Cagney all the way - but I do love Bogie! Like saying who would you rather have Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams?
Cagney is much more versatile - Yankee Doodle Dandy, Footlight Parade, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Strawberry Blonde. If you think Clint Eastwood is cool in Dirty Harry when he is eating a hot dog and shooting his magnum - this is taken from Cagney in White Heat (he comes out of the house eating a sandwich and has someone trapped in the trunk of his car. The voice from the trunk yells, it's hot in here and Cagney says "you want air? I'll give you air" and proceeds to empty his gun into the trunk all the while never missing a bite of his sandwich!). In the Roaring Twenties he kills Bogie again, Public Enemy, Never Steal Anything Small and please, please check out "Love Me of Leave Me" the story of Ruth Etting. Also watch 13 Rue Madeleine another classic spy movie. City For Conquest where he plays a fighter who is blinded in the ring all because he wants to support his concert pianist brother, The Fighting 69th, Each Dawn I Die with George Raft, and of course Mister Roberts! I can go on and on.
While Bogie is certainly wonderful and a true legend, his resume of work falls short of Cagney's overall. However, you can never go wrong watching a Bogie movie!
