IMDb RATING
6.7/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.Police Chief Jim Fitzpatrick ruthlessly goes after organized crime and is prepared to use brutal and violent methods to fight it.
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
1.4K
YOUR RATING
- W.R. Burnett(story)
- Ben Hecht(uncredited)
- John Lee Mahin(screenwriter)
- Stars
- W.R. Burnett(story)
- Ben Hecht(uncredited)
- John Lee Mahin(screenwriter)
- Stars
Eddie Baker
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Elmer Ballard
- Mayor
- (uncredited)
Sammy Blum
- Turnkey
- (uncredited)
Edward Brophy
- Police Dispatcher
- (uncredited)
Ed Cassidy
- Policeman #5 on Telephone
- (uncredited)
Allan Cavan
- Pat - Car 47 Driver
- (uncredited)
Eddy Chandler
- Joel - Policeman Outside Car 47
- (uncredited)
- W.R. Burnett(story)
- Ben Hecht(uncredited)
- John Lee Mahin(screenwriter)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMickey Rooney had just turned 11 years old when he played Walter Huston's young son in his first full-length sound feature film. His character's name is also "Mickey," and his first line is, "Say, those don't look like pancakes!"
- GoofsWhen Ed and Daisy first kiss, in a medium shot, he's holding her head in the crook of his left arm, and her right had is on his side. In the next closer shot, his arm is down and her right hand is up on his lapel.
- Quotes
Daisy Stevens, aka Mildred Beaumont: [Ed grabs her arm tightly] Say! That hurts a little bit.
Det. Ed Fitzpatrick: And you don't like to be hurt, do you?
Daisy Stevens, aka Mildred Beaumont: Oh, I don't know.
[Suggestively]
Daisy Stevens, aka Mildred Beaumont: Kinda fun sometimes if it's done in the right spirit.
Det. Ed Fitzpatrick: [Pushes her away] Get the beer!
- Crazy creditsOpening card: Instead of the glorification of cowardly gangsters, we need the glorification of policemen who do their duty and give their lives in public protection. If the police had the vigilant universal backing of the public opinion in their communities, if they had the implacable support of the prosecuting authorities and the courts, I am convinced that our police would stamp out the excessive crime, which had disgraced some of our great cities. ---- President Herbert Hoover
- ConnectionsFeatured in Harlow: The Blonde Bombshell (1993)
- SoundtracksChopsticks
(1877) (uncredited)
Traditional piano tune
Music by Euphemia Allen
Played on piano by Betty Mae Crane and Beverly Crane
Review
Featured review
The Skirt That Did Them In
The Beast Of The City finds Walter Huston cast as a crusading and honest cop, possibly too rigidly honest. His character is a whole lot like Kirk Douglas's detective in Detective Story that would come out a generation later.
The film also borrows a lot from westerns at the time. Huston's unknown western city is ruled by gangster Jean Hersholt who is apparently untouchable as far as the law is concerned. A whole lot like real life gangsters Al Capone and Lucky Luciano who were coming into prominence.
Huston's family life is secure enough, wife Dorothy Peterson, a few kids among them a young Mickey Rooney. He also has his younger and weaker brother Wallace Ford living with them. Ford's got a real good deal, no rent and he apparently chases a lot of skirts. That proves to be his downfall and eventually Huston's.
The skirt that did them in belonged to Jean Harlow. Jean was never a better mantrap in her career than she is The Beast Of The City. Wallace Ford turns out to be putty in her hands.
Also note another good performance in The Beast Of The City is that of Tully Marshall who plays Hersholt's lawyer. The word shyster was invented for lawyers like Marshall, but he's good to have on your side especially if you're guilty as sin.
The climax is an unforgettable one and one more typical to a western than a modern drama. It's what makes The Beast Of The City a classic that is too rarely seen today.
The film also borrows a lot from westerns at the time. Huston's unknown western city is ruled by gangster Jean Hersholt who is apparently untouchable as far as the law is concerned. A whole lot like real life gangsters Al Capone and Lucky Luciano who were coming into prominence.
Huston's family life is secure enough, wife Dorothy Peterson, a few kids among them a young Mickey Rooney. He also has his younger and weaker brother Wallace Ford living with them. Ford's got a real good deal, no rent and he apparently chases a lot of skirts. That proves to be his downfall and eventually Huston's.
The skirt that did them in belonged to Jean Harlow. Jean was never a better mantrap in her career than she is The Beast Of The City. Wallace Ford turns out to be putty in her hands.
Also note another good performance in The Beast Of The City is that of Tully Marshall who plays Hersholt's lawyer. The word shyster was invented for lawyers like Marshall, but he's good to have on your side especially if you're guilty as sin.
The climax is an unforgettable one and one more typical to a western than a modern drama. It's what makes The Beast Of The City a classic that is too rarely seen today.
helpful•241
- bkoganbing
- Apr 6, 2010
Details
Box office
- 1 hour 26 minutes
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Top Gap
By what name was The Beast of the City (1932) officially released in Canada in English?
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