Lifestyle Legends Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
James Cagney (as Rocky Sullivan) and Pat O’Brien (Jerry Connolly) are a couple of bad kids growing up in the rough and tumble Hell’s Kitchen part of New York City. Rocky ends up in reform school, which becomes a learning experience — he learns how to become an even better criminal than he was before he went in. His buddy, meanwhile (and almost predictably) turns his life around and becomes a priest. When both hoodlum and hero rendezvous as adults back in their old stomping grounds, the priest works with neighborhood kids trying to keep them from running astray of the law. Rocky, however, isn’t looking for salvation; he’s hoping to lay low until he can return to his criminal ways, something his old friend is hoping he can prevent. Dialogue (not to mention solid acting) is one of the keys to this film. There’s lot of machine gun-like wisecracks, not to mention some well-chosen gunfire. Bet you didn’t know: Was Rocky really turning chicken when he was being strapped into the electric chair at the end of the film? Or was he really faking it to keep a promise to his old pal Jerry? Years after the film, Cagney said he deliberately played the scene ambiguously so audiences would have to draw their own conclusions.
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Humphrey Bogart stars as private detective Sam Spade in this film noir classic that stars Mary Astor as his femme fatale client and Sydney Greenstreet, who was nominated for a supporting actor Oscar in his film debut. The story is about Sam Spade’s dealings with three unscrupulous men who are all competing to get their hands on a jewel-encrusted statuette of a falcon. The case is brought to him by a secretive and beautiful woman (Astor), and trouble seems to show up the moment she does when Sam’s partner is murdered. With crime and intrigue swirling around the story, Sam eventually realizes he’s the one who needs to find the one thing everyone else is looking for — the prized Maltese falcon. Bet you didn’t know: Warner Bros. had to come up with two Maltese falcon props for the movie. Bogie dropped the original while shooting a scene, which dented the tail feathers. The wounded bird is still on display at the Warner Bros. studio movie museum.
Little Caesar (1931)
Edward G. Robinson and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. star in this Mervyn Leroy-directed film that many movie buffs consider one of the earliest and best gangster films. It’s even been called the “grandfather” of the modern-day crime film. “Rico” (played by Robinson) is a small-time crook with a penchant for knocking over gas stations. He and his friend Joe Massara (Fairbanks) move to Chicago to seek their fortunes. But Joe wants to leave the criminal world behind to become a dancer, while Rico joins a criminal gang and eventually takes over the crew. And he isn’t happy that his buddy wants to go straight, so he makes him participate in a robbery of the nightclub where he works. Bet you didn’t know: Edward G. Robinson simply couldn’t keep his eyes open in a scene where he had to fire a pistol. So the film crew took matters into their own hands — they used cellophane tape to make sure the star’s eyes remained open.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Clyde Barrow (Warren Beatty) was a fresh-out-of-prison criminal and Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunaway) a young waitress when the two meet by chance in Texas. The impressionable Parker was smitten with Barrow’s criminal past and the way he bragged about his exploits. Recognizing the girl’s fascination with him and sensing she’s somewhat sympathetic to his goals in life, Barrow strikes up a relationship with her and together they embark on a life of crime, sticking up banks and any other business where they think they can score some quick and easy bucks. Although well-armed, they never intended to hurt anyone — at least not in the beginning — until they rounded up a small gang of accomplices. Things escalate and the couple begins adding murder to their repertoire. The film ends in a hail of bullets when the most-wanted couple is ambushed by a huge posse of lawmen on a country road in Louisiana in 1934. Bet you didn’t know: Morgan Fairchild, who was active in Dallas theatre, began her film career in this film as Faye Dunaway’s stand-in.
Get Shorty (1995)
A year after his career-reviving performance in Pulp Fiction, John Travolta starred as Miami mobster Chili Palmer in this comedy, who’s ordered by his psychotic boss “Bones” Barboni (played by Dennis Farina) to collect a bad debut from a Hollywood horror film producer (Gene Hackman). Love blossoms when Chili meets the producer’s leading lady (Rene Russo) and he pitches his life story, which he’s convinced should be made into a movie. But Chili also learns that there’s really little difference between his job as a mob enforcer and collector and the role of a low-budget film producer. Bet you didn’t know: Director Quentin Tarantino, who directed Travolta in Pulp Fiction, had to convince Travolta to star in Get Shorty, which the actor had initially turned down.
The Sting (1973)
A small-time grifter, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) pulls a standard street con and unwittingly steals from a big-time crime boss named Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw), who ends up having Hooker’s partner, Luther, rubbed out. Hooker flees and seeks help from Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman), who is a master of the con. Hooker wants Gondorff’s help to even the score with Lonnegan. Together, they pull together a small army of other talented con artists and concoct a scheme to scam Lonnegan out of a huge sum of money while still dealing with Lonnegan’s murderous ways. Bet you didn’t know: Though the film was made in 1973 Robert Redford didn’t see it until 2004.
Sherry Hoffman is the owner of Sherry Hoffman Public Relations and has been a contributing writer for Lifestyle since the inaugural issue. njlifestyleonline.com
LIFESTYLE | May Issue 2015
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