Baby Face Nelson
                      
Director: Don Siegel
Year: 1957
Rating: 6.0
Baby Face Nelson was killed by the FBI when he was 26 years old. When Mickey Rooney plays him, he is 36 and his baby face is a thing of the past. All those nights married to Ava Gardner, Martha Vickers and two other actresses must have worn him out because he looks tired in this film. His face creased and his eyes dead. Rooney was trying to transition away from his MGM days as America's teenage golden boy and he starred in a bunch of edgy lower budget films as a tough guy - Killer McCoy, Quicksand, The Strip, Drive a Crooked Road. Solid films. The one thing he could not change of course was his height. 5 foot two inches. That was always going to limit the roles he could play but it works perfectly for Baby Face Nelson who was five foot four inches. Tall enough to kill more FBI agents than anyone else. He was a psycho - all 5 foot 4 inches - who killed anyone he felt like, maybe he was pissed at his height but with his machine-gun he felt a lot taller.



Rooney to his credit plays him as a psycho, never trying to soften him up or endear him to the audience. He is a mad dog. In one scene he has been framed by the Big Boss and gets arrested  - but then escapes and waits for the Boss on the staircase. He guns him and his two men down and practically has an orgasm he is so thrilled. It is like he hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win the game as he jumps around in glee with a crazed look on his face. When they finally got him, he was the Top of the Pops - number one on the FBI most wanted list. That was after two of his cohorts - Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd had been killed - Dillinger was too much of a movie fan - that is a warning to all of us. Rooney is nasty throughout with a snarl at the ready. He is good but damn if you don't want him killed.



Nelson was married in real life and has a girlfriend in the film who sticks with him till the end is played by Carolyn Jones of the Addams Family fame. A few other recognizable names are Jack Elam and Elisha Cook Jr. as two members of the gang, Cedric Hardwicke a long ways from his classic films of the 1930s and 40s playing a drunk corrupt doctor who can't keep his hands off of Nelson's wife, Leo Gordon as Dillinger and Ted de Corsia as that Big Boss. A decent cast. It is directed by Don Siegel with his usual energy and impact. Almost all the details of the film are wrong, but they get Nelson down pat.