PB They Made Me A Criminal

1939 Warner Brothers

They Made Me a Criminal is a 1939 American crime-drama film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the film The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933). The film later was featured in an episode of ***Cinema Insomnia*. Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California.**

PLOT:

Johnnie Bradfield is a southpaw world champion boxer falsely accused of murder, after his manager strikes and accidentally kills a reporter who plans to report on Bradfield's confession that he is not really a teetotaler devoted to his mother, but a drinker and high-liver. At his manager's advice, Bradfield disappears and is presumed dead. The manager steals Bradfield's money and girlfriend and flees; they were the only witnesses who could have exonerated him, but they die in an automobile accident, pursued by the police. Detective Monty Phelan, a coroner living under a cloud because he once mistakenly sent someone to the electric chair, believes that Johnnie is still alive and hasn't given up on searching for him. Johnnie, meanwhile, is hiding out on the feisty Grandma Rafferty's farm in Arizona. There, he meets with some juvenile delinquents, who are under the guardianship of Tommy's sister Peggy.

Johnnie, using the fake name of Jack Dorney, takes Tommy under his wing and encourages him to go in business for himself by buying a gas pump for the farm. He helps the kids raise money by returning to the boxing ring for a match against an up-and-coming boxer. Johnnie sees Phelan arriving at the fight and decides not to fight, disappointing the kids and Peggy. However his determination to help the kids overcomes him and he decides to fight. He tries to hide who he really is by not using his trademark stance in the ring, but not being a good right-handed fighter, he is on the verge of losing. Because of this, Johnnie reveals who he really is, but he still is defeated in the fifth round, though earning thousands of dollars to help Tommy buy the gas pump. He surrenders to Phelan, assuming he will be arrested, but at the last moment, the detective allows him to remain in Arizona instead of returning to New York.