Bullets or Ballots

source: Bullets or Ballots

Johnny Blake (Edward G Robinson) is kicked off the police force and hooks up with Al Kruger's (Barton MacLane) gangsters. However, he is actually working undercover and is gunning for Al's bosses. Along the way, he crosses swords with Fenner (Humphrey Bogart)..... This film is easy entertainment but it must be stressed that it is a boy's film. The main female in the cast is Joan Blondell who plays "Lee Morgan" but she does not have a very big role. She runs a small racket in the "numbers" game which Al's gang takes over with Blake at the head. This provides a misunderstanding between Blake and Lee, who are friends. Lee feels betrayed and she unknowingly betrays his whereabouts to Fennel for a showdown at the end. The showdown is pretty lame. The two of them stumble across each other and start shooting. One shoots the other and the other shoots the other back. Pathetic! Edward G Robinson is OK in the lead. He is likable but does not make enough of an emotional connection for us to really care about what happens to him at the end. It is also laughable when he punches one of the tough gangsters to the ground surrounded in a room by several other tough gangsters. All much taller than him. I don't think so! He would have been battered. On the other hand, Humphrey Bogart is excellent as a hard man and he wins the acting honours in this film. Frank McHugh has a small role as "Herman" in a one of those unfunny comedy roles and he is a complete tool. As regards the plot, it is all a load of nonsense. NO WAY would Al give Blake such a powerful position in his organization. There is also NO WAY that the other gangsters would have tolerated this ex-policeman, especially as the cartels start to get broken up soon after his arrival. How obvious! The film is OK to watch and passes the time and the character that sticks in the mind is Humphrey Bogart. I'm not sure if the film is worth keeping onto, though.

Edward G. Robinson stars as a tough detective, based on a real character, in "Bullets or Ballots," a 1936 film also starring Joan Blondell, Humphrey Bogart, Barton MacLane, and Frank McHugh. Robinson plays Johnny Blake, modeled after a real police officer, Johnny Broderick, who worked in New York City. As in the film, the character has a highly public firing so he can work with an organized crime group running illegal games. Bogart plays an ambitious gang member who intends to get rid of anyone in his way of taking over the organization - he starts with a newspaperman and goes from there. Warners made such great use of its character actors, using their versatility to great advantage. Cagney, Robinson, Bogart, all started out as villains but branched out into other kinds of roles. Strong performances by Robinson and Bogart - a good gangster flick.

Even though Edward G Robinson ranks among my favorite actors of all time, he wasn't an exception to appearing in less acclaimed movies. I'm not saying this movie is bad, it's just that I never even heard of it before this Wednesday so I wasn't sure the level of quality awaiting me was going to be on par with something like Little Caesar. The movie is fairly average in terms of its story and has a fixture on crime, which I think is a genre of movies that has been done to death already. Because of this, the plot didn't feel very original to me but the film is interesting because it features both Robinson and the king of classic movies himself, Humphrey Bogart. This is I think the second such movie I've seen to feature both actors side by side, the other being Key Largo. Ironically, just like the aformentioned movie, this film has Robinson and Bogart on opposite sides playing the same deadly game, which culminates in a deadly climax at the end, quite literally. This movie is about a detective named Johnny (Robinson) who gets booted from the police force one day, despite being well respected for catching criminals. Speaking of which, a mobster named Al (Barton MacLane) tries to approach Johnny with an offer and form an alliance with him. He wants this because Johnny, being a former cop, knows how the police allocate their resources, and Al wants to find out what they've got so he can counter it. Johnny actually accepts the offer and, just as he made a name for himself by being a good guy, now he does the opposite. Meanwhile, Bugs Fenner (Humphrey Bogart), another criminal, doesn't like what Johnny is doing since he thinks he still works for the cops. After Al's mob starts to lose money, Johnny takes the helm and gets them to indulge in a gambling operation headed by his girlfriend. The money really starts pouring in non-stop, but Johnny has other ideas. Unbeknownst to Al, Johnny actually is still a cop (technically). He's been in touch with Captain McLaren of the police all this time so he can find where the mob's leaders are. The cops attack and pillage many of Al's strongholds and gambling sites. Because of all this misfortune, Bugs becomes disillusioned with the mob's fall from grace and decides it's time to run things his way, except he can't do that until Al is dead. Bugs shoots Al and Johnny meets up with the leaders of the mob, who all happen to own banks. Finally, the cops raid one of Bugs' operations and a scout for Bugs manages to see Johnny involved with it. Bugs and Johnny confront each other in a stairwell and both shoot each other at the same time. Johnny drives to the bank to give the mob bosses the money and then dies. It's not in vain though since now McLaren knows who's running everything. Even though I typically regard every Robinson movie as a masterpiece, I felt this one was lacking compared to many of his others. I don't know what it is, but I just think playing a good guy is out of character for him, so I tend to find the movies in which he plays one mostly just decent. After seeing literally hundreds of crime movies, I realized there's only so much that can be done with storylines like these. That being said, Bogart and Robinson still deliver good performances, and it was nice to see them face off, which I don't think I've seen outside of Key Largo up until now. One last thing: it's worth mentioning the person this movie draws its inspiration from. Johnny Broderick was a cop in the NYPD during the 1920s, 30s, and 40s who had an extremely violent reputation when it came to handling criminals. He took no nonsense from people even when they were holding him at gunpoint, and smashed troublemakers through windows when they were spotted bothering women, just like what Robinson does in this movie. Just the fact that a lot of the violent things Robinson does in this movie are based on the actions of a real person makes it even better.

