They Made Me a Criminal | |
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Directed by | Busby Berkeley |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | Sucker 1933 play by Bertram Millhauser Beulah Marie Dix |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | James Wong Howe |
Edited by | Jack Killifer |
Music by | Max Steiner |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
They Made Me a Criminal is a 1939 American crime-drama film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the film The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933). The film later was featured in an episode of Cinema Insomnia . Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California. [2]
Johnnie Bradfield is a southpaw world champion boxer falsely accused of murder. He disappears and is presumed dead. The only witnesses who could have exonerated him were his manager and girlfriend, both of whom have died in an automobile accident. Detective Monty Phelan believes that Johnnie is still alive and hasn't given up on searching for him. Johnnie, meanwhile, is hiding out on Grandma Rafferty's farm in Arizona. There, he meets with some juvenile delinquents, who are under the guardianship of Tommy's sister Peggy.
Johnnie, using the fake name of Jack Dorney, takes Tommy under his wing and encourages him to go in business for himself by buying a gas pump for the farm. He helps the kids raise money by returning to the boxing ring for a match against an up-and-coming boxer. Johnnie sees Phelan arriving at the fight and decides not to fight, disappointing the kids and Peggy. However his determination to help the kids overcomes him and he decides to fight. He tries to hide who he really is by not using his trademark stance in the ring, but not being a good right handed fighter, he is on the verge of losing. Because of this, Johnnie reveals who he really is, but he still is defeated in the fifth round. He surrenders to Phelan assuming he will be arrested, but the detective allows him to remain in Arizona instead of returning to New York.
When Dippy is operating the shower controls for Jack, who is showering, he serenades him with the song By a Waterfall, which was a hit song from the director's earlier film Footlight Parade .
This film also contains the first malapropism of the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys series when Jordan says "Regenerate, ya dope" when Hall used the word degenerate. Malapropisms became a staple of these films, with Gorcey using them on a regular basis throughout the series.
As this film is in the public domain, there have been several DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years. The Alpha Video DVD was released on July 30, 2002.
Dead End is a 1937 American crime drama film directed by William Wyler. It is an adaptation of the Sidney Kingsley 1935 Broadway play of the same name. It stars Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie, and Claire Trevor. It was the first film appearance of the acting group known as the Dead End Kids.
The Dead End Kids were a group of young actors from New York City who appeared in Sidney Kingsley's Broadway play Dead End in 1935. In 1937, producer Samuel Goldwyn brought all of them to Hollywood and turned the play into a film. They proved to be so popular that they continued to make movies under various monikers, including the Little Tough Guys, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys, until 1958.
Robert G. Jordan was an American actor, most notable for being a member of the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids, and The Bowery Boys.
Bowery Blitzkrieg is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Sam Katzman. It is the sixth installment of the East Side Kids series. The film "introduced" Huntz Hall in his first of the East Side Kids film series.
Stanley Clements was an American actor and comedian, best known for portraying "Stash" in the East Side Kids film series, and group leader Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie in The Bowery Boys film series.
Leo Bernard Gorcey was an American stage and film actor, famous for portraying the leader of a group of hooligans known variously as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids and, as adults, The Bowery Boys. Gorcey was famous for his use of malapropisms, such as "I depreciate it!" instead of "I appreciate it!"
The Little Tough Guys were a group of actors who made a series of films and serials released by Universal Studios from 1938 through 1943. Many of them were originally part of The Dead End Kids, and several of them later became members of The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.
Clancy Street Boys is a 1943 comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the East Side Kids. It is Beaudine's first film with the team; he would direct several more in the series and many in the Bowery Boys canon. Leo Gorcey married the female lead Amelita Ward. There is no mention of "Clancy Street" in the film, but a rival gang at Cherry Street appears at the beginning and climax of the film.
David Gorcey was an American actor and the younger brother of actor Leo Gorcey. Gorcey is best known for portraying "Chuck Anderson" in Monogram Pictures' film series The Bowery Boys, and "Pee Wee" in its antecedent The East Side Kids.
The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1958.
Invisible Stripes is a 1939 Warner Bros. crime film starring George Raft as a gangster unable to go straight after returning home from prison. The movie was directed by Lloyd Bacon and also features William Holden, Jane Bryan and Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay by Warren Duff was based on the novel of the same title by Warden Lewis E. Lawes, a fervent crusader for prison reform, as adapted by Jonathan Finn.
The 'Dead End' Kids "On Dress Parade" is a 1939 Warner Bros. film that marked the first time The Dead End Kids headlined a film without any other well-known actors.
Floyd B. Bartlett, known professionally as Benny Bartlett or Bennie Bartlett, was an American child actor, musician, and later a member of the long-running feature film series The Bowery Boys.
Smart Alecks is a 1942 American film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids.
Live Wires is a 1946 film starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the first film in the series, which lasted until 1958 and included forty-eight films, after the comedy team of the East Side Kids was revamped and renamed The Bowery Boys.
Bowery Bombshell is a 1946 American comedy film directed by Phil Karlson and starring the comedy team of The Bowery Boys. It is the third film in the series and was distributed by Monogram Pictures.
Hard Boiled Mahoney is a 1947 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring the comedy team of the Bowery Boys along with Teala Loring and Betty Compson. It is the sixth film in the series produced by Monogram Pictures.
Charles J. "Buddy" Gorman was an American stage and movie actor who became famous for portraying a member of the comedy teams The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.
The East Side Kids were characters in a series of 22 films released by Monogram Pictures from 1940 through 1945. The series was a low-budget imitation of the Dead End Kids, a successful film franchise of the late 1930s.
Dead End is a stage play written by playwright Sidney Kingsley. It premiered on Broadway in October 1935 and ran for two years. It is notable for being the first project to feature the Dead End Kids, who would go on to star, under various names, in 89 films and three serials. These names include Dead End Kids, Little Tough Guys, the East Side Kids and the Bowery Boys. The original play and the 1937 film adaptation were grim dramas set in a poverty-stricken riverside neighborhood in New York City, where the boys look on reform school as a learning opportunity. They played similar characters in several films; their later pictures are comedies.