Gangster and Crime Movies
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
A gangster on the run takes people hostage in a roadside diner.
Actors: |
James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, Mel Blanc |
Directors: |
Bobby Connolly, Michael Curtiz, Robert Clampett |
Writers: |
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Producers: |
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Rating: |
Not Rated |
Release Date: |
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Running time: |
78 minutes |
Genre: |
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Review: Michael Curtiz' "Angels with Dirty Faces" is one of those movies (like his "Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce") in which the planets and stars were perfectly aligned. James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, and the Dead End Kids are completely believeable. In fact, even the actors who played the young Cagney and O'Brien were right on.
But it is Curtiz' direction that runs the show. Curtiz moves seamlessly from the crowded streets, to the claustrophobic tenements, to the glitzy gambling joints. And his mastery of shadow and light cannot be overstated, as historian Dana Polan points out in his insightful commentary.
All these elements combine to create a great movie, and not just a great gangster movie. The complex relationships between Rocky Sullivan, the kids, and Fadda Jerry (O'Brien)--and the astounding ending to the film--make it as poignant and widely-appealing as any other movie of its time or any other time.