Search - They Made Me a Criminal on DVD

The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield.

James McDonald | Southern California | 09/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the fourth Dead End Kids film. (Dead End [1937], Crime School [1938], Angels With Dirty Faces [1938]). A boxer (John Garfield) has a little party after his fight. In an apartment, Johnnie trys to swing a punch at a nosy reporter, but he is so drunk he misses and ends up passed out in a chair. Another man hits the reporter over the head with a whiskey bottle. The reporter McGee ends up dead. Later, they decide to make Johnnie take the fall. Johnnie is innocently drunk-sleep. The bad man and woman try to make there getaway, but with the police catching them, they go off the road and instantly die. They think it is Johnnie who is dead. But one detective is on the hunt. Johnnie runs away and he comes across a farm where the delinquent Dead End Kids (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly) have been sent to work. There he meets the boys who he trys to reform. Also a woman at the date farm, Peggy (Gloria Dickson), softens his heart too. Meanwhile a detective (Claude Rains) is close on the trail.

This is a good film for Billy Halop, who practically steals the film. Great acting from Halop. Good performances by May Robson who played the Grandma on the farm. Filmed at Palm Desert, California. Great ending. Get a hankercheif. On this DVD version, Alpha Video only offers an "index" which is a chapter selection. Very good print of film.



The next films are:



Hell's Kitchen (1939)

The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)

On Dress Parade (1939



Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly, Gabriel Dell as "Dead End Kids" joined up with the "Little Tough Guys" (1938-43) for Universal Pictures.



Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan went on to be "East Side Kids"(1940-45) for Monogram Pictures and were later joined by Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell.



Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell then became The Bowery Boys (1946-58).



John Garfield also appeared with Leo Gorcey (and Bernard Gorcey) in "Out of the Fog" (1941)."

John Garfield meets the Dead End Kids

HardyBoys.us | Long Island USA | 06/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Future superstar, John Garfield, is cast as a boxer on the lam from a (false) murder rap.
Claude Raines is miscast as the detective who pursues him.
Garfield winds up at a farm where the ever-popular Dead End Kids are too.
There's plenty of action, drama and intrigue as Garfield gets involved with the farm's gorgeous owner and the Dead End Kids, who come to idolize him."

Boxer on the lam hobos to Arizona date farm.

HardyBoys.us | 02/13/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"One of the original six DEAD END KIDS films, this "The Fugitive"-style story involves a world-class boxer(John Garfield) who is thought to be dead (but he's not) and also a murderer (but he's not). On the lam with a new identity and little money he hobos his way to an Arizona date farm where the Dead End Kids are on rehabilitation off of New York's East Side and being taken care of by a gorgeous farmer (Gloria Dickson). Garfield is a bad influence on the kids but somehow he is where he belongs. When a boxing promoter offers $500 a round for anyone who can stay in the ring with his champion, Garfield can't resist coming out of hiding to go for the prize. There is an investigation sub-plot (with Claude Rains doing what Tommy Lee Jones did in "The Fugitive") but here it is totally useless and just doesn't work. The ending is even more useless. Regardless, there is much to like due to great direction (Busby wasn't very good at telling the story but boy did he know where to put the cameras and how to fill up the screen), great acting (John Garfield brings compassion to a dislikable character, the reliable Dead End Kids are in top form, and Gloria Dickson is very appealing)."

Entertaining Drama

Vincent Tesi | Brick, New Jersey | 07/16/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"They Made Me A Crimminal is not remembered as a classic drama, but the film still provides predictable entertainment sixty-one years after its theatrical release. Busby Berkeley's direction is excellent as the sequences involving the car crash, Garfield's train ride, and the water tower appear realistic. The fight scenes in the ring are a bit histrionic, but at least Berkeley used enough extras to create a boxing arena type atmosphere- John Avildsen (Rocky) are you reading this? The film contains a credible cast with John Garfield in the lead as Johnny a prize fighter on the run. Gloria Dickson as Peggy gives a Sylvia Sydney type performance as a reformer intent on reabilitating juvenille deliquents. Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, and the rest of the Dead End Kids are the NYC teens who idolize tough Johnny, but respect Peggy. Cluade Rains plays a newspaperman who wants to rip the veil of deceit from Johnny's persona. Ann Sheridan receives top billing over Gloria Dickson and for no good reason. Sheridan's role as Goldie is brief and totally unconvincing as a drunken floozie riding the coat tails of Johnny's ring success. For those that enjoy happy endings with morality values, this 90 minute film will not disappoint you."