Directed by:
Michael CurtizCinematography:
Sol PolitoComposer:
Max SteinerCast:
James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft, Bobby Jordan, Billy Halop, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly (more)Plots(1)
Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connolly, two New York slum kids, are caught trying to steal pens from a railroad car. Jerry escapes but Rocky is captured and sent to reform school. As adults, Rocky turns to a life of crime, while Jerry becomes a priest in their old neighborhood. Eventually, Rocky is arrested and makes a deal with his crooked lawyer, James Frazier, to take the fall for his gang in exchange for $100,000 upon his release. When Rocky returns to the neighborhood after his release from prison, Jerry hopes Rocky will go straight, but Rocky plans to join a criminal organization and collect the $100,000. Meanwhile, Rocky befriends a gang of troubled kids, using their admiration of him to get them involved in the wholesome activities that Jerry runs at the neighborhood gym. Rocky starts dating another childhood friend, Laury Ferguson, who is now a social worker for the parish. Unknown to Rocky, Frazier plans to kill Rocky, rather than give him his due. When Rocky discovers what he has in mind, he kidnaps Frazier and steals the contents of his safe, which include all the information Frazier and his cohort, Mac Keefer, have been using to blackmail powerful men around town. Frazier finally pays Rocky his money, $10,000 of which Rocky tries to give to Jerry for his gym. Fed up with corruption, Jerry begins a campaign to reform the city government. When Rocky finds out that Frazier and Keefer plan to kill Jerry in order to stop his work, he kills them and flees to a nightclub. Before he can get away, the police surround the nightclub, and Rocky is arrested and sentenced to death. Just before Rocky is to die, Jerry visits him on death row. He begs Rocky to die "yellow," so the gang kids won't idolize him. Rocky refuses outright, but as the guards start to strap him down in the electric chair, he begs them not to let him die. Later, when the kids read the paper's report of Rocky's death, Jerry reluctantly confirms his cowardice and asks the kids to join him in a prayer for the boy who "couldn't run as fast as I could." (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Jeffrey Sayre
USA
Best movies:
Bon Voyage! (1962)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
North by Northwest (1959)
Donald Kerr
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Country (1958)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Frank Coghlan Jr.
USA
Best movies:
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Mary Gordon
UK
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
It Started with Eve (1941)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Leo White
German Empire
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Casablanca (1942)
Beyond the Rocks (1922)
Steve Darrell
USA
Best movies:
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
The Proud Ones (1956)
Dick Wessel
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
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William Worthington
USA
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
After the Thin Man (1936)
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)
Robert Homans
USA
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
It Started with Eve (1941)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Harry Hayden
Canada
Best movies:
Fury (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Thin Man Goes Home (1945)
Charles C. Wilson
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
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Wilbur Mack
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Jack Perrin
USA
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Sunset Blvd. (1950)
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
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Ralph Sanford
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Big Country (1958)
The Heiress (1949)
Belle Mitchell
USA
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Miracle of Fatima (1952)
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Joe Devlin
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
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Scarlet Street (1945)
William Edmunds
Italy
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Casablanca (1942)
Frank Hagney
Australia
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Modern Times (1936)
The General (1926)
Charles Trowbridge
Mexico
Best movies:
Edison, the Man (1940)
Captains Courageous (1937)
After the Thin Man (1936)
Sidney Bracey
Australia
Best movies:
Sunrise (1927)
The Cameraman (1928)
Freaks (1932)