Review: Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
There's no denying that 1938's Angels with Dirty Faces is a masterpiece. The iconic gangster film stars James Cagney, who had helped create the genre in 1931 with The Public Enemy , Pat O'Brien--no stranger to mobster pictures himself--and Humphrey Bogart, who had been playing gun-toting bad guys as long as Cagney, but had been further down the call sheet. All three actors are synonymous with Warner Bros. and mob movies, with Cagney and O'Brien being a part of the "Irish Mafia" in Hollywood during the 1930s. The pedigree of talent on the stage couldn't be higher, and the movie has become one of the most beloved films in the gangster cycle, even being parodied in Home Alone by the fake movie Angels with Filthy Souls . "Keep the change, ya filthy animal!" The story of Angels with Dirty Faces tells the tale of two poor kids, Rocky and Jerry, who grew up on the mean streets, struggling to survive. One particularly mischievous night finds the boys...
