A different way of telling a story

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I miss films like 1935's Barbary Coast. These are the kind of old-fashioned melodramas that have been driven to extinction. I am not entirely sure that this movie would have been the best kind of old-fashioned film, but it has all the elements that I come to expect from these type of films. For the most part, the film was very entertaining. There is a romanticized and somewhat crass love triangle that lays at the heart of the film. I like this unconventional (for its time) love triangle because it plays to the dark side. The cinematography really plays well to the tone and the atmosphere. There is an abundance of fog and that really gives a sense of mystery to the city of San Francisco, which was known as Barbary Coast to its citizens during the time period the film is set in. This film was directed by Howard Hawks, who is known as one of cinema's greatest auteurs. It is not his greatest film, and I would even call this film a major B-production (which means it still is good, but not great.) This marks Hawk's first production with famed producer Samuel Goldwyn. For this movie, Goldwyn came up with the title and tasked two of Hollywood's best writers; Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur to create a story under that title. In addition to the love story, they created themes you could pull out of a Western. They created a tale about how you can survive in the lawless West. There is this gold digger named Mary Rutledge (Miriam Hopkins) who arrives by boat to the shores of San Francisco to meet up with her mail-order husband. She comes to find out that he mysteriously died after falling in debt to a gangster named Louis Chamalis (Edward G. Robinson). Louis also happened to be the owner of the nightclub where Mary's husband owed debt to. Mary decides to get work as a roulette operator in the saloon of Chamalis. He admits to her that he has fallen in love with her, but she does not return his love. During one walk in a rainstorm, she falls in love after meeting gold prospector Jim Carmichael (Joel McCrea). Jim is on his way home with several bags full of gold he found. Chamalis is going to do all he can to grab that gold and make Mary love him the way he loved her. The movie has several great performances to work with. Miriam Hopkins is a great actress, although stories have been told how hard it was to work with her. Maybe her personality worked well with the type of unsympathetic character she was portraying, because I could not stand her character for a long part of the movie and that is how it was meant to be. Edward G. Robinson gave a great, villainous performance. He looked every part of the villain type, even with that ugly-looking earring on his one ear. The rest of the cast including the likes of Walter Brennan and David Niven in a very early cameo role do a great job. The one thing that stood out to me the most was how women was portrayed. Hopkins portrays a character who is strong-willed and performs tasks that guys would do (remember this film came out in 1935.) This was a rarity for its time. Barbary Coast is a lesser Howard Hawks film, but this is a legend we are talking about. The movie was still a very entertaining ride from start to finish. This film might even have the only rowboat chase scene in any movie ever released, so that is another reason why you might want to give this oldie a watch. My Grade: B

Even though Barbary Coast came out after the restrictive Hays Code, it is one nasty movie! Imagine what they could have filmed if the censors hadn't been in play! Miriam Hopkins arrives in San Francisco in the 1850s. She thinks she'll get married and start a respectable new life. Instead, her fiancé is dead, and her only option to survive is to accept casino owner Edward G. Robinson's offer. She becomes his mistress and works in the casino to help drum up business. Joel McCrea is honest, kind, and a hard worker-everything Eddy G isn't-and it isn't long before Miriam falls in love with him. Will Eddy G let her go without a fight?The film feels like a pre-code movie, since the entire setting is in an unsavory part of town. There are drunks, gamblers, prostitutes, and criminals. There's violence, sex, and murder, and it's a very exciting ride! Many movies that take place in the mid-1800s are Wild West films, but in this different setting, it's interesting to see the still-rowdy behavior.The famous trivia to come out of this film is that it was one of David Niven's first movies. He plays a drunken sailor, but apparently you'll have to watch the movie a few times to catch him. I knew the trivia and still didn't spot him on the first go-around. If you like a little naughtiness in your classics, you won't mind watching this one over and over to try and see him!

Director Howard Hawks rarely made misfires, even "Land Of The Pharaohs" qualified as interesting, but this hybrid Edward G. Robinson law and order saga about the wild and wooly California coast during the gold rush era of the 1850s is curiously lackluster. The movie belongs to Hopkins who shows up at the outset, but Robinson doesn't stroll in until a good quarter hour has passed. The naive hero--Joel McCrea--doesn't arrive for about a half-hour later and he makes a rather passive hero. Basically, "Barbary Coast" concerns a love trianble among ruthless underworld boss, the mail-order bride that goes to work for him, and the innocent drifter that she falls in love with much to the chagrin of the crime boss.As greedy Luis Chamalis, Robinson wears an ear ring, frilly shirts, and owns the biggest casino in San Francisco called the Bella Donna. He dispenses the law and order, but primarily it is disorder that he creates in the amoral town. Miriam Hopkins is Mary Rutledge and she has come on a square-rigged ship from New York to marry Dan Morgan, but she learns on her arrival that her fiancélost all his gold as well as his life at the Belle Donna gambling tables. Dan was a poor shot and poor shots do not live long in San Francisco. She refuses to leave town and winds up working the roulette wheel for Chamalis, the very same roulette wheel that brought about the death of her fiancé. Luis nicknames her Swan because she is as soft and desirable as a swan. Eventually, Chamalis demands love and attention from Mary, but she denies him these affections.One day Mary takes a horse and rides in the country, but she is caught in a soaking downpour and takes refuge in a cabin. As it turns out, the man in the cabin has just settled in is a Jim Carmichael (Joel McCrea) and he is just passing through, too. This young prospector has dug sacks of gold out of the earth and is heading into town. No sooner does Jim see Mary than he falls desperately in love with her. He stumbles into the Bella Donna and loses all his gold on the roulette wheel. Mary feels guilty because she has cheated Jim, just as her fiancé was cheated. At the same time, Luis--who rules the town--with the help of a cold-blooded killer, Knuckles (Brian Donley) suppresses the local newspaper editor Col. Marcus Aurelius Cobb (Frank Craven) from publishing derogatory stories about him.Things take a turn for the worst for Luis when Knuckles murders a miner Sawbuck McTavish (Donald Meek) and eye witnesses see him. Earlier, Luis got Knuckles out of a tight spot by calling in a favor from a drunken judge, but Knuckles is not so lucky this time around. Not only does he kill Sawbuck, but he also kills Cobb. The newly formed vigilante committee led by Jed Slocum (Harry Carey, Sr of ANGEL AND THE BADMAN) and his followers hang Knuckles on the spot and go after Luis. Meanwhile, Mary and Jim try to escape from the jealous Luis. Just as it appears that the hero and heroine are going to bite the dust, the vigilantes show up and prove the standard moral that crime does not pay and haul off Luis.There is nothing particularly outstanding about this Hawks movie. The dialogue by two Hawks collaboraters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur is nothing special and neither is this movie. Hopkins makes an unsympathetic heroine until she falls from fellow New Yorker Jim. Walter Brennan steals the show as Old Atrocity, a sneaker grifter, who is never up to anything good. The characters are not that compelling and neither is their predicaments. Robinson makes a strong villain, but he isn't strong enough to force Hopkins into loving him. Nothing about this well-photographed yarn is memorable and it ends up being a minor potboiler.

Not too much appealing is this early Howard Hawks production, with the possibly exception of Edward G. Robinson as the bad guy. Although he ran a casino, for some reason he was costumed as a dandy pirate. Regardless, he ran early San Francisco his way- with a sneer and a stogie- and woe to anyone who'd try and stop him.This film is populated by stock characters spouting overly dramatic dialogue, and there's really nothing much here that engaged me. I give this movie 4/10, and even that's resting on Edward G. Robinson's attitude.