'G' Men (1935)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Seton I. Miller (story)
Seton I. Miller (screenplay)

Release Date:

4 May 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Hollywood's Most Famous Bad Man Joins the "G-MEN" and Halts the March of Crime!

Plot:

It's the early days of the F.B.I. - federal agents working for the Department of Justice. Though they've got limited powers...

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Murder | Public Enemy Number One | Hotel | FBI

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

James Cagney	...	'Brick' Davis
Margaret Lindsay	...	Kay McCord
Ann Dvorak	...	Jean Morgan
Robert Armstrong	...	Jeff McCord
Barton MacLane	...	Collins
Lloyd Nolan	...	Hugh Farrell
William Harrigan	...	'Mac' McKay, aka Joseph Lynch
Russell Hopton	...	Gerard
Edward Pawley	...	Danny Leggett
Noel Madison	...	Durfee
Monte Blue	...	Fingerprint Expert
Regis Toomey	...	Edward 'Eddie' Buchanan
Addison Richards	...	Bruce J. Gregory
Harold Huber	...	Venke
Raymond Hatton	...	Gangsters' Messenger with Warning

Also Known As:

G'Men (USA) (alternative spelling)
G-Men (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) | Norway:16 (1936) | USA:Approved (PCA #745)

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Initially, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Attorney General Homer Cummings disapproved the film. Their primary reason was that it portrayed an FBI agent as insubordinate (Davis being a smart ass to McCord) and acting on his own (Davis leaving the hospital to find Collins). But when the movie became a success, Hoover and Cummings realized that the film could be used to promote the image of the FBI and they changed their minds and began openly endorsing it.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Visible reflected in the glass window in the garage with the hostage.

Quotes:

James 'Brick' Davis: I'm leaving tomorrow morning. That puts me on the other side of the fence than you, Mac.
'Mac' McKay, aka Joseph Lynch: That's where you ought to be.
James 'Brick' Davis: Yes, but they're out to get you. You and everybody else in your racket. And if they assign me to go after you, I've got to use everything I know about you.
'Mac' McKay, aka Joseph Lynch: You've got to play ball with them, Brick. Go to it.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Angels with Dirty Faces: Whaddya Hear? Whaddya Say? (2005) (V)

Soundtrack:

You Bother Me an Awful Lot

Cagney 's 'Untouchables'

Here's an old-time (about 75 years old!) gangster movie that is fast-moving as all James Cagney crime films tend to be. In here, Cagney is the good guy, a "government man" out to get crooks, one of whom turns out to be his old pal. All the characters in here are pretty interesting, particularly Cagney's boss played by Robert Armstrong.

Watching this film, one discovers an interesting fact: government agents weren't allowed to use guns in the early days. That didn't change until things got totally out of control with too many defenseless lawmen getting killed.

Margaret Lindsay also stars in this movie, and that's a good thing. The more I see of her, the more I like her. It would have been interesting to see what roles she'd play if she was a young actress in today's films.

Finally, the action scenes in this film reminded me of the old television series, "The Untouchables" with the machine guns blazing out of those big, boxy 1930 automobiles.