Rent Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Classic Gangster - A Must See - Angels with Dirty Faces review by GI

One of the great classic gangster movies of the 1930s and which caused such a furore over the 'hero' status given to criminals resulting in the Production Code insisting such films didn't give the main character a good ending. Indeed this film takes the hero worship theme and uses it as the centre of the story. James Cagney, an actor forever associated with the gangster genre although he strongly regretted it (he was in fact a very accomplished song & dance performer), plays Rocky Sullivan, a violent racketeer. The narrative follows the lives of him and his best friend Jerry (Pat O'Brien - he made nine films with Cagney). As boys Rocky is caught pilfering whilst Jerry manages to escape resulting in their lives going in two opposing directions. Jerry becomes a community priest while Rocky rises through the ranks of the underworld. Years later when Rocky returns to his old neighbourhood Jerry hopes to turn him away from crime but the local street kids begin to look up to Rocky and Jerry is forced to turn against him. This is quite a hard edged film, violent for its time and looking critically at the issue of glorifying criminals in American society. It's also a story of friendship, community and corruption with a deeply moral ending that even today raises questions about whether Rocky finds redemption or is revealed as a born coward. Either way this is a superb film, a real classic and very entertaining, exciting and with a brilliant reconstruction of New York in the 1920s. With Ann Sheridan, Humphrey Bogart and George Bancroft in supporting roles. A film every film fan should see at least once.

Stupendous Cagney - Angels with Dirty Faces review by PT

Cagney and O'Brien are childhood friends on the wrong side of the law, rumbled on a crime the youngsters flee, only for the slower of the wrongdoers (Cagney) to be caught and sent to juvenile detention.

Fast forward to the pair as adults and their chosen paths. Rocky is a major criminal and Jerry is a priest, namely father Connely. The father has a bunch of wanna be kid gangsters under his wing, who he is trying to guide onto life's right road. The trouble is they hero worship his old friend Rocky for all the wrong reasons.

Rocky tries to help the father a with his good causes by throwing money around like confetti, which of course the father rejects on moral grounds. But, is there a way that a reluctant Rocky could help in a bigger way? An absolute classic.

Charm, Sin, and a $100,000 Problem - Angels with Dirty Faces review by griggs

I thought I was getting a straight gangster yarn; instead it’s about how easily charm turns toxic. Two childhood tearaways split in adulthood: Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) grows up into a headline-grabbing crook, while Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien) becomes a priest who still cares about Rocky — and worries about what his swagger does to a pack of impressionable youngsters loitering round the neighbourhood.

What I liked is how much it juggles without dropping anything. You get punchy street-corner stuff with the kids, a low-key ache of loyalty and regret, and the clean gangster business of Rocky trying to claw back the $100,000 from Jim Frazier. Bogart plays Frazier with that calm, watchful menace that makes even a friendly chat feel like a shakedown.

Cagney’s the glue — tough, funny, oddly human, often in the same scene. The moral lesson gets a bit pulpit-heavy near the end, but the final image is simple and hits hard. It mostly earns the sermon.