Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

Warner Bros
Directed by Michael Curtiz
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Warner Bros)

Cagney and Connolly grow up pals on the streets of New York, stealing tomatoes and tormenting little girls. Cagney ends up a career criminal while Connolly becomes a priest. Years later they compete for the respect of the Dead End Kids, a group of hoodlums much like their younger selves. In one great scene, the Dead End Kids play basketball, which resembles a Three Stooges football game more than basketball. Cagney eventually gets arrested after a shootout with the cops and is sent to the electric chair. In a final act of self-sacrifice he feigns cowardice to avoid becoming a martyr to the kids.