bkoganbing
Mickey Rooney stretched the limits of his talents and continued to live down the image of all American Andy Hardy in this blood and guts portrayal of Baby Face Nelson. In the title role Rooney dominates this film and that's no small achievement for him as he is supported by a really good bunch of character players, especially for a small independent United Artists film. This part was certainly a better fit for him than that other true life short man he played Lorenz Hart.One of the nastiest of the famous public enemies of the Thirties, Lester Gillis aka Baby Face Nelson had some real issues. A nasty temper and some inferiority feelings about his short size are what makes him what he is. Give him a Thompson submachine gun and he cuts all down to size.Reading the Wikipedia article and knowing what I know about him, Rooney really captured his character well. His fans should love what he did in this. Only the cheapness in production values prevents me from giving Baby Face Nelson a higher rating.
morrison-dylan-fan
Shortly after watching a tremendous film for the very first time called Dirty Harry,I decided,that since having become a big fan of Clint Eastwood thanks to his one-two punch of Changaling and Grand Torino,I felt that it was about time to take a look at the credits of Dirty Harry's director:Don Siegel.As I went down the list of titles by Siegel,I was surprise to find very near the end of the page that one of his first ever films was about a gangster called Baby Face Nelson.Predicting,that this would be a very easy film to get hold of,thanks to it being directed by the man behind Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of The Body Snatchers I went to order the film on Amazon.Shortly after getting onto the site,I soon began to get a creeping feeling that this was a film which seemed to have been wiped off the face of the earth.Desperate to find what was now becoming one of my "holy grail" films,I spent the next 4 years checking up on Youtube and Ebay every week in the hope of getting the chance to see the film.With having tried every option possible to get hold of this title,I eventually accepted that I would have to admit defeat on every getting hold of the film.A few months after waving "the white flag",me and my dad experienced one of the few times where we have both been stunned into silence,when a very kind friend caught me completely off-guard and passed me the film!After all of the years of searching,I decided that it was at last time to sit back and see one of the most elusive gangsters ever for the very first time. The plot:Given an early release from prison thanks to good behaviour,Lester Joseph Gillis prepares to take his first breath of freedom.Suddenly,as soon as the prison doors are closed behind Lester,a car appears which is driven by a man who has been order to take him to meet the person who secretly sorted out his early release:Rocca.Relucktently.Agreeing to the meeting,Gillis is told by that due to him having had to invest a good amount of cash in getting him out of jail,Rocca really hopes that Gillis will pay him back by doing some very important "missions".After being shown the first person who he is required to "deal" with,Rocca passes Lester some cash and drops him off so that he can at last be reunited with his wife.As he is still thinking about being reunited with his wife,Lester's flat is suddenly invaded by two cops,who find a gun that has been secretly placed by Rocca as a set up to get Gills sent straight back to jail.Being all prepared to send Gills straight back from where he came from,the plan of Rocca and the dirty police officers is left in tatters when Lester arranges his own secret plan with his wife,who intercepts the train carrying Gills and ends up becoming his getaway driver.As Lester plans on how to get his own back at Rocca and his name begins to climb up the Ten Most Wanted list,he soon starts to notice that as the number of crimes he commits goes up,the tightening of the noose from the police also starts to get closer and closer. View on the film:Although Mickey Rooney was sadly unable to completely block my memory of him being the lovable Andy Hardy in a series of films that he made with Judy Garland,I still feel that he gave a good performance as the "angelic face" gangster,with the scenes of Gills committing a series of robberies allowing Ronny to show a wickedly cunning side to the character,and also having Roony show a wonderful "wise guys" snarl as he begins to feel that he is quickly becoming "the man" of the corrupt ridden city that Siegel displays.Whilst I did still have my old memories of Mickey in my head,Caolyn Jones ended up completely catching me off- guard with her great performance as Nelson's wife .Along with not getting me to suspect for a moment that this was one of the main cast members from the classic TV series The Addams Family,Jones (who also has a sun bathing scene in the film!) gives a fantastic performance as Nelson's Femme Fatale Sue,that along with showing her desperate to wrap herself around Nelson's "rouge" lifestyle,also allows Jones wonderful "Gothic" face to show Sue as someone with an edgy side,who instead of being unwillingly pulled into Nelson's world,is actually someone that is their for the whole thrill of it all.Despite the film starting with a note that dedicates this sadly almost impossible to find,fantastic Gangster Film Noir to the FBI!,director Don Siegel displays an excitement for the anti-heroes activities that he would return to 14 years later.For the excellent stylish look of the film,Siegel has a number of objects in the background "shaded" (something which he also smartly does with the suits that the characters wear) into black,that allows for a great contrast with the characters clothes,faces and still-thrilling wild robbery scenes,which allow Siegel to create a terrific,far from "babyface" Gangster/Crime Film Noir.
lorenellroy
Mickey Rooney gives an energetic ,scary and persuasive performance in this crisp and edgy don Siegal movie.The businesslike script by Irving Shulman and Daniel Mainwaring traces the rise of Nelson from apprentice gunman to Rocca(Ted de Corsia),through his meetings with Dillinger(Leo Gordon), his incarceration and subsequent escape aided by girlfriend Sue(Carolyn Jones)and his rise to the status of Public Enemy Number 1 Little is said about the background to the story-prohibition is scarcely touched on -or about Nelson's personal motivation .Instead it records -even ,disquietingly ,celebrates his achievements and behaviour.The support cast gives Rooney solid backup and special kudos go to Sir Cedric Hardwicke ,Jack Elam and Emile Meyer It looks cheap and low budget but this actually helps the impact of this slick ,anti-social pulp movie
stoney73008
Close your history books, and enjoy Hollywood at its finest in Gangster genre. Like Bugsey was impressed with George Rafts imitation of him; Nelson should have got to see Mickey Rooneys portrayal of him! This movie is hardly outdated, even timeless, entertaining audiences almost any age, of the ruthless outlaws of the thirties. If anyone has time enough to notice something even remotely corny, remember that it is America's favorite vegetable. I only wish that it was availiable on DVD or VHS.
