'G' Men (1935)

It's the early days of the F.B.I. - federal agents working for the Department of Justice. Though they've got limited powers - they don't carry weapons and have to get local police approval ... See full summary »

Director:

William Keighley

Writers:

Seton I. Miller (story), Seton I. Miller (screenplay)

Stars:

James Cagney, Margaret Lindsay, Ann Dvorak

Nominated for 1 Oscar.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Cagney	...	'Brick' Davis
Margaret Lindsay	...	Kay McCord
Ann Dvorak	...	Jean Morgan
Robert Armstrong	...	Jeff McCord
Barton MacLane	...	Collins
Lloyd Nolan	...	Hugh Farrell
William Harrigan	...	'Mac' McKay
Russell Hopton	...	Gerard
Edward Pawley	...	Danny Leggett
Noel Madison	...	Durfee
Monte Blue	...	Fingerprint Expert
Regis Toomey	...	Eddie Buchanan
Addison Richards	...	Bruce J. Gregory
Harold Huber	...	Venke
Raymond Hatton	...	Gangsters' Messenger with Warning

Storyline

It's the early days of the F.B.I. - federal agents working for the Department of Justice. Though they've got limited powers - they don't carry weapons and have to get local police approval for arrests - that doesn't stop fresh Law School grad Eddie Buchanan from joining up, and he encourages his former roommate James "Brick" Davis (James Cagney) to do so as well. But Davis wants to be an honest lawyer, not a shyster, despite his ties to mobster boss McKay, and he's intent on doing so, until Buchanan is gunned down trying to arrest career criminal Danny Leggett. Davis soon joins the "G-Men" as they hunt down Leggett (soon-to-be Public Enemy Number One) and his cronies Collins and Durfee, who are engaged in a crime and murder spree from New York to the midwest.

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Plot Keywords:

compliment | phone booth | kidnapping | jealous | hospital | 

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Taglines:

Hollywood's Most Famous Bad Man Joins the "G-MEN" and Halts the March of Crime!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 May 1935 (USA)

Also Known As:

G-Men

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

First National Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI, personally approved the script for this movie. He even assigned FBI agents to monitor its production and ensure that it was accurate in every detail. When it grossed over $1,000,000 (an astronomical sum for a film in 1935), he was extremely pleased. There were two famous federal law enforcement agencies in the early part of the 20th century. They were the "G-Men" of the FBI, who worked for the Justice Department, and the "T-Men" who worked for the Treasury Department. Hoover was intensely interested in his "G-Men" winning the publicity and popularity rivalry. This movie certainly helped!

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Goofs

During the shoot out in the garage, there seem to be 8 shots fired at Brick but 12 bullet holes in the wall behind him.

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Quotes

Collins: Give me noise! Give me lots of noise!

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Alternate Versions

For the movie's 1949 re-release, a new scene was shot and stuck on at the beginning of the movie. That scene is still in the pic every time it's shown on TV, it's on the home video release, etc. In this added-14-years-later pre- credits sequence, David Brian plays The Chief and Douglas Kennedy (I) plays An Agent.

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Connections

Featured in The Great Depression (1993)

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Soundtracks

You Bother Me an Awful Lot
(1935) (uncredited)
Music by Sammy Fain
Lyrics by Irving Kahal
Performed by Ann Dvorak and chorus

User Reviews

This time its Cagney AGAINST the Underworld

James "Brick" Davis gives up his law practice to join the Department of Justice (FBI) following the murder of Buchanan, department agent and Brick's former college roommate. Once arriving in Washington for training, Brick is given a hard time by McCord, the officer in charge, but McCord thinks Brick has the makings of a great agent, even though McCord uncovers the fact that Brick's education was paid for by McKay, a racketeer, who now wants to get out of the rackets. Leggett, who was one of the people McKay sold his interests to, is now Public Enemy number one, following a mob shootout with the G-Men. The agency gets Congress to pass laws that allow the FBI to cross state lines, carry ammunition, make kidnapping and bank robbery federal crimes, and others to strengthen the agency. Leggett is captured and the FBI next goes after Collins, who is hiding out at McKay's hotel in Wisconsin. A shootout ensues, McKay and several of Collins' gang is killed, but the head gangster gets away. Can Brick and McCord apprehend Collins, before he kills his wife (a former flame of Brick and the person who gave away Collins' location to the police) and also kills McCord's sister, Kay (who Brick is sweet on)? Good film from Warner Bros. trying to sanitize Cagney's character from his earlier gangster pictures. Keighley's direction makes good use of all the shootouts which spare little and do paint a decent picture of the FBI's problems during its infancy. Cagney still manages to play the tough guy very well, even though this time he's on the side of law and order. Dvorak is sympathetic as Jean. Lindsay is OK, but she is not given much time to establish much character and when she does, she becomes the stereotypical love interest for Cagney. Much of the last half-hour of the film does seem rushed as compared to the first hour. Rating, 7.