Frisco Kid is a 1935 film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring James Cagney.
The setting is 1854 San Francisco, when it was still something of a Wild West town. Bat Morgan (Cagney) is a sailor who comes off his ship with ideas of heading for the gold fields. Instead, he is shanghaied by some goons at a sleazy bar, conked on the head and hauled off to another ship—except that Bat comes to and overpowers the guy rowing him out to the ship. He then hands over his kidnapper and the kidnapper's next victim, for $500.
Bat gets a job as a bouncer and assistant to Morra (Ricardo Cortez), the owner of a crooked casino. But Bat has ambition and decides to start his own casino, one that will be classier and appeal to the moneyed sort rather than the lowlifes who hang out at Morra's. Part of his motivation is to win the affections of Jean Barrat (Margaret Lindsay), the lovely young lady who owns a newspaper—a newspaper that is crusading against the very vice and corruption that fund Bat's growing empire.
No relation to the 1979 film The Frisco Kid starring Gene Wilder.
Tropes:
- As You Know: Judge Crawford tells the audience Ford's role in the story by saying to him "Ford, as the editor of the Tribune, you have the power" to lead an anti-vice campaign.
- At the Opera Tonight: Judge Crawford builds an opera house in order to bring some culture to crime-ridden San Francisco. Bat, Morra, and other crooks from the Barbary Coast come to opening night at the opera just to troll the judge. Unfortunately things go wrong when Morra and Crawford get into an argument and Morra shoots him.
- Bad Guy Bar: The Occidental, a sleazy dive bar where sailors are drugged and shanghaied as part of a continuing operation. The Occidental sits right on the pier, with stairs leading down to the beach where unconscious sailors are dumped before they're hauled away.
- Call-Forward: "Someday, San Francisco will be a great city," says Jean as she urges Bat to reform.
- Corrupt Politician: Jim Daley, a city councilman who is deeply involved with Morra and other criminals of the Barbary Coast. He joins up with Bat and helps Bat to get his casino built. Later he kills Ford when Ford threatens to expose him.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Jean goes to visit the grave of her father, the crusading newspaper publisher who got stabbed in the back. She finds Bat visiting the grave of his best friend Solly, who got shot in the back with a bullet that was meant for Bat.
- Handshake Refusal: When Bat meets Jean in the company of her friend Judge Crawford, he sticks out his hand. Crawford, a judgmental Jerkass who disapproves of Bat, ignores him.
- Hook Hand: "Shanghai Duck", the lowlife who is so busy shanghai-ing other sailors that it's part of his name, has a hook for a right hand. He has a habit of killing people with it and nearly kills Bat, but Bat wins the fight and kills the Duck.
- In the Back: An enraged Ford confronts Daley and promises to ruin him, after Daley springs Morra from jail. Ford knocks Daley down, then turns to leave, and Daley the coward shoots him in the back and kills him.
- Press-Ganged: The demand for sailors is so high that captains happily pay $250 a head for men who are drugged or knocked out and shanghaied into service. Bat is nearly shanghaied, but he manages to turn the tables on his kidnapper and turn over both the kidnapper and the next victim to be shanghaied.
- Red Light District: The Barbary Coast, a kingdom of theft, kidnapping, gambling dens, prostitution (although that's only hinted at), and murder. Bat thinks the Barbary Coast has to clean itself up a bit to stop the reform-minded citizens of San Francisco from doing it for them.
- Torches and Pitchforks: By the good guys, or "good" guys, as a Vigilante Militia goes rampaging through the Barbary Coast, burning all the sleazy bars, gambling dens, and casinos.
- Vigilante Militia: Ford's murder leads the respectable citizens of San Francisco to form a vigilante mob to clean up the coast once and for all. They lynch Morra and Daley and burn down the gambling halls, and they almost lynch Bat before Jean shows up and saves him.
- Wretched Hive: An opening title card pronounces San Francisco "THE WICKEDEST CITY IN THE WORLD"—well, the Barbary Coast, anyway, where crime runs rampant and the law cannot reach.