"Bullets or Ballots" is a good 'cops and robbers' movie from Warner Bros., headquarters for gangster pictures in the 30's. It has all the gangster stars on the lot - Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, George E. Stone, Barton McLane and a score of well-known character actors. It also features Joan Blondell, everybody's sweetheart in Warner films of the time. The 'racket' here switches from protection to the numbers game, and has Robinson as a racketbuster cop going undercover to unearth McLane's bosses. Robinson is a tough cop with the underworld's respect, although it is humorous to see him intimidate guys a foot taller than he is. Anyway, he infiltrates and the story unfolds in the expected manner, but as only Warner Bros. could tell it. Not a lot different from others of its type but the flashy cast puts this one over. If you haven't seen it and you are a fan of the genre, do so.

Edward G. Robinson stars in yet another classic gangster film from the folks who did them best at Warner Brothers. This time his character of John Blake is based on real life NYPD detective John Broderick. Back in the day you would not have given much chance for Broderick to grow old and die in bed. Yet in 1966 that's what he did do. Back in the day too many of New York's noted underworld figures felt his knuckles in various parts of the anatomy. Broderick was independent, fearless, and honest, the last being a rather rare commodity in the days of and just after Prohibition. Good thing he retired before the Miranda decision. He didn't think that hoodlums had any civil rights. Because Broderick was so open and known to all undercover work was impossible. But in Bullets or Ballots Robinson is kicked off the force for excessive brutality and joins the hoods he's been beating on. But it's all an act. It's a deal worked out by Broderick and the Police Commissioner so he can go undercover and get the goods on the numbers racket. The ostensible heads, Barton MacLane and Humphrey Bogart and the respectable types they're fronting for. Though the ending is melodramatic, Bullets or Ballots holds up pretty well today. And who knows, Broderick's real life might yet rate a good biographical picture today.

The plot of this one has such a familiar ring (in fact it is probably the most commonly used ploy of the gangster film), we find ourselves hoping against hope that Robinson is really the disgruntled cop he seems. The fact that his word has been his bond for thirty years on the force, doesn't seem to worry him unduly except as it affects Kruger, but this moral dilemma is neatly removed from the script before it can be put to the test. Otherwise the film is a very stylish exercise in the genre, though fans may be a bit disappointed by the quick demise of the principal thugs and the film's downbeat ending. Keighley's use of camera-work is much more fluid here than usual with dizzying crane shots and a memorably fast tracking shot as Bogart's car speeds alongside an enormous line of freight wagons being raided by police. The film is also another example of Warner Brothers craftsmanship par excellence, with splendid montage routines of meticulously mocked-up newspaper headlines (quick readers will notice that the story continues below the headlines — there is nothing cheap about production values in a Warner Brothers film), lavish sets peopled with hundreds of extras, driving, fast-paced direction, atmospheric photography (love the way Bogart's face is often lit with vertical bars and shadows to make him see even more menacing), sharp film editing and some of the best and most proficient players in the business. Bogart in his first film after Petrified Forest, gives a memorable yet characteristic impression of a shrewd, sly, cynical, trusting no-one, ambitious yet not over-bright thug; while Barton MacLane holds up his end, helped by Miller's literate dialogue, to give a portrayal of some depth as the crime boss. Robinson is his usual bluff, free-wheeling self (though it's a bit hard to believe in his physical prowess, he is such a small man compared to Joseph King, William Pawley and Norman Willis!) Surprisingly, Despite her prominence in the cast list, Miss Blondell does not play a major part in the proceedings (she is none too flatteringly photographed either). Frank McHugh also, fortunately, has a minor role (his comedy routines are slow and unrealistically drawn out). The other roles are most competently played. Henry Kolker makes an impression as the glad-handing Hollister and George E. Stone is effective in a small role as one of Bogart's henchmen.

