Angels with Dirty Faces

film by Curtiz [1938]

Written by Lee Pfeiffer

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Article History

Angels with Dirty Faces, American gangster film, released in 1938, that is considered a classic of the genre, influencing countless subsequent movies.

The story centres on boyhood friends Rocky Sullivan (played by James Cagney) and Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien), who take radically different paths as adults. Rocky becomes a criminal, while Jerry serves as a neighbourhood priest desperately trying to influence young boys to take the “straight-and-narrow” path in life. When Rocky becomes an idol to some of the boys, it puts him in conflict with his old friend.

By modern standards Angels with Dirty Faces may seem clichéd, with the impressionable young kids idolizing a local gangster, the two boyhood friends now on opposite sides of the law, and the tough-as-nails neighbourhood priest pleading with his gangster pal to surrender to the police. However, these elements were innovative when introduced in the film. Perhaps the most enduring aspect of the movie is the Academy Award-nominated performance of Cagney as the tough guy worshipped by the local boys, who were played by a group of actors known as the Dead End Kids. Cagney based his now-famous mannerisms and swagger on a pimp he knew from his boyhood neighbourhood. The characteristics that would become so identifiable with his persona originated in Angels with Dirty Faces. The film’s final scene is considered a classic, with Cagney feigning terror on his way to the electric chair in an attempt to dissuade his young admirers from idolizing him.