People are voting emotionally.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

William Keighley directed this exciting film about the early days of the FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigation) where lawyer Brick Davis(played by Jimmy Cagney) is recruited to join by an old friend. After that friend is murdered, Brick becomes determined to take down the mob, even though he has old ties to it from his past. These particular gangsters are on a multi-state crime spree, so it becomes a perfect opportunity for the FBI to prove what it can do. For its re-release, it was presented as a training film for new agents during its 25th anniversary in a clever prologue. Lots of action and witty banter between Cagney and costars Robert Armstrong & Barton Maclane.

Lawyer Brick Davis (James Cagney) is a fresh-out-of-school law graduate with no clients. When his old friend Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey) stops in town, he approaches Davis to become a 'G Man' - a member of a newly formed federal force that uses brains combined with brawn to make the perfect law enforcement. Davis isn't interested, but when Buchanan is shot dead by a gang of organised thugs, he joins up instantly, and begins to distance himself with his criminal clients. Upon arrival at the FBI recruitment centre, he knocks heads with his newly-appointed mentor Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong) who dislikes the amount of law graduates they are getting. When the gang that Davis left behind start to cause mayhem on a federal scale, Davis uses his knowledge and experience to bring the gang to justice.With all the Pre-Code mayhem that was taking over the cinemas back in the 1930's, people began worrying about the flattering, anti-hero portrayals that the criminal underworld were getting. Films such as the 1932 version of Scarface, and The Public Enemy (also starring Cagney) both showed them in a flattering light, so G-Men wanted to make the law cool again. Cagney's Brick Davis is very much like the villains portrayed in these films - he's ambitious, tough, intelligent - but he's also moral. The criminals, however, are portrayed as pure scum, and (in a quite shocking scene) capable of killing women without thinking twice. More of an FBI propaganda film than a film noir or a crime film, but it's easily watchable. Yet apart from a couple of bloody good shootouts and the odd surprise, the film never really grips and it does lack the usual bite from Cagney.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

"G-Men" is a 1935 film that was reissued in 1949. At that time, the FBI was 25 years old, and a scene was added where David Brian, as an FBI head honcho, tells his rookies that they are about to see an early film about the FBI. He then starts the movie."G-Men" is directed by William Keighley and stars James Cagney as Brick Davis, an attorney whose college friend Eddie (Regis Toomey) is murdered by a mobster (Barton MacLane) while working for the Department of Justice. Brick quits lawyering and joins the FBI. When the fact that he was close friends with a mobster (who put him through law school) turns up, Brick is able to supply a lot of information to the bureau.The action in this film is non-stop, with car chases, kidnappings, lots of shooting, and scenes at a lodge, reminiscent of a well-known real-life happening in Wisconsin.Cagney is excellent as usual, and Barton MacLane gives a strong performance as the enemy. Lloyd Nolan, as a fellow recruit, makes his film debut. The supporting actors are all good.Warner Brothers again proves why they were King of the Crime Flicks with this film. If you like Cagney and action, don't miss this one.

Of course Cagney's best parts in the 30's and 40's were his trademark gangster roles - think "Public Enemy", "Angels With Dirty Faces" and "White Heat" but here he gets to cross the road and do-good as a bored would-be lawyer turned hard-bitten FBI man in this brisk actioner on the trail of the gang who murder his best friend, who just happens to be an FBI man trying to recruit Cagney into the ranks! Obviously derived from a pulp fiction source (besides the above, the plot has still more twists and turns than a roller-coaster, it takes someone like Cagney to drive it along as you suspend disbelief at the fantastical coincidences that happen along the way. I quite liked the direction of the piece, remembering this is quite an early "talkie", for example there's a nice car chase montage, some nice fast - panning camera shots and a concentration on forensic techniques someway ahead of its time, all told in fact, the director keeps the pace up throughout, with some mild interjections of humour between the numerous shoot-ups which seem to occur every few minutes. There is some poor editing-in though, of some stunts early in the piece as Cagney goes through his physical training. The rest of the cast give mixed performances, the dancer that Cagney leaves behind (but who ends up dead as the unwilling moll of the villain who kills Cagney's mate - see what I mean about the fantastical plot-line) acts far better and seems a better catch than the straight-laced almost glum girl he actually does get! Also Cagney's old mobster-boss gets bumped off accidentally as the G-Men storm the gangsters' lair and before he expires, delivers an excruciatingly bad death-scene. To go on in this way would be slightly cruel as the film is clearly a star vehicle for Cagney and doesn't he know it. The version I watched incidentally has a late 1940's Warner Brothers introduction by actors playing real FBI men, effectively laying claim to the movie as a recruitment driver although interestingly the FBI isn't, to the best of my recollection, formally named in the whole film.