Review of Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) by Andy C — 12 Jun 2009

To me this is by far the best of all the Gangster movies of the 30s and 40s. There were many great actors who played gangsters back then, like Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, George Raft and others.

But James Cagney was the best. And this was by far his greatest performance. Rocky Sullivan was the baddest of the bad guys. I can watch this movie over and over again and never get tired of it. It is still my 2nd favorite movie of all time, surpassed only by The Towering Inferno.

James Cagney puts on the performance of a lifetime. And the ending, well all I can say is WOW! And let me say this, I am not one for making re-makes of great movies. Because all that says is Hollywood is running out of ideas.

And besides, re-makes are usually not as good as the original example, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds SUCKED!!! and was nowhere near as good as the original. But this movie had a very strong message for our young and out of control youth.

And I really believe that if you find the right director, the right actors, and the right story updated for our youth of today, this could be a very good re-make and deliver the very same message as the original did.