More soundbites from this great film critic.
Angels with dirty faces 1938
An entertaining picture lurks behind that uninviting title. Warners threw its assets together in this one: James Cagney at his cockiest as a gangster, Pat O'Brien as a priest, and Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft, and the Dead End Kids, too. It has jokes and romance and a smashing big last sequence on Death Row -- the priest asks the gangster to act cowardly when he's executed, so that he won't be a hero to the Dead End Kids, and Cagney comes through with a rousing finale.
Great flick. Filled with actors you would recognize. I love Cagney.
Posted by sheilaIt is a great movie, and quite a cast list.. but not one of Bogart's best performances. Not really his fault - it's Cagney's movie.
Posted by: peteb at April 29, 2005 11:09 AMFrom reading up on both these actors, it cracked me up how the dynamics played out on that set. The Dead End Kids busted chops right and left on that set, because, well, they for the most part were a bunch of little street punks, with jobs.
Bogart was a moneyed, prep school, sweater tied over his shoulder, let's go yachting kind of guy. He was more like his character in Sabrina then the hard case in Desperate Hours, but was that good of an actor to pull off the tough guy act.
The kids made his life miserable. they had his number from day one and never let up.
The second they started in on Cagney, he knocked one of them on their ass, because he knew the rules. He was an actual Irish tough guy. His momma wouldn't let him come home from a childhood beatdown unless he brought a piece of the other kid with him.
Posted by: Scotter at April 29, 2005 3:44 PM