantomime for Nick describing who's at the front door. After this very early film for both future stars, they were considered too "hot" to be cast in the same film.... Noel Francis plays Marie. Initially she's Sleepy Sam's moll. But after Nick impoverishes Sleepy, apparently she becomes Nick's moll, although we don't see too much of her any more... I don't believe anyone was killed by bullets, and guns are brandished only during the casino raid, and the one poker game.I have a few questions: It appears that Sleepy's gang usually only gamble among themselves. So, how do they, as a group, make any money at gambling?When Sleepy's gang beat up Nick when he wants to run with his earnings, Nick only shows a small cut on his forehead and a sore jaw. Seems like he should have had more extensive injuries. Not clear to me how Nick built several casinos around the city, yet technically didn't own any, so the police couldn't arrest him.Unclear to me whether Nick is uncommonly lucky all the time, or if he has some tricks to insure his winning. Maybe some of both?

dougdoepke A talented gambler moves up from small town action to big city, where a string of blondes can't be trusted.Not so much a gangster film as a Robinson charm fest. Here he trades the snarl of Little Caesar (1930) for an easy smile and a ready quip. Sure he's working the wrong side of the law, this time as a big-time gambler, but there's nary a tommy gun in sight. Besides, the law sort of comes and goes when it comes to enforcement. And get a load of that string of blonde cuties, always getting him in trouble. No wonder his real affection drifts in Cagney's direction. Yes, it's that Cagney, and catch him camping it up in the movie's first part. He's got a secondary role here, despite Warner's movie poster. That probably resulted from Public Enemy (1931) hitting it big at about the same time. I like the early part best, when the super-confident Nick (Robinson) gets fleeced in a crooked poker game by a guy named Hickory Short (great name). Of course Robinson being Robinson, retribution is soon on the way. In many years of old movies, I don't recall this Pre-Code production appearing. I'm guessing one reason is the patronizing racism, where rubbing a Black Man's head amounts to rubbing a rabbit's foot. Plus they're stuck with names like Snake-eyes and Suntan. Too bad. All in all, the movie's a light-hearted crime feature where no one gets killed, and the blondes keep on appearing. Lucky Nick. Now if he can just figure which ones are on the level.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Smart Money offers viewers a chance to see two well-known stars of the 1930s gangster film cycle, together in action: Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. Mr. Robinson plays the lead in this picture, with Mr. Cagney offering excellent support. But the real treat, in this writer's opinion, is the script by John Bright. Mr. Bright previously wrote the book 'Beer and Blood' that serves as the basis for Public Enemy. Since Bright is writing about his experiences growing up in Chicago, he clearly knows these types of characters first-hand. As a result, there is an authenticity in this picture that makes it just as important as Public Enemy or Little Caesar. Though in the case of this film, the emphasis seems to be on humor, rather than violence.

classicsoncall You might expect the only screen pairing of Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney to be a hard edged gangster drama on the order of Robinson's own "Little Caesar" or Cagney's "Public Enemy". In fact, "Smart Money" isn't a gangster flick per se, though it has it's seamy under world characters like Sleepy Sam (Ralf Harolde) and Hickory Short. Robinson even has a colorful handle of his own - Nick the Barber. You would think he got the name from cutting the throats of his victims, but he's actually a barber by profession, and a mighty lucky one at that. When his buddy Jack (Cagney) comes up with the idea to stake him for ten grand to go big time, Nick sees it as an opportunity to rise above his meager Irontown surroundings.That's where the story gets a little sloppy for my taste. After Nick gets hustled in 'The City', there are no repercussions over the lost grubstake back in Irontown. Word of his embarrassing loss doesn't seem to faze a new group of financial backers who raise another fifty thousand dollars, which he uses to track down Sleepy Sam in 'Another City' for revenge. I got a bit of a kick out of that actually, why not just call 'Another City' New York, since 'Walter Winchell on Broadway' headed one of his columns on the fast rising card sharp Nick the Barber. Which brings up another question - how would the results from a series of private card games ever make it into the newspaper? Robinson gets to play against a number of pretty blonds in the picture as he fancies himself a ladies man, but boy, the lines they came up with in the 1930's were something else. How about his come on to Marie early in the story - "Say you're a cute little trick"! There's also the blatant racism of the era; when Nick tears a bill in half for the black porter on the train, he states that the other half would be "at the other end of the line, if you're a good boy".Back to Robinson and Cagney together in this film. I almost hate to say it, but Cagney's character was a bit swishy in the story, getting touchy feely with Nick more than once. Any doubt of the homosexual subtext to their relationship is put to rest near the end of the story when they argue over Irene (Evalyn Knapp) staying at Nick's apartment. When Jack demands to know 'how long is this gonna last?', Nick replies "She'll be gone in a couple of days, and then you can be my sweetheart again dearie". Do you know how many times I had to play that over to be sure I heard it right? The one thing that's kind of intriguing if you've seen some of Cagney's very first films, he had a commanding presence in those pictures even when second billed or in a bit part. Here it looks like he might have been asked to tone it down a bit in deference to his co-star. Not to say he was laid back, considering my comments above, but it didn't look like he was willing to upstage Robinson. It's a little surprising that the two actors worked only this one time together, considering they crossed paths with other Warner Brothers contract players numerous times, like Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and Joan Blondell to name just a few.