- Following on the heels of 1949's White Heat comes James Cagney's final gangster film, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. In it, Cagney plays Ralph Cotter, a merciless escaped convict who doesn't hesitate to gun down a fellow prisoner injured in the escape. After being rescued by said prisoner's sister Holiday (Barbara Payton), Cotter teams up with a fellow crook named Jinx (Steve Brodie) to make some fast money. Although the trio runs afoul of some corrupt cops (Ward Bond, Barton MacLane) and a crooked informant (Rhys Williams), Cotter and a shady lawyer named Cherokee Mandon (Luther Adler) hatch a scheme involving a clandestine recording that enables them to commit crimes unimpeded. All Cotter has to do is steer clear of the local bigwig's daughter Margaret (Helena Carter), which of course he fails to do.
- While the direction by Gordon Douglas is adequate, there's nothing terribly special about this film compared to any of Cagney's other gangster movies, all of which are enjoyable. The fact is, Cagney has so magnetic a personality that he can even make a monster like Cotter seem endearing. In the film's best scene, he steps on Margaret's foot while she is driving a sportscar to transform their already reckless excursion into an insanely dangerous drive. In the second-best scene, he taunts Holiday while eating a banana, and she launches a coffee pot (followed with cream and sugar) at his head. Still, Cagney's performance practically guarantees that you'll root for the perfectly amoral Cotter, even though you know from the start that he's the one character who won't live long enough to make it to trial.
- Based on a novel by Horace McCoy.
