User Reviews

I really like this movie from the early days of the Hays Code. In this early period of the Hays Office, the standards for movies were still moderately loose and quite a few movies in the 30s featured graphic scenes of violence that would not have been allowed just a few years later. But, as a nod to the Hays Office, instead of the film being a typical gangster film (which the office was trying to reduce or eliminate since they glorified criminals--but the violence level was still very high and this would not change for another couple years). These films, by and large, are pretty interesting and have so pretty sordid and fantastic scenes. Unlike the later Cagney films for Warner Brothers, this one had scenes such as a closeup of a lady being killed in a phone booth and cars flying off the road in a hail of bullets and exploding! This movie is DEFINITELY would you would call an "Action Picture" and the film is both fascinating and briskly paced.

Jimmy Cagney plays a lawyer who hasn't got any clients. And, his friend from law school, a "G-Man" (an FBI agent), is murdered while in the line of duty. Cagney decides that since his life isn't going anywhere, he too will join the newly created FBI. But, in the early days of the Bureau, they have few enforcement powers and cannot legally carry guns. But, with a serious crime wave spreading throughout the country, the Congress grants them more powers and the right to bear arms. And, following this, the action definitely heats up--with battles involving shotguns, machine guns and .45s! Cagney grew up in the Bronx and actually knew many of the most wanted men who were all members of the same gang. With Cagney's bravery and resolve, the gang is eventually smashed and Jimmy gets the girl.

While the story is fictional, the background information about the bureau and the way they conducted business had a strong degree of realism that was unusual for films at that time. Great action scenes combined with excellent acting make this one of the very best Warner films of the crime genre.

By the way, the version I saw was from a 1949 re-release. It differed because it featured a very brief prologue praising the FBI before the actual film began.

To paraphrase one of Cagney's lines in this movie I can't work up much of a sweat over it unlike the majority of those who have reviewed it here. I have nothing against 1) Warners, 2) Cagney and 3) the Warners' 'torn-from- the-headlines' series that punctuated the nineteen thirties but seen in 2012 it just seems a trifle thin. Without checking his CV I'm guessing that this one of the the first Cagney titles to feature him on the 'right' side of the law though this is no surprise because like his colleagues at Warners, Bogie and Eddie Robinson, he had started in the theatre and was as versatile as the other two - I can't, alas, say the same for George Raft, a fourth 'hood' at the studio. One of the best things in G-Men is Ann Dvorak as the nightclub singer carrying a torch for the Cagney character whilst Margaret Lindsay gets lumbered with yet another thankless role albeit she does get Cagney in the end. Possibly would have seemed much better in 1935.

Directed by William Keighley with a screenplay by Seton I. Miller from a story by future Academy Award winning producer Darryl F. Zanuck (who earned his first Academy recognition with a Best Writing, Original Story Oscar nomination), this above average crime drama features James Cagney as a client-less lawyer turned 'G' (for government) man, an employee of the Department of Justice's bureau of investigation (to become the F.B.I.), for the purposes of helping to capture those responsible for killing his friend.

Regis Toomey appears briefly as agent Eddie Buchanan, 'Brick' Davis's (Cagney) college friend who had tried to convince Davis to join the bureau before he was gunned down by (as it turns out) Brad Collins (Barton MacLane). Brick is acquainted with the culprit because he'd grown up in a rough New York neighborhood with Collins, and some other hooligans, before crime boss 'Mac' McKay (William Harrigan) had taken Brick under his wing and paid for his college education to give him opportunities he'd never had, which allows Brick to go straight.

Unwilling to become a mouthpiece for other gangsters, when Buchanan is murdered, Brick signs up with the Dept. of Justice and is assigned to work for Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong), a tough taskmaster who refuses to admit that Brick has what it takes to succeed in the bureau, and is suspicious of the lawyer's earlier associations. Margaret Lindsay plays Jeff's sister Kay, who catches Brick's eye and interest. Lloyd Nolan plays agent Hugh Farrell, who helps Brick learn jujitsu and other self defense tactics. Mary Treen appears uncredited as a secretary.

Because Brick grew up with Collins and the others, and knows (for instance) that Danny Leggett (Edward Pawley) has a penchant for fresh daily gardenias, he's soon involved in trying to capture Buchanan's killers. After Farrell is killed (Ward Bond appears uncredited as one of the culprits), Brick wins over McCord, and more slowly his sister, by helping to catch Leggett.

Collins's wife Jean Morgan (Ann Dvorak), who Brick also used to know (they had a 'thing' for one another), inadvertently spills the beans that her husband and the rest of the wanted criminals are holed up in McKay's mid-Western lodge. This leads to a shootout during which the whole gang, save Collins, is shot dead or captured; McKay, who'd been their prisoner, is killed and Brick is injured.

It takes a little longer to get Collins, who catches up with Jean while he hides out at Venke's (Harold Huber) garage, inexplicably long. But you know Cagney's character is going to get his man, finally earn McCord's respect, and win the girl in the end.