Detective Johnny Blake (Edward G. Robinson) plays both sides of the law in this 1936 gangster/crime drama. In the early part of the film, we see an increasingly disillusioned Blake forge an odd relationship with crime boss Al Kruger (Barton MacLane). But when anti crime publisher Ward Bryant is murdered by Kruger's top man Nick "Bugs" Fenner (Humphrey Bogart), it's fully revealed that Blake is working undercover for old friend and new Police Commissioner Dan McLaren (Joe King). Kruger takes in Johnny Blake because of his fierce reputation for integrity, and both quickly become the target of "Bugs" Fenner, who up till then has had the number one spot in Kruger's gang. As Johnny masterminds a new source of revenue from running a numbers game in the Bronx and Harlem, his star rises while Fenner steams. Johnny also has to contend with the pretty Lee Morgan (Joan Blondell) who initiated the numbers racket, but is now being cut out of the action by Kruger's edict. Working from the inside, Blake turns over information to McLaren; and as profits from the numbers game escalate, Kruger's other operations get hammered by McLaren's forces on the street. As Fenner reaches the boiling point, he takes out Kruger and goes gunning for Blake. Meanwhile, the invisible heads of the crime syndicate backing Kruger are revealed as (dis)honest businessmen cashing in on all the illegal activity. Fingered by a Fenner crony, Johnny and "Bugs" shoot it out on the steps outside a city apartment. Blake hangs on long enough to make his final report to the police commissioner, his only regret being he won't be able to enjoy a last beer with the boss. "Bullets or Ballots" is a taut crime drama, showcasing Edward G. Robinson some five years following his breakout performance in "Little Caesar". He and Bogart would appear in five films altogether, "Key Largo" being the most highly acclaimed, and the only film in which Bogey would get top billing over Robinson. But for sheer entertainment value, I would recommend 1938's "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse", which showcases a much wider range of Robinson's acting ability. Joan Blondell appeared with Bogart in 1932's "Three on a Match" and 1937's "Stand-In", along with an uncredited Bogey appearance in 1932's "Big City Blues". "Bullets or Ballots" is the only time she and Robinson worked together.

Following his brutal portrayal in "The Petrified Forest," Bogart became a much more articulate and calculating killer in "Bullets or Ballots," a gangster thriller starring Edward G. Robinson as a crusading crime-buster, modeled after true-life cop Johnny Broderick, known as "the toughest cop on Broadway," who pretended to be thrown off the police force in order to infiltrate Bogart's gang and get the evidence to bring him to justice Bogart revealed no emotion whatever as he goes about his gun-happy chores of shooting a respected newspaperman as well as his partner-in-crime, Barton MacLane, in his characteristic double-cross The exciting finale found both Bogart and Robinson in a blazing showdown, an unusual ending for this period in film history, but one which Robinson had fought hard to retain... William Keighley directed the film with a firm and fresh efficiency

Due to the Hays Code restrictions, some gangster pics offered muddled character portraits, with a blurred line between good and bad guy that too often felt forced. This time, it's Edward G.'s turn and he's doing a solid job without being too enthusiastic about his part. No wonder, since the plot's rather lame and simple-minded. Bogie seems rather disinterested, too. Still, there's always a mild pleasure to be had from old school stuff like this. 5 out of 10 hot lottery games