Michael Curtiz was one of the most prolific directors of his time churning out multiple movies a year during the prime of his career and the year 1938 is a prime example of this where he directed 3 Oscar nominated films which were this gangster classic, "The Adventures of Robin Hood", and "Four Daughters", and out of all of them "The Adventures of Robin Hood" was the only one that took home any awards at all. The movie is truly one of the finest examples of a great gangster movie that you could get during the '30's and it isn't hard to see why after you're done watching it. James Cagney stars in one of his finest performances as Rocky Sullivan a man who has been a criminal ever since childhood rose up through the ranks of the mob while in prison into adulthood, and when he was a child used to steal things with his childhood friend Jerry Connolly (Pat O'Brien) who left the criminal life in order to become a priest in the local church. Sullivan then meets a girl named Laury Martin (Ann Sheridan) who he bullied when they were kids but have now become friends, and Jerry also teaches a group of kids on how to be a good Christian and a positive influence on society they end up idolizing Rocky to Jerry's dismay which leads him to believe that if they continue to worship him that they will end up lifelong criminals like his best friend, which leads him to make a hard decision on whether to stick with his friend or stick up for the lives of the kids and everyone in town even if it means getting the law involved. Sullivan also has allies in in town which include a corrupt lawyer (Humphrey Bogart) and his associate (George Bancroft) who act like they're friends but will do anything just to keep their jobs and stay out of trouble. The movie is right up there with "The Godfather" trilogy, "Goodfellas" (1990), "Scarface" (1983), "Gangs of New York" (2002), "White Heat" (1949), "The Untouchables" (1987), and "The Departed" (2006) as one of the best gangster movies of all time and if you see the movie it isn't very hard to see why.
Review of Angels with Dirty Faces
