Angels with dirty faces.

Teenagers Rocky Sullivan ( James Cagney ) and Jerry Connolly ( Pat O'Brien ) are bosom childhood friends, typical “street kids.” But once they were out of luck. When trying to steal pens from a railroad car, Rocky got caught, Jerry managed to slip away. Leaving the special school, Rocky did not stop leading a risky life and soon became a famous gangster. Jerry chose the path of spiritual purification, becoming a priest.

Rocky returns to his hometown, where Jerry humbly carries out his service and patiently works with local boys, protecting them from the influence of the street and preventing them from taking the slippery slope of crime. Six of them: Soapy , Swing, Bim, Patsy, Crabface and Hunky , consider Rocky their idol, and Jerry tries to convince an old friend not to pull teenagers into questionable business.

Rocky goes to Fraser ( Humphrey Bogart ), a familiar corrupt lawyer, and Kiefer ( George Bancroft ), a city contractor and shadow businessman. Fraser owes Rocky 100 thousand dollars, but Rocky is not enough - he wants to go into big business, wants to control part of the city, in fact, take Kiefer's place. Fraser and Kiefer try to get rid of Rocky, but he reveals their plans, and at the same time finds a notebook in which they kept records of bribes paid to influential people of the city. Taking the lawyer hostage, Rocky demands that his partner pay the debt. There is nothing left for Kiefer, he gives Rocky 100 thousand, but then, using his connections, he directs the police to Rocky. Police come to arrest Rocky, but at the last moment he manages to transfer the envelope with money to one of Jerry’s wards, and the teenager saves him.

Rocky was arrested, but there was no money with him, Fraser was in an unknown place, and most importantly, a notebook and papers, so dangerous for the ruling elite of the city, were also not found. Kiefer understands that it’s impossible to keep Rocky in the police, as his possible accomplices can use the existing dirt. Rocky is released on the same day, and this becomes the main news in the morning newspapers.

Jerry decides to use this case in order to convict the city authorities in relations with the underworld, to end the dominance of crime in the city’s power circles and to permanently rid the boys of the prospect of becoming like his childhood friend. He offers Rocky to leave the city, as he is going to use his friend’s name to discredit and overthrow the city’s unclean rulers. Rocky refuses to leave the city in which he feels like a king, and besides, he does not believe that a priest can do such a task. Fortunately for Jerry, he finds support in the editorial office of one of the city newspapers and begins a campaign to expose the corrupt authorities. Fraser and Kiefer understand what threatens them, and make plans to kill the priest. However, Rocky is ahead of them and cracking down on both, saving the life of his friend.

Jerry’s campaign is paying off. After a desperate shootout, Rocky is under arrest and he faces the death penalty in an electric chair . Jerry visits him in prison and asks before his death to provide another service - to die, begging for mercy, presenting himself to the public a weak-willed and cowardly weakling. Thus, Jerry hopes to debunk the image of the gangster hero Rocky in the eyes of his wards. Rocky indignantly rejects such an offer, declaring that he will “stick to the end” and will not refuse the only thing left for him - his honor. But at the very last moment, Rocky begins to scream, cry, rest, he is dragged by force to an electric chair. The viewer remains in doubt whether Rocky complied with the request of the priest or in fact turned out to be a "cowardly rat." The guys, learning about how Rocky died, decide that he is a "wimp." After that, they go to Mass with Jerry.

• 3 Oscar nominations - Best Director, Screenplay, Actor ( James Cagney )
• New York Film Critics Award - Best Actor of the Year (James Cagney).

• In 1939, the Warner Brothers film company released the animated film Thugs with Dirty Mugs , in which Hollywood stars appeared in a caricature of the main roles in the film. The cartoon is staged by the famous animator Tex Avery .
• In the 1950s, forward Argentina , Omar Sivori and Umberto Maskio shone on the Argentine national football team. This trio of attackers was nicknamed "Angels with dirty faces." They were also called the “Trio of Death” for their composure at the conclusion of the attacks.
• In the movie " Home Alone " there is a parody called Angels with Filthy Souls . They show on TV how the gangster Johnny shoots a long machine gun burst, and then says “Keep the change, dirty animal!” The hardcore band “Angels with Filthy Souls” got its name after this film.
• In the sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York , you can see scenes from the sequel to the film Angels with Even Filthier Souls . In the film, Johnny gives a line from a Thompson machine gun , after which he says, “Merry Christmas to you, dirty animal! And Happy New Year! ”In both films, Kevin uses these episodes to intimidate his pursuers, who think that a real gangster is talking to them from the next room.
• In the animated series Batman , in the episode It's Never Too Late, there is an allusion to the film - the story of the Stromwell brothers, one of whom became the leader of the gang, and the other a priest.
• In New York, there is the famous Irish bar "Rocky Sullivan's Pub", named after the main character of the film.
• Several times, various artists, including Sugababes and Tricky , have used the name of the film as the names for their albums. Others ( Sum 41 , Sham 69 and Los Lobos ) perform songs called "Angels with Dirty Faces."
• In the early 1990s, an Indian version of the film was shot in Bollywood: Ram Jaane . The roles of Rocky were performed by Shah Ruk Khan . The plot is pretty close to the original (but, as usual, the action is transferred to India ).
• In the computer game Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, there is a reference in one mission, namely, the Scene where Paulie shoots in a telephone booth of a gangster restaurant that came up instead of Sergio Morello.
• In the computer game Mafia 2, one of the prologue episodes almost exactly repeats the initial scene of the film. The heroes of the game Vito and Joe run away from the police, Joe manages to slip away, and Vito comes across without having to climb over the fence.
• Dirty-faced angels are often referred to as Dr. Edward Fitzgerald's favorite movie in the British television drama “ Cracker Method ”.
• On the set of the film there is a time traveler Yefim Sorokin, the main character of Gennady Marchenko’s novel “Survivor. Subjugation of America”. He starred in a small role (Steve), which was actually played by American actor Joe Downing (according to the plot of the novel, Downing was refused during the casting).

• Angry Dirty Faces at the Internet Movie Database  
• Angels with dirty faces on allmovie