Product Description

In 1931 James Cagney helped jump-start the gangster genre as The Public Enemy. In 1935 he waged on-screen war against the nation's public enemies. Outcries against movies that glorified underworld criminals put Cagney on the side of the law in "G" Men. Emphasis may have changed but elements are the same. "G" Men builds to a fury of bold escapes siren-wailing pursuits and frenzied shootouts. "Anything worth newspaper space is worth a movie" Warner Bros. executive Lou Edelman declared. Here a punchy hot-off-the-presses account of the pursuit and capture of John Dillinger provides the story inspiration as tough-guy Cagney gives it to 'em good in a movie that's "fast gutsy as simplistic and powerful as a tabloid headline" (Geoff Andrew Time Out Film Guide).Running Time: 86 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 012569679504 Manufacturer No: 67950

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31911 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-07-18
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.com
There comes a time in the career of every gangster star when he has to go straight. Jimmy Cagney did it in "G" Men, a crisp crimefighting drama directed by William Keighley. Its hero is one more Cagney variation on the working-class guy with a smart mouth and a hard right, only this time he's a lawyer whose education was paid for by the avuncular local crimelord. Cagney's on the square, though, and after a law-school pal turned F.B.I. agent is murdered in the line of duty, he joins the Bureau. Made with the blessings of J. Edgar Hoover, the movie pays homage to several spectacular moments in Bureau legend, but it's at its grabbiest when things get personal for Cagney--say, the complications that arise from his onetime sorta-girlfriend, nightclub chanteuse Ann Dvorak, taking up with very bad dude Barton MacLane.

Film critic Manny Farber praised Keighley as "the least sentimental director of gangster careers," and he gives the numerous murders and shootouts a jolting ferocity. (Thirteen years later Keighley helmed the excellent F.B.I. case history Street With No Name.) The I-don't-like-you-and-I-don't-trust-you byplay between Cagney and his Bureau boss Robert Armstrong gets old, but there's flavorful thuggery from MacLane, Edward Pawley, Noel Madison, et al. "G" Men's style is briskly no-nonsense, yet so beautifully has the film been restored and digitally remastered, there are moments when Sol Polito's cinematography literally glows. One gripe only: The movie should have been presented as it was in 1935, without the F.B.I.-classroom intro tacked on for 1949 reissue (the sort of thing "Special Features" was made for). --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

"Only six states. We've got them cornered!"
When the production code came around, movies got cleaned up, and that included gangster movies. In consequence, gangsters could not be glorified, so James Cagney went from hoodlum to the side of the law in G-Men. This is the story of the beginning of the FBI. Cagney plays Brick Davis, a former lawyer who turns to police work after his friend (Lloyd Nolan) is murdered in the line of duty. Brick grew up in the slums and was given his break by a gangster so he knows how the underworld works. That makes him a great cop. It is up to him to round up the top ten most wanted men in America and with the help of menotor Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong), he can do it.

An entertaining movie, G-Men is nothing too significant. It seems more like a Warners programmer than anything with plenty of stock actors. Ann Dvorak appears as a gangster's wife, Margaret Lindsay as Cagney's love interest, and Barton MacLane as the most elusive gangster Collins.

This is such a good movie.Cagney at his best
This movie not only shows how gangsters were in the 1930s but,it also shows how government law enforcement came together.Cagney was perfect for this part

G-Men
After solidifying his reputation as Hollywood's number-one bad guy, Cagney played a straight-edge lawman in this gangland drama, a huge hit for Warners and great publicity for J. Edgar Hoover's fledgling department, which had only recently granted officers the right to bear arms (a big plot point in the film). Cagney is mesmerizing as Brick, prudent and principled but also tough as nails and willing to throw his weight around. His two love interests, a bar-girl-gone-wrong (Ann Dvorak) and hospital nurse (Margaret Lindsay), land him in a tangle and also help amplify the theme of divided loyalties. Cagney is at his riveting, entertaining best in "G Men."