Very well executed

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

The reputation of John Garfield has suffered somewhat on account of his being accused of Communism by that bigoted lunatic Joseph McCarthy. It changes nothing in that John Garfield was a fine actor, one of the best of his generation. He was an actor who could modify his style of that from the theatre, so that he could be natural and convincing on screen. "Warner Bros" didn't really appreciate the value of such a talent and the films Garfield was forced to do, were not worthy of him at all. However, "Dust Be My Destiny" is a very watchable movie. Even though Garfield is playing the kind of character he was stuck with for a while, he is nevertheless very good. For years, he was always cast as those people who found themselves on the wrong side of the law, usually down to bad luck rather than being criminally inclined. In this film, Garfield is a man on the run with a young lady by his side. Her drunken stepfather is dead due to an accident and Garfield has been innocently implicated. He and his girlfriend take to the countryside, barely staying one step ahead of the authorities. They hop onto freight trains, hitchhike along the highway. It is a tense yarn where you don't know what is going to happen next and I found the experience exciting. Frank McHugh is totally wasted in a cameo appearance as a rather insistent wedding photographer but Alan Hale does well as a newspaper editor who takes the wanted youngsters under his wing. Two of the Dead End Kids make an appearance but they are written out quite early on. Very enjoyable.

After serving time for a crime he didn't commit, rowdy and rebellious John Garfield (as Joe Bell) is released from prison early. But, it wasn't for good behavior; the real burglar was caught in a hold-up. With no resources, Mr. Garfield hooks up with "Dead End" kid Billy Halop (as Hank Glenn) and his fifteen-year-old brother Bobby Jordan (as Jimmy). On the east coast, the three ride the rails as tramps, but get in trouble with the law; they receive brief sentences on the county work farm.Assigned to milk cows, Garfield meets pretty Priscilla Lane from "Four Daughters" (1938) in the barn. She is the step-child of drunken foreman Stanley Ridges (as Charlie Garreth). Due to a bad heart, Mr. Ridges kicks the bucket during a fight with Garfield, after the former finds the latter lounging by the hay with Ms. Lane. Naturally, the authorities mistakenly believe Garfield committed murder. He and Lane go on the run. Good Samaritans help the hungry couple, but the law closes in...This social consciousness drama is episodic to a fault, with some confusing transitions. The first occurs when Garfield is suddenly seen with two of the "Dead End Kids" from "They Made Me a Criminal" (1939). Obviously, the studio meant to evoke earlier films. Helpful Alan Hale (as Mike Leonard) and the Warner Bros. cast and crew go through the familiar motions. Everyone does their job well enough, but it just doesn't rise to the level of the studio's better work in the genre.***** Dust Be My Destiny (9/16/39) Lewis Seiler ~ John Garfield, Priscilla Lane, Alan Hale, Billy Halop

It's difficult to believe that this collection of tired clichés and cardboard characters was written by Robert Rossen but there you go. Having signed Julie Garfield from the Group Theatre Warners thrust him into one tough-guy-who-never-had-a-chance vehicle after another after it paid off handsomely in his debut Four Daughters. Not one to balk at hedging their bets the freres Warner teamed him once again with Priscilla Lane in this slice of hokum rather than slice of life opus. If Howard Hawks had a knack for coming in at the tail-end of a genre and making the definitive example (see: Only Angels Have Wings) Lewis Seiler just came in at the tail-end of a genre and added nothing. Garfield gets out of stir at the beginning only to be informed by the warden that he had been wrongfully convicted; he then gets a series of bad breaks punctuated by false hopes until it all ends in smiles. Along the way he is helped by several people who behave unrealistically, somehow acquires a camera whilst not having change of a match and ... well that's about as credible as it gets. Always nice to see Garfield and Lane but don't raise your hopes.

A routine John Garfield film that Garfield really didn't even want to do. It starts out with Garfield serving thirteen months in jail for a crime he didn't commit and as soon as he's back on the streets, he gets on a train with two of the dead end kids and winds up getting in a fight with Ward Bond, who is hiding out from the cops. The cops arrest all of them and Bond says Garfield helped him when he committed the crime and he's sent up again for a crime he didn't commit. He's given 90 days on a work farm and he and warden take a disliking for each other immediately. That's when he meets the warden's daughter and there is a lot more plot to the movie but you can find that out for yourself.