A great war film from the distinguished filmography of James Cagney can be streamed on Max. One of the best actors from Hollywood’s Golden Age, Cagney played a heavy hand in some of the industry’s most celebrated movies. Over the years, he’s dabbled in a number of genres and excelled in most of them.

Of course, James Cagney’s image will always be intrinsically linked with the gangster movie genre. He starred in dozens of gangster movies, with several of them being considered among the best gangster movies of all time, including White Heat and The Public Enemy. Most of these released during the 1930s and 1940s when Cagney was regularly pumping out gangster films, sometimes multiple times a year. In between, he’d occasionally star in a movie from a different genre, to varying degrees of success. One of these was a great war movie – and it can be streamed now on Max.

James Cagney Leads A Great Cast In The Fighting 69th

The Fighting 69th Is One Of Several Movies Starring James Cagney & Pat O’Brien

One of the many classic movies available on the Max streaming service is The Fighting 69th, a movie set during World War I. Just one year after his critically acclaimed performance in The Roaring Twenties, James Cagney reunited with its director, Raoul Walsh, for The Fighting 69th. The war movie was the eighth of nine collaborations between Cagney and Pat O’Brien, who had been a frequent co-star of Cagney during the 1930s, including in The Roaring Twenties.

James Cagney and Pat O’Brien led a stellar cast that included several other recognizable faces from this era in Hollywood, with many being notable character actors, including Alan Hale, Sr. and Dennis Morgan, the actor who famously played the тιтular character in Wizard of Oz. The Fighting 69th also gave supporting roles to Western favorite Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, William Lundigan, and George Brent, all three of which were leading actors at some point in their respective careers. Brent, for his part, was already a major star, having made several movies with screen icon Bette Davis.

The Fighting 69th Tells A Fascinating WWI True Story

It Follows The Real-Life Exploits Of A U.S. Army Regiment In World War I

The Fighting 69th follows the true story of a real-life World War I regiment. In the movie, James Cagney draws on his history of playing “tough guys” in gangster movies to portray Jerry Plunkett, a street-wise New Yorker with a bad atтιтude and a penchant for wisecracks. During World War I, Plunket enlists in the U.S. Army and forms a bond with Pat O’Brien’s Father Francis P. Duffy, who tries to guide Plunkett and help him fit in, despite his insubordination. Eventually, Plunkett finds camaraderie with his fellow soldiers as they endure the hardships of World War I together.

Its central character, Jerry Plunkett, never existed in real life, but Father Duffy – as well as a few other characters depicted in the film – are real people. They’re all ᴀssociated with the true story of the 69th Infantry Regiment, which has a storied history that dates all the way back to the days of the Civil War. Remembered as “The Fighting 69th,” the group fought in the trenches of Germany and suffered numerous casualties as they experienced artillery barrages and gas, and yet still managed to hold their position and help the Irish military score a victory against the German side.

What Other War Movies Has James Cagney Made?

James Cagney Made Very Few War Movies

The Fighting 69th was a rare experience for Cagney, considering that he’s never been known for making war films. However, that’s not to say the film stands on its own. Shortly after The Fighting 69th, Cagney headlined 1942’s Captain of the Clouds, an aviation war movie made to go along with the push for more patriotic films during World War 2. Much later in his career, James Cagney also starred in The Gallant Hours, a biographical film about Admiral William F. Bull and his activities during World War II.