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They Made Me a Criminal

37 votes

A boxer flees, believing he has committed a murder while he was drunk.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1939-01-21

Runtime: 92 mins

Director: Busby Berkeley

Spoken language: English

Genres: Crime, Drama

Original title: They Made Me a Criminal

Production Companies: Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Johnnie Bradfield, aka Jack Dorney

John Garfield

Claude Rains

Ann Sheridan

May Robson

Gloria Dickson

Billy Halop

Bobby Jordan

Leo Gorcey

Huntz Hall

Gabriel Dell

Bernard Punsly

Doc Ward (Johnnie's Manager)

Robert Gleckler

Charles 'Charlie' Magee (Reporter)

John Ridgely

Budgie Massey

Barbara Pepper

Reviews

Geronimo1967

This is one of these films that you need to allow quite a bit of latitude, else you will rule it just too implausible and stop watching. John Garfield ("Johnnie") is a world champion boxer who finds himself embroiled in the death of a journalist. His problem is, he was totally sozzled after his victory so cannot recall what he did, or didn't, do - so absconds to a remote Arizona ranch where he helps the elderly May Robson who runs a refuge for wayward teenagers. That's where he meets, and falls for "Peggy" (Gloria Dickson) and settles down to a respectable life helping teach the boys how to focus their energies on boxing. Thing is, New York plod "Whelan" (Claude Rains) is on his case, and soon this newly found utopia is at risk... Garfield does a fitting job here, he is eminently plausible as the flawed prizefighter and his character's evolution as the story develops is engaging too. Rains features sparingly for much of the film, and I found his efforts a little disappointingly constrained when he did appear. The film really, for me anyway, belonged to the "Dead End Kids" - playing the best game of strip poker I think I've ever seen in a family movie. It's a bit too long, but has good pace, plenty of action, decent dialogue and the romance is kept to a minimum - well worth a watch.

2022-06-22

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