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Big City - 1937
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Coming up next is 1937's "Big City", a story about two warring cab companies in New York City. When one of the cabbies is murdered, a rival cab company tries to pin the whole thing on a foreign born lady. Her husband fights to prove her innocence and keep her from being deported.
The film's cast includes Luise Rainer, Spencer Tracy, Charley Grapewin, Janet Beecher, Eddie Quillan, Victor Varconi, William Demarest, Irving Bacon, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Paul Harvey, Jack Dempsey, and Ruth Hussey.
Our story begins in New York City. Cab driver Joe Benton and his wife Anna are headed home after a long day of work.
On the way, Joe gets into a very minor fender bender with a rival cab company. Joe works for "Independent Cabs" while the rivals work for "Comet Cabs". Multiple Comet Cab drivers are on the scene and are gunning for a fight. Only the intervention of a police officer diffuses the situation.
Joe and Anna shrug off the near-fight and head home. They are a deliriously happy couple. I love the way they tease each other and play practical jokes on one another. Tasting some of Anna's cooking, Joe tells her, "Honey, if you’ve ever wondered why a great guy
like me married a homely little dame like you,
it’s, uh, because of the way you cook a meatball."
Joe shares his cab with his brother-in-law Paul. While Paul is working one night, the Comet Cab company ambushes him, wrecking the cab, and starting a huge fight. Paul escapes with cuts and bruises.
The guys from the Independent Cab company get together and decide how to handle the situation. Paul decides to infiltrate the Comet Cab company by working there and figuring out a way to get back at them. Unfortunately, there is a mole with Independent, who tips off the Comet Cab company that Paul wants to work there.
One night, Anna celebrates her birthday. She announces to the delighted guests that she is expecting a baby. Everyone congratulates her, and the evening is a huge success.
After Anna's party, Paul leaves for work. It starts to rain heavily, so Anna sends on a raincoat and sweater in a box so they don't get wet. Sadly, she sends them with the mole in the Independent Cab company.
The Comet Cab company rigs an explosion to take place in their own locker room with an angle to pin it on Paul, whom they intend should die. However, Paul survives the explosion, only to have one of the Comet men shoot him repeatedly until he's dead.
At the inquest into Paul's death, the District Attorney focuses on Anna, saying there must've been explosives in the box she sent. She insists it was just a raincoat and sweater. Besides Anna, the forty men who work for Independent are under suspicion as well.
Joe and Beecher, the head of Comet Cabs, almost come to blows when Beecher vigorously questions Anna. He vows to have her and all forty men put behind bars (even though he organized the explosion himself).
The District Attorney doesn't believe Anna or the forty men were involved, yet they realize that Beecher will stop at nothing to see them in jail. When he realizes that Anna is not yet an American citizen, he sees the opportunity to have the whole case thrown out by having her deported. "Manna from Heaven!" he declares when he comes to that realization.
At Paul's funeral, men come to take Anna away to face deportation. Desperately, she runs away through the back door of the church and disappears without a trace.
However, Joe knows exactly where to find his wife. She's taken refuge with some of his cabbie friends. They all decide to shuffle Anna around between them so that she can't be deported.
Paul is faithful to visit Anna often, bringing her late night treats such as ice cream. They even try to come up with a name for their child. He wants a boy to be named Joe. She insists it will be a girl to be named Frances.
The District Attorney drags all the Independent Cab men into his office and tells them that if they give up Anna, they will not face prosecution. They don't comply, and eventually they're all arrested.
When Anna sees the hardship that will face the men's wives because they are in jail, she decides to give herself up in exchange for the men being let out of jail.
After a while, Anna is placed on board a ship bound for her home country. Joe visits her and sees the crowded third class room. He wants to get her moved to a private room. The purser says it can be arranged if Joe can come up with the money before the ship sails.
While searching for a way to get the money, Joe uncovers a letter that proves Anna's innocence.
He rushes to find the Mayor, who is attending a dinner at boxer Jack Dempsey's restaurant. He pleads with the Mayor to come to the ship and give the order that Anna can be taken off.
Everyone, including the many professional boxers in attendance at the dinner, pile into cars and speed towards where the ship is waiting. The cars go almost eighty miles an hour, causing extreme nervousness to the passengers (this was at a time when the speed limit was about 40 mph).
When they see a bunch of the Independent cabs waiting at the dock, the men from the Comet Cab company call together as many of their drivers as possible to start a fight.
Inside, the Mayor lets Anna know that she can get off the boat and remain in New York City. However, she goes into labor. When the ship's doctor is sent for, the Mayor looks around the cramped, over-crowded third class stateroom and says, "Let's call an ambulance, I don't like it here!"
The Comet Cab men arrive in full force and smash into the Independent cars. They also start a fistfight with any Independent driver they can see.
Unfortunately for them, the professional fighters (which include Jack Dempsey, Jim Jeffries, Jimmy McLarnin, Maxie Rosenbloom, Jim Thorpe, Frank Wykoff, Jackie Fields, Mountain Man Dean, Gus Sonnenberg, George Godfrey, Joe Rivers, Cotton Warburton, Bull Montana, Snowy Baker, and Taski Hagio) are more than ready for a fight.
The Mayor gives his permission for the professional boxers to jump in, and what follows is quite an enjoyable scene as we watch those Comet Cab men get their comeuppance.
Anna gives birth to a boy in the ambulance as the fight is going on. Later, at the christening, surrounded by the Mayor and all forty of the Independent Cab drivers, we find out the babies name. Joe and Anna named their son after all the men who helped them out. "I hereby christen thee Joseph Arnold Anthony
Aaron Arthur Andrew Albert Alexander Bernard Brian Benjamin Barney Charles
Chester Carl Christopher Clifford David Daniel Donald Dudley Douglas Edgar Edward
Ernest Frank Frederick George Giuseppe Harry Herbert John Jack James Jerome
Louis Luigi Leonard Max Michael Morris…"
Cast rundown:
Luise Rainer.......................................Anna Benton
Spencer Tracy....................................Joe Benton
Charley Grapewin...............................The Mayor
Janet Beecher.....................................Sophie Sloane
Eddie Quillan......................................Mike Edwards
Victor Varconi....................................Paul Roya
William Demarest...............................Beecher
Irving Bacon......................................Jim Sloane
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams.....................Danny Devlin
Paul Harvey.......................................District Attorney Gilbert
Jack Dempsey....................................Himself
Ruth Hussey......................................Mayor's Secretary
And that's it for Big City. Near the end of the film, when the cabs carrying the Mayor and the professional fighters are racing through the streets of "New York" to get to the pier on time, we find that they are not in New York at all. They are actually racing down Hollywood and Vine. Schwab's drugstore can be seen as the cars go whizzing past.
One of the things that made me chuckle is the sign on the door at Jack Dempsey's restaurant. The sign boasts that the climate is "scientifically air cooled". I guess the words "air conditioning" hadn't caught on yet.
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