G Men
               
Director: William Keighley
Year: 1935
Rating: 7.5
About two minutes into the film, James Cagney as Brick Davis lands a good sock on the jaw of a small-time politician trying to corrupt him. With a name like Brick, you would expect nothing else. Davis may have gone through law school, but he can still throw a punch. Cagney is as tough as a 45 slug in this film. Not exactly unusual for him in his roles. He had become a star in Public Enemy in 1931 as a snarling gangster, but in this one he is on the other side of the law. As a G Man - the FBI - though it was actually not until the year of the film that the FBI was called the FBI - before that they were the BOI - the Bureau of Investigation. Changing it to Federal was a big deal because it meant they were above state law enforcement and could go over state borders to make arrests. It was needed because crime had moved from local to national. Another interesting fact is that until 1934 they were not issued guns - they could carry them as any citizen but could not cross state lines with them. That was about to change too as portrayed in this film.



Warner Brothers with Cagney and Edward G. Robinson had captured the public imagination with the gangster film and the romanization of the gangster. Sure, they usually got killed by the end, but they were very cool until then. There was criticism from some corners and movie censorship had become much stricter. In this film they go in the opposite direction - the gangsters are scum while the lawmen are the heroes and very cool. I mean it's Cagney - he is always cool. Even with censorship and certain things they could not do, this is quite violent with a few high-octane shoot-outs. Blazes of gunfire and men going down. At the time, J. Edgar Hoover didn't want the film made in fear that the FBI would be poorly portrayed. They aren't and by 1949, the film was re-released with an added prologue at the beginning extolling the FBI and the hero of this film.



Davis (Cagney) is just out of law school - thanks to his benefactor - an old-time gangster who made his money during prohibition but doesn't like the new world. Business isn't good but Davis refuses to work for the bad guys. His friend (Regis Toomey) tells him to join the FBI like he has but Davis is not interested until Toomey is gunned down - by Collins (Barton MacLane, who played his share of cops in his career). He joins up but before he leaves, he says goodbye to Jean (Ann Dvorak) who stars in a floor show with quite the lovely line of dancers. Warners always loved to throw in a nightclub scene with pretty girls if they could get away with it. All those young actresses had to earn their paycheck.



Once in Washington he is put under McCord (Robert Armstrong) who takes an instant dislike to this cocky recruit. And his daughter (Margaret Lindsay) doesn't like him any better. After his training, he and McCord go after the gang - with guns. All those characters from earlier in the film show up. A very solid cast and there is also Lloyd Nolan as another G-Man and Harold Huber as the garage guy in cahoots with the gang. This is pure take no prisoners Warner Brothers from that period - brash men and tough women with little time wasted on niceties. The American Film Institute nominated this for its Top 10 Gangster Films list.