Angels with Dirty Faces Movie Review 1938

Rousing classic with memorable Cagney twitches and the famous long walk from the cell to the chair. Two young hoods grow up on NYC's lower East Side with diverse results--one enters the priesthood and the other opts for crime and prison. Upon release from the pen, famed gangster Cagney sets up shop in the old neighborhood, where Father O'Brien tries to keep a group of young toughs (the Dead End Kids) from following in his footsteps. Bogart's his unscrupulous lawyer and Bancroft a crime boss intent on double-crossing Cagney. Reportedly they were blasting real bullets during the big shootout, no doubt helping Cagney's intensity. Adapted from a story by Rowland Brown.

Distribution

Mike LeBell's Video, 75 Freemont Pl., Los Angeles, CA 90005, Phone: (213)938-3333, Fax: (213)938-3334, Email: mlvideo@aol.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 97 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Crime Drama, Men in Prison, Teen Angst, Organized Crime, The Bowery Boys, Adapted from a Story, Nuns & Priests, Wrong Side of the Tracks, New York, New York, Death Row, Screen Teams: Cagney & O'Brien, Juvenile Delinquents, 4 Bones

Screenplay

John Wexley, Warren Duff, Rowland Brown

Cast

James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Bernard Punsley, Gabriel Dell, Adrian Morris

Cinematography

Sol Polito

Director

Michael Curtiz

Music

Max Steiner

Awards

N.Y. Film Critics 1938: Actor (Cagney).