'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.

"G" Men (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Raised by a gangster as a child, James Cagney grows up to be a lawyer but after a friend's murdered by the mob he decides to join the FBI. This film is a tad bit overrated in my opinion because we've seen this type of thing from Warner quite a few times but there are a few nice elements that make it worth watching at least once. Cagney turns in another wonderful performance but to be fair, he rarely turns in anything but. The supporting cast are pretty good but there's no doubt this is Cagney's picture all the way. There are several wonderful shoot outs, which are a lot of fun and the ending is also very nice.

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.

In 1935 people paid to watch the physical, strutting, smart-mouthed James Cagney, and even in this film about FBI agents in the production code era of the 1930's Cagney gives them that. This time, though, Cagney is one of the guys trying to apprehend gangsters like Tom Powers of "The Public Enemy", rather than playing one.

Cagney is Brick Davis, a guy who came up from the slums of New York, a man whose personal benefactor is in the rackets himself, but he never wanted anything for or from Brick other than for him to make good. The opening scene shows Cagney giving a legal summation - something about a poor man fighting the big corporations. As the camera pans back we see that there is no jury, and in fact Brick is getting nowhere with his law practice.

An old friend, now a G-Man himself, visits Brick and suggests he join the FBI. After that old friend is shot in the line of duty by a gangster, Brick does just that. This film is pretty much a conventional, paint-by-numbers cops and robbers picture made exceptional by exceptional performers. Robert Armstrong, who comes across as more of a mug than Cagney, is supervising agent Jeff McCord who doesn't like Cagney from the start for really no good reason that I could surmise. Ann Dvorak is the "tarnished angel" - a chorus girl without a chorus who does what she has to do to survive but also wants to do the right thing and seems to harbor a bit of a thing for Cagney's character. Margaret Lindsay is Jeff's sister, a nurse no less, who doesn't like Brick either - at first. Then there are a host of bad guys the worst of which is Barton McLane in the kind of "so mean he's terrific" role at which he excelled in the 1930's and beyond.

For people who love Cagney in action with lots of shoot outs and fighting an uphill battle to get the girl of his dreams, this one fits the bill.

One thing that you may find puzzling if you watch the DVD release of this film, which is actually from a 1949 re-release, is the presence of a prologue. That prologue has Warner Brothers contract player David Brian playing an FBI instructor talking to a class of FBI men about the history of the agency and how it was before the agents could even carry guns. Apparently, the FBI offered no cooperation in the making of "G Men" in 1935, but by 1949 the agency really liked this picture and so this prologue was tacked on. Just don't get too confused about the time warp.

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.