'G' Men

"G-Men" is a 1935 film that was reissued in 1949. At that time, the FBI was 25 years old, and a scene was added where David Brian, as an FBI head honcho, tells his rookies that they are about to see an early film about the FBI. He then starts the movie.

"G-Men" is directed by William Keighley and stars James Cagney as Brick Davis, an attorney whose college friend Eddie (Regis Toomey) is murdered by a mobster (Barton MacLane) while working for the Department of Justice. Brick quits lawyering and joins the FBI. When the fact that he was close friends with a mobster (who put him through law school) turns up, Brick is able to supply a lot of information to the bureau.

The action in this film is non-stop, with car chases, kidnappings, lots of shooting, and scenes at a lodge, reminiscent of a well-known real-life happening in Wisconsin.

Cagney is excellent as usual, and Barton MacLane gives a strong performance as the enemy. Lloyd Nolan, as a fellow recruit, makes his film debut. The supporting actors are all good.

Warner Brothers again proves why they were King of the Crime Flicks with this film. If you like Cagney and action, don't miss this one.

Recently, I've watched a lot of James Cagney's gangster movies. Usually, he plays the gangster. He is always the mafia leader. But in this one Cagney is a FBI agent. That's right. This time, James Cagney is fighting against the gangsters. At first, it sounded weird, but it works quite well.

The movie tells the story of Brick Davis, a lawyer related to the mafia that decides to join the FBI force, known as 'G-Men' after his friend, also a 'G-Men', is killed.

As usual, James Cagney gives a fine performance as Brick Davis, regardless his better works, like in 'White Heat' and 'Public Enemy'. The other members of the cast do a normal job, just like William Keighley's direction. A supporting member of the cast that did a great job was Barton MacLane, as the villain.

The movie sounds more like a propaganda to the FBI force, but this isn't a bad thing. For 1935's, the movie has great action scenes, with car chases, shooting, kidnapping, robbery, etc, and they are all very well filmed for its period. Even though I prefer the action sequences in 'Scarface', they are great here also.

In resume, another great gangster movie from the 1930's.

8 out of 10.

Can't find a flaw or an objection to "G-Men", a depression-era gangster picture which hits all the right notes. The screenplay, acting, direction and photography are all outstanding. The picture centers around James Cagney, a lawyer-turned G-man who rises quickly through the ranks to become a hero, much to the grudging admiration of Robert Armstrong, Chief of the Department, as he captures or exterminates several dangerous gangsters.

It sounds like a lot of similar 'shoot-em-ups', but Director Keighley does it with style here, and with the help of a first-rate cast. Besides Cagney and Armstrong are such stalwart supporters as Lloyd Nolan, Ann Dvorak and Barton McLane. He keeps the action moving so that there is very little down time or prolonged stretches of dull dialogue - come to think of it, there are no breaks in the action as it is nearly continuous and helps to make "G-Men" one of the best of its genre regardless of the era.

This is definitely Jimmy Cagney's film all the way. He is superb in it and his acting actually makes the rest of the cast better in support. Cagney was such a great actor he would always help elevate others performances in his films and he does so very much in this one. This film is well done for it's time though it looks a little flawed with age now.

The story is actually based upon a real FBI case in the early 30's. It stretches the truth after a while in order to fit the task. The gun fight sequence towards the end is amazingly violent yet most of the what seems to be thousands of shots fired seem to miss everything.

This is one of many films that established Warner Brothers as :Gangster Films Inc" during the 30's & 40's. It is a strong entry which was well produced for a 1935 (early) film. It treats it's subject pretty well. If you like Cagney, this is a film you must see to understand how far he had already developed his acting skills in 1935.

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.