Now here is a film that is, for all its datedness and crime story, is surprisingly satirical, moral and relevant even today.
Rocky Sullivan (Cagney) and Jerry Connolly (O'Brien) are childhood friends with a taste for mischief and petty thievery. When a run in with the law gets one of them caught, while the other flees, the two best friends are set on divergent paths for life.
These paths cross again some fifteen years later when Sullivan has had his criminal life compounded by incarceration, meanwhile Connolly has been called to the church. While trying to collect some old debts Sullivan also manages to use his reputation and charisma to reach some of the more difficult children within Connolly's parish.
However, Sullivan's former partners have gotten used to life without him and are not so keen to see his return to the business and Connolly grows concerned that if the kids look up to Sullivan too much, they too will be doomed to a life of crime and corruption.
Being off-screen friends in real life, the chemistry between Cagney and O'Brien is a delicate and convincing core to this incredibly deep movie. It touches on aspects of nature vs. nurture and highlights the great flaw within the penal system - wherein juvenile delinquents learn to be hardened criminals by proximity.
But the key to the story is in the title, Rocky Sullivan is an Angel with a dirty face. He has been shaped into a criminal by the events in his life but he still has a good heart.
A rich and rewarding piece of cinema, beautifully acted (with Humphrey Bogart thrown into the mix) with a host of messages that run through its core whilst not allowing the film to become too preachy.
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