They Made Me a Criminal Poster
MOVIEmeter
SEE RANK
Down 299 this week

They Made Me a Criminal (1939)

APPROVED 92 min  -  Crime | Drama | Mystery  -   28 January 1939 (USA)
7.0
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.0/10 from 960 users  
Reviews: 26 user | 22 critic

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

Director:

Busby Berkeley
 Loading+Watchlist

Watch it

Buy it from Amazon »

Related Lists

image of title
a list of 50 titles by TexasBeau created 1 month ago
 
image of title
a list of 689 titles by TheLastDriveIn created 4 months ago
 
image of title
a list of 66 titles by deano11 created 8 months ago
 
image of title
a list of 284 titles by olicool10 created 6 months ago
 
image of title
a list of 3,826 titles by dany-chahine created 4 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Pre-Order the Kindle Fire
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Garfield ...
Johnnie Bradfield, aka Jack Dorney
The Dead End Kids The Dead End Kids ...
Tommy's Gang
Claude Rains ...
Det. Monty Phelan
Ann Sheridan ...
Goldie West
May Robson May Robson ...
Grandma Rafferty
Gloria Dickson Gloria Dickson ...
Peggy
Billy Halop Billy Halop ...
Tommy
Bobby Jordan Bobby Jordan ...
Angel
Leo Gorcey Leo Gorcey ...
Huntz Hall Huntz Hall ...
Gabriel Dell Gabriel Dell ...
Bernard Punsly Bernard Punsly ...
Milt (as Bernard Punsley)
Robert Gleckler Robert Gleckler ...
Doc Ward
John Ridgely John Ridgely ...
Charles 'Charlie' Magee (reporter)
Barbara Pepper Barbara Pepper ...
Budgie Massey
Edit

Storyline

Johnnie is a boxer. The same evening he won the world championship, he is charged for the murder of a reporter and is taken for dead. Running away from New York, he ends up in a ranch in Arizona, run by an old lady as a work farm for delinquent teenagers. He falls in love with Peggy and became the teenagers' hero. But there is that New York Detective, Phelan, that does not believe he is dead and is chasing him... An unlikely scenario, but not a so bad film. Written by Yepok  

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

Ranch | Detective | Arizona | Police | Reporter  | See more »

Taglines:

YOU'D GIVE A DOG A BETTER CHANCE! (re-release print ad - all caps) See more »

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sport

Edit

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

(USA) See more »

Also Known As:

I Became a Criminal See more »

Filming Locations:

Palm Desert, California, USA See more »

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Pictures See more »
Show detailed company contact information on IMDbPro »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See full technical specs »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Desert location shooting was so hot at times that the film melted in the camera. See more »

Goofs

Continuity: At 38minutes into the film Gloria Dickson's "Peggy" calls John Garfield's character "Johnnie" when he in fact is still under the guise & alias persona of "Jack Dorney"! She could not know that since he has not told anyone at that point of the film. See more »

Quotes

Johnnie Bradfield, aka Jack Dorney: If you're rootin' for me, I'll go in there and bang the ears off the biggest guy in the world.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in "Dad's Army: A Brush with the Law (#5.11)" (1972) See more »

Soundtracks

"M-O-T-H-E-R, a Word That Means the World to Me"
(1915) (uncredited)
Music by Theodore Morse
Lyrics by Howard Johnson
Partially sung a cappella by Bert Roach See more »