'G' Men (1935)

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

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.

To paraphrase one of Cagney's lines in this movie I can't work up much of a sweat over it unlike the majority of those who have reviewed it here. I have nothing against 1) Warners, 2) Cagney and 3) the Warners' 'torn-from- the-headlines' series that punctuated the nineteen thirties but seen in 2012 it just seems a trifle thin. Without checking his CV I'm guessing that this one of the the first Cagney titles to feature him on the 'right' side of the law though this is no surprise because like his colleagues at Warners, Bogie and Eddie Robinson, he had started in the theatre and was as versatile as the other two - I can't, alas, say the same for George Raft, a fourth 'hood' at the studio. One of the best things in G-Men is Ann Dvorak as the nightclub singer carrying a torch for the Cagney character whilst Margaret Lindsay gets lumbered with yet another thankless role albeit she does get Cagney in the end. Possibly would have seemed much better in 1935.

Ever since G MEN was sold to commercial TV, all prints to this 1935 theatrical release were taken from the 1949 reissue commemorating the FBI's 25th anniversary with a tag-on three minute prologue featuring am F.B.I. Chief (David Brian) addressing his classroom of rookies on what they are about to see, something he labels as "the grand-daddy of all FBI pictures." Following his brief profile about the FBI's history, including the fact that the agents weren't allowed to carry guns to protect themselves against mobsters, a rule that has since changed, Brian starts the projector to play the motion picture ....'G' MEN (Warner Brothers, 1935), directed by William Keighley, starring movie tough guy James Cagney in Hollywood's first of its kind film tribute to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, better known as the F.B.I., "special agents," government men, or "G" Men as the title implies, who risk their lives bringing dangerous criminals to justice. Instead of placing Cagney as a public enemy, he gets the opportunity working on the side of the law rather than against it. Unlike latter imitations produced in the 1940s or television's popular series, THE UNTOUCHABLES, 'G' MEN does not detail its story though flashback(s), off screen narration not documentary style, though quite a novel idea for 1935, but provides an exciting story with scenes suggested on actual occurrences (namely the famous Wisconsin lodge massacre), car chases, kidnappings and giving audiences the run for their money with Cagney along with the G Men violently shooting it out with many (Hollywood) gangster types.The story introduces James "Brick" Davis (James Cagney) as an honest lawyer with no prospects of ever getting clients. He proves his honesty by refusing a bribe from the corrupt Joseph Krantz (Edwin Maxwell) to defend a guilty client. As for his background, the script reveals Brick as a tough street kid guided to the right direction by a father figure named McKay (William Harrigan), a crime boss who not only gave him a decent upbringing but put him through law school. Because Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey), his college pal now working for the Department of Justice, had been gunned down by mobster Brad Collins (Barton MacLane - in excellent portrayal) during an arrest of notorious gangster Danny Leggett (Edward Pawley), Brick avenges his friend's death by closing his office and join forces against crime as a "G" Man for the F.B.I, in Washington, D.C. While going through the training process along fellow rookie Hugh Farrell (Lloyd Nolan, in film debut), Brick nearly loses his chance with the bureau when Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong), his superior, who never liked Brick very much, receives a report disclosing his association with McKay and other mobsters, but through his knowledge and effort to give out their identities, Brick shows how much of an asset he could be to the bureau.For his female co-stars, Cagney is supported by capable Warners stock players, Margaret Lindsay and Ann Dvorak. Lindsay plays Kay, a night nurse by profession. As with her brother, Jeff, she takes an immediate dislike towards Brick because of his wiseacre personality. Ann Dvorak appears as Jean Morgan, singer and dancer at McKay's night club. Although a very close friend of Brick's, her association with the underworld thickens with her marriage to the homicidal Brad Collins. Although her part is actually small, she's most beneficial to the story highlighted by her noteworthy telephone booth scene.Aside from the usual plot development process leading to an exciting second half of the story, G-MEN includes musical numbers in a night club with Ann Dvorak vocalizing "You Bother Me An Awful Lot" (by Sammy and Irving Kahl); followed by popular tunes of the day originally introduced in other Warner Brothers productions as Al Dubin and Harry Warren's "Lullaby of Broadway" (vocalist unknown), instrumental background score of "I'm Going Shipping With You" from GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935; and instrumental dance number, "Go Into Your Dance" (with Ann Dvorak and chorus girls)lifted from GO INTO YOUR DANCE (1935).G MEN is one for the time capsule and worth looking back at the use of many outdated technology/ machinery used in capturing criminals, especially the fingerprinting lab process for example, indicating how the technology has prospered over the years. In spite of its age, G MEN, occasionally presented on Turner Classic Movies and available either on video or DVD formats, still delivers as great entertainment, especially during its second half. While G MEN was generally responsible for starting a cycle of FBI films, followed by SPECIAL AGENT (1935) with George Brent; BULLETS OR BALLOTS (1936) with Edward G. Robinson, and much later THE FBI STORY (1959) with James Stewart, G MEN is packs a wallop as "the grand-daddy of all F.B.I. films," thanks to the know-how performance of the legendary James Cagney. "Don't tell him I said so." (****)

This movie was fast paced and depicted brutal scenes. Lots of the machine gunning by the FBI against the crooks reminded me of the Bonnie and Clyde movie of the 1960s. I could just see Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway being shot full of holes while in their car.I love Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy. In real life, Cagney was a Master Tap Dancer, which is a very high honor for a tap dancer to achieve. The year G-Men was made, he played Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream. He is famous for the grapefruit in the face routine. He was in all those gangster movies, playing the bad guy, but in G-Men he is actually on the good side of the law. This is a nice switch.I was hoping he would throw the guy in the wrestling scene (or whatever sport that was), but I did not see that happen. He did at least get enough training to go out after the bad guys, considering he had spent some time in a law office as a desk-potato, lol.Cagney was a very talented and versatile performer, and is always inspiring.