The film was re-released in 1949 with a prologue and introduction (by an actor pretending to be an F.B.I. agent) that talks about the 25th anniversary of the bureau and the difficulties they had fighting crime during the gangster era because initially their agents couldn't carry guns, didn't have adequate firepower (e.g. machine guns) relative to the hoods, and couldn't even cross state lines to chase their quarry, having to work with local authorities in every state to apprehend them.

Every old movie fan knows that James Cagney was a member of what I like to call the triumvirate of cinema mobsters, alongside Edward G Robinson and George Raft. He was so good at playing gangsters in fact that movie producers decided to make him play a good guy for once, mainly because many people in society by this point were criticizing mobster movies as crime encouragement shows. I didn't think this movie was going to be that impressive since Cagney is not himself so to speak, but what I ended up getting was one of the most definitive movies of the gangster genre. In this film, Cagney plays "Brick" Davis, a lawyer turned government agent who tracks down gang members with the same ruthless efficiency that the latter display to their adversaries. The movie starts with Davis being a lawyer, which is an uneventful job for him since nobody seems to want his services. Davis eventually joins the FBI after seeing one of its members get killed by a gangster. Davis is forced to say goodbye to Mac MacKay (William Harrigan), a gangster who for some strange reason paid for Davis' education when he was in law school. Upon moving to DC to start his FBI training process, Davis is already having problems with his superiors. His boss, Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong) does not like him, but Davis restrains himself in front of him because he likes his sister Kay (Margaret Lindsay). While all this is going on, MacKay's goons commit a series of violent crimes and FBI agents are useless against them. Criminals are able to cross between states with impunity using cars and aircraft, and agents are not allowed to pursue past state lines with no warrant. They're not even allowed to carry guns. New laws are implemented, and this allows Davis to search for the thugs one by one. McCord manages to get ahold of Jean (Ann Dvorak), a girl who works at a club MacKay owned and interrogates her. The interrogation goes nowhere until everyone (save for Davis) leaves the room. She tells him that McKay is hiding in a cabin up in Wisconsin. After taking a trip up there, a huge gunfight erupts and MacKay is killed. Davis now wants to resign from the FBI due to killing his former friend, but McCord doesn't want to let him leave. One gang member, Collins, managed to escape the carnage and take McCord's sister Kay hostage. When Jean tries to tell Davis of this, she's shot dead in a phone booth. After a skirmish, Collins is shot by a tommy gun as he attempts to drive away with Kay, and the day is saved. After seeing G Men, I was really surprised at how loud and fast paced the movie was for something so old. It might be the old movie with the most amount of gunfights I've seen yet. The scene where Cagney and the other FBI agents try to raid the cabin is insane because of how many bullets are flying everywhere. Because everyone already knows about films such as Little Caesar or Public Enemy, I wanted to help get this movie recognized as much as possible because it really is one of the best of the gangster genre. Aside from the always good acting by Cagney, it proves that mobsters weren't the only character archetype he could portray well.

Until this movie appeared in 1935, Jimmy Cagney had played roles in which he was a con man or a gangster of some sort. The formula having grown a little weary, Warners put him in "G Men," in which he joins the FBI and pursues murderers and other people guilty of moral terpitude. Saw this for the first time tonight after having waited a good number of years and was satisfied but a little disappointed.

What a cast -- Stu Erwin, Loyd Nolan, Robert Armstrong, Ann Dvorak (pronounced roughly "Dvor-zhock", like the composer, although her real name was McKim). Then there was Barton MacLane as a bad guy, Margaret Lindsay as a good girl. And the performances are about what you'd expect -- that is to say, pretty good, with the exception of Robert Armstrong of "King Kong" fame who would be better put to use as a traffic signal, only instead of "go", "caution", and "stop," he could transmit "surprise", "remorse," and "anger." Whatever happened to Ann Dvorak? She's unconventionally stunning, was a gay, sexy, recklessly clumsy dancer, had the biggest, most expressive eyes in the business, and -- as we all know -- the eyes are the windows of the hootchy cootchy.

Lamentably, the story is a crazy quilt of barely related plots stapled together out of old scripts and recent newspaper clippings. It might have made a good comic book. You can pretty much tell from the moment they're introduced who's going to be toast. There's the personal animosity between Cagney and the gang he knows back home, some stuff that tries to capture the headlines of the early 1930s about Midwestern gangs, and a faux history of the FBI's reactive development. Scenes alternate between rather dull and talky, and speedy, unimaginatively staged ambuscades. I think the same car crashes through the same store window twice.

I felt more nearly complete after having watched it. Cagney's performance alone makes it worth watching. He lacks some of his usual mannerisms, the shrug of the shoulders, the hitch of the pants, but he's bouncy and smart-alecky. It's only the narrative and the direction that seems lacking or leaden. I mean, after all, I waited about twenty years to see it, and I think the Warner Brothers owed me more than they delivered.