They Made Me a Criminal

Infobox Film
name = "They Made Me a Criminal"


caption = "They Made Me a Criminal" theatrical poster
director = Busby Berkeley
producer = Benjamin Glazer
Hal B. Wallis
writer = Sig Herzig
Bertram Millhauser (uncredited)
Beulah Marie Dix (uncredited)
starring = John Garfield
Claude Rains
Ann Sheridan
May Robson
Gloria Dickson
Billy Halop
music = Max Steiner
cinematography = James Wong Howe
editing = Jack Killifer
distributor = Warner Bros. Pictures
released = January 28 1939
runtime = 92 min|
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "Angels with Dirty Faces" (1938)
followed_by = "Hell's Kitchen" (1939)
imdb_id = 0032022

"They Made Me a Criminal" is a 1939 Warner Bros. drama crime film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the 1933 film "The Life of Jimmy Dolan".

Plot

Johnnie Bradfield (John Garfield) is a world champion boxer falsely accused of murder. He disappeared 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 Phalen (Claude Rains) believes that Johnnie is still alive and hasn't given up the search for him. Johnnie, meanwhile, is hiding out on Grandma Rafferty's (May Robson) farm in Arizona. It is there that Johnnie meets up with some juvenile delinquents, Tommy (Billy Halop), Angel (Bobby Jordan), Spit (Leo Gorcey), Dippy (Huntz Hall), T.B. (Gabriel Dell), and Milty (Bernard Punsly), who are under the guardianship of Tommy's sister Peggy (Gloria Dickson).

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 Phalen arriving at the fight and decides to hide who he really is by not using his trademark stance in the ring. However his determination to help the kids overcomes him and he reveals who he really is, although he is defeated in the fifth round. He surrenders to Phalen, but the detective allows him to remain in Arizona instead of returning to New York.

Cast

*John Garfield as Johnny Bradfield
*Gloria Dickson as Peggy
*Claude Rains as Det. Monty Phelan
*Ann Sheridan as Goldie West
*May Robson as Grandma Rafferty
*Billy Halop as Tommy
*Bobby Jordan as Angel
*Leo Gorcey as Spit
*Gabriel Dell as T.B.
*Huntz Hall as Dippy
*Bernard Punsly as Milt (credited as "Bernard Punsley")

References to other films

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".

Malaprop

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.

DVD release date

As this film is in the public domain, there have been several DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years. The image below is the cover to the Alpha Video DVD release.

External links