Off-screen pals James Cagney and Pat OBrien teamed up for the sixth time in this enduring gangster classic. Cagneys Rocky Sullivan is a charismatic ghetto tough whose underworld rise makes him a hero to a gang of slum punks. OBrien is Father Connolly, the boyhood chum-turned-priest who vows to end Rockys influence. Other ace talents join them: Humphrey Bogart as a scheming lawyer, Ann Sheridan as Rockys hard-edged girlfriend and the Dead End Kids as worshipful street urchins, all ably directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca). The 1938 New York Film Critics Best Actor Award came Cagneys way, as well as one of the films three Oscar nominations. Watch the chilling death-row finale and youll know why.
