Angels with Dirty Faces Overview:

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) was a Crime - Drama Film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis, Jack L. Warner and Samuel Bischoff.

SYNOPSIS

Cagney, Bogart, and O'Brien in one of the greatest of gangster melodramas. Two boyhood pals, now a parish priest and a hardened criminal, find themselves at odds when the thug returns to his old neighborhood. O'Brien already has his hands full keeping the Dead End Kids out of trouble and now that they idolize Cagney his good works may come to nothing. Unforgettable scene of Cagney on his way to the chair.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

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Academy Awards 1938 --- Ceremony Number 11 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorJames CagneyNominated
Best DirectorMichael CurtizNominated
Best WritingRowland BrownNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

Anjos de Cara Suja (1938) / Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

By L? on Jan 12, 2019 From Critica Retro

Anjos de Cara Suja (1938) / Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) N?s come?amos a moldar nosso futuro ainda na juventude. Os amigos Jerry e Rocky aprendem essa li??o do jeito mais dif?cil. Depois de roubarem canetas da carga de um trem, apenas Rocky ? pego, e ele pede que Jerry fique calado e simp... Read full article


DOUBLE BILL #12: The Public Enemy (1931) and Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

By Carol Martinheira on Mar 9, 2018 From The Old Hollywood Garden

DOUBLE BILL #12: The Public Enemy (1931) and Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) On March 9, 2018 By CarolIn Uncategorized James Cagney once said about acting, ?Learn your lines, find your mark, look ?em in the eye and tell ?em the truth.? And he did. That was the thing abo... Read full article


Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 31, 2017 From 4 Star Films

Whaddya hear, whaddya say ~ Jimmy Cagney as Rocky Sullivan If he hadn’t been on the stage and screen, it’s easy to get the sense that James Cagney, born and bred on the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan could have easily been a gangster. And it’s true that in films like P... Read full article


Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 31, 2017 From 4 Star Films

Whaddya hear, whaddya say ~ Jimmy Cagney as Rocky Sullivan If he hadn’t been on the stage and screen, it’s easy to get the sense that James Cagney, born and bred on the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan could have easily been a gangster. And it’s true that in films like P... Read full article


James Cagney and Pat O'Brien in Angels with Dirty Faces

By Amanda Garrett on Nov 19, 2016 From Old Hollywood Films

Today, I'm writing about the friendship of Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney) and Jerry Conolly (Pat O'Brien) in Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), This article is part of the You Gotta Have Friends Blogathon hosted by Moon in Gemini. A gentle reminder that this article contains spoilers for a 78-year... Read full article


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Quotes from

James Frazier: Well, well, Rocky! Say, this is a surprise!
Rocky Sullivan: Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!


Rocky Sullivan: [to the gang] Shower down. Right there. All those nickels. You, you, you, and you. Right there.


Rocky Sullivan: [to Soapy and the gang] Say your prayers, mugs.


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Facts about

To play Rocky, James Cagney drew on his memories of growing up in New York's Yorkville, a tough ethnic neighborhood on the upper east side, just south of Spanish Harlem.. His main inspiration was a drug-addicted pimp who stood on a street corner all day hitching his trousers, twitching his neck, and repeating, "Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!" Those mannerisms came back to haunt Cagney. He later wrote in his autobiography, "I did those gestures maybe six times in the picture. That was over thirty years ago - and the impressionists have been doing me doing him ever since."
Because of the controversy over gangster films, the film was banned outright in Denmark, China, Poland, Finland, and parts of Canada and Switzerland.
The Dead End Kids terrorized the set during shooting. They threw other actors off with their ad-libbing, and once cornered costar Humphrey Bogart and stole his trousers. But they didn't figure on James Cagney's street-bred toughness. The first time Leo Gorcey pulled an ad-lib on Cagney, the star stiff-armed the young actor right above the nose. From then on, the gang behaved.
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Best Actor Oscar 1938






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Also directed by Michael Curtiz




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Also produced by Hal B. Wallis




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Also released in 1938




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