Line #23 Film/BlondeCrazy


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blonde_crazy_1931_001_cagney_in_suit_by_blondell_in_bath_00m_zhg.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Partial nudity? Check. Raunchy as hell? Check. Joan and Jimmy together? Check. It's a [[UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra pre-Code]], alright.]]
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4	Small-time hustler and part-time bellboy, Bert Harris (Creator/JamesCagney), dreams of hitting the big leagues of con artistry, even going as far as having a scrapbook of great cons. Anne Roberts (Creator/JoanBlondell) is the girl he sets his eyes on, and he gets her a job as a chambermaid. But she’s a smart, tough girl who never takes any of his crap, telling him where he can go with a continual array of slaps. Eventually, and somewhat begrudgingly on Anne’s part, they team up to fleece former patrons of their Midwestern hotel, and later make a living from conning other lawbreakers.
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6	Bad circumstances come along--Bert’s plans screwing him over rather than winning big-- so Bert decides to team up with another couple, Dapper Dan (Louis Calhern) and Helen (Noel Francis), who also love to scam. Finding himself constantly rejected by the reasonable Anne, Bert falls into the arms of Helen, making Anne jealous and suspicious of their relationship.
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8	Things escalate when Dan tells him of a great little scheme: buying counterfeit bills with their scam money and doubling it. Without a second thought, Bert latches on to it, but Anne has her reservations. Foolhardily, he steals Anne’s money, loses it since Dapper and Helen were [[UsingYouAllAlong using him all along]], and Bert sinks to an all-time low: he steals from innocent people to get Anne's money back.
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10	Meanwhile, a chance meeting on a train has Anne falling for stock trader, Joe Reynolds (an early film appearance of Creator/RayMilland). Not so shockingly, Joe is a conman, but one who wears nicer suits; he’s embezzled thousands, and while pretending to need Bert for a favor, he manages to let the blame fall on unsuspecting Bert.
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12	Directed by Roy del Ruth, ''Blonde Crazy'' a.k.a. ''Larceny Lane'' (1931) is the fourth Cagney and Blondell starring vehicle, and their chemistry sizzles up the screen.
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14	----
15	!!"You dirty, double-crossin' tropes!":
16	* AmbiguousEnding: Bert’s in jail and Anne promises that she’s going to set things straight, but we never see if she actually manages this.
17	* BetaCouple: Dapper Dan and Helen.
18	* BelligerentSexualTension: Anne slaps Bert '''a lot'''. {{Justified}} since he continually flirts with her, but against Anne's sensible reasoning, she derives some pleasure from slapping him.
19	* BlatantLies: To get the money for the counterfeit bill scheme, Bert uses his own, but also needs Anne’s cash. Not too keen on this scheme, Anne refuses to give her $5000, until Bert pretends it’s for something else. He ends up losing it to Dan’s [[TheCon tale]], and to make sure Anne doesn’t find out, he actually steals a diamond bracelet in order to pawn it for money.
20	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Helen leaves a mean note to Bert after he finds out that they screwed him over.
21	* CannotSpitItOut: It’s very obvious that Bert has feelings for Anne, but he just won’t admit, until it’s too late.
22	* TheCon:
23	** Dan entices Bert to a scheme of buying counterfeit bills with their scam money, but he runs away with Bert and Anne’s money.
24	** In one of Bert and Ann’s schemes, the rich idiot (played by Guy Kibbee, no less), is fallen pray to a sex scandal, unless he pays off a policeman who’s in on the scheme (he’s not really a cop).
25	* TheCynic:
26	-->'''Bert''': The age of chivalry is past; this is the age of chiselry.
27	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Bert’s in jail for a crime he didn’t commit, by Anne’s soon-to-be ex-husband, Joe]]. At least they’re able to realize how much they love each other.
28	* DeadpanSnarker: Anne and Bert in spades.
29	** An Anne example:
30	-->'''Anne''': Shall I do your bed?
31	-->'''Mr. Johnson''': Kinda early, isn’t it?
32	-->'''Anne''': Not if you’re going to bed.
33	-->'''Mr. Johnson''': Well a bed doesn’t mean much to a fellow like me. Just a place to rest my head.
34	-->'''Anne''': What a treat for the bed!
35	-->'''Mr. Johnson''': Say, what about a little nip together? Just you and me?
36	-->'''Anne''': Why just you and me? What about your other friend, the little fellow over there in the green sweater? ''[She runs out of the room.]''
37	* EveryoneHasStandards: Anne is disgusted to find out that Bert has actually stolen something.
38	* {{Fanservice}}:
39	** Bert looking at Anne’s lingerie, and even putting her bra up to his face to see if she’s hiding money there.
40	** Anne [[LegFocus showing off her legs]] in the bath.
41	* AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted: The hilariously dumb Johnson loses money to Bert and Anne’s con: a sex scandal with Anne.
42	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: There’s a movie poster behind the quartet wisely named, "A Drama of Larcency".
43	* GetRichQuickScheme: The counterfeit bill scheme is the one that completely dashes all of Bert’s hopes and dreams; he loses all his earnings, and on top of it all, Anne.
44	* GreyAndGrayMorality:
45	** Anne and Bert have no problem running scams on people who are con men like themselves, but it’s amoral to them if they do this type of stuff to innocent people. Justified in a sense since this was TheGreatDepression, and people felt screwed over, so why not screw wealthy people over?
46	** Old money bags Joe has run into a financial crisis, and instead of admitting his embezzling and losing money for his company, he uses Bert and pins the blame on him.
47	* {{Hustler}}: Bert thinks he’s a smart ConMan, but he’s not really that clever, made painfully obvious when he’s betrayed not only by Dan, but also by Joe.
48	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Bert has some standards, i.e. not scamming the poor, and Bert eventually grows by fessing up his love for Anne.
49	* MaleGaze: Being UsefulNotes/ThePreCodeEra and everything, we have a moment where Bert checks out the ''derrieres'' of women out on the dance floor-- especially easy for him since he's sitting down.
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51	* MsFanservice: We see Anne taking a bath because…Joan Blondell.
52	* OldMoney: Joe Reynolds, of the crooked variety.
53	* RomanticFalseLead: The seemingly clean, but actually worse, Joe.
54	* ScammingTheBereaved: Dan makes good money with this scam and he encourages Bert to join him. Specifically, the con involves pretending husbands had ordered "good luck charms" before dying. When the C.O.D. packages arrive, the widows are more than willing to pay for these "valuable" mementos. The good luck charms, by the way? They're [[UsefulNotes/NonNaziSwastika swastikas]].
55	* TooGoodToBeTrue: What Anne thinks of the partnership between Bert and Dan.
56	* UnresolvedSexualTension: A lot of tension between Anne and Bert, but their relationship goes moot when Anne marries Joe.
57	* VerbalTic: "Hun-eh" is Bert’s tic of choice.

Context Film / BlondeCrazy