best movie i've ever seen.

As Good As It Gets

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It was directed by Don Siegel who had made some good movies and would make more. This isn't one of them. It would have taken a magician to make much out of this B-level screenplay that lays out the rise and fall of a minor Midwestern gangster and bank robber, Mickey Rooney.Siegel handled brutality with genuine artistry but this gives him no chance to do much. Unless we have some feeling for the characters one way or another, who cares who gets hurt? There's no humanity in any figure except Carolyn Jones as Rooney's appealingly feminine moll. And how does he treat her? "C'mere, babe, and make like Mrs. Nelson," he snarls from his bed, stubbing out his cigarette.On the plus side, what a supporting cast, most of them over the hill. Few of them get much screen time but you'll recognize many of the faces -- Emil Meyer, Elisha Cook Jr., Tom Gordon as John Dillinger, Jack Elam, and Sir Cedric Hardwicke as a dissolute criminal doctor. John Hoyt is an FBI agent. Hoyt was the Martian with three arms in a "Twilight Zone" episode and he was also Decius Brutus, one of the assassins, in MGM's "Julius Caesar." I wouldn't want to argue that John Hoyt had a lot of range. I can't imagine him in a light-hearted role. But when the part fit him, nobody could carry it off better than John Hoyt.I don't mean to suggest that the screenplay is that bad. It's not laughable. It's just plain pedestrian and lacks any grace notes whatever. Having used that metaphor, I might as well add that Van Alexander's score really sucks, entirely aside from the fact that there's too much of it. If you want to hear how a musical score can add to or subtract from a film's impact, this will provide you with a good bad example -- an abstract big-band playing what must have passed for modern jazz in 1957, full of blaring horns and counterpoint. Not a hint of "Oodles of Noodles" let alone "Sophisticated Lady."

Baby Face Nelson is directed by Don Siegel and co-written by Daniel Mainwaring, Robert Adler and Irving Shulman. It stars Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon, Anthony Caruso and Jack Elam. Story is based on the notorious criminal who became public enemy number one in the first half of the 1930s.Gangsters have always been a profitable source for film makers, with many of them proving to be the basis of classic cinema. The story of Baby Face Nelson is ideal for cinematic treatment.Don Siegel's 57 movie is tight and taut, yet still briskly paced, and in the main as per the characterisation of Nelson, it's pitched right by Siegel and Mickey Rooney. Nelson is seen as a pocket rocket of inferiority complexes, a deluded bully held in the grip of jealousies. He's a trigger-happy punk with anger issues, while Siegel is professional enough to ensure the little thug is not glamorised (the film opens with a written statement pouring praise on the FBI). The recreation of the period is grand, those cars, those guns, the latter of which get a good amount of screen time as Siegel gives us gun play aplenty. While visually (Hal Mohr on cinematography duty) it's lighted for shadows and period starkness. There's even a pitch black noir ending to round it off.The flaws? Rooney never fully convinces in the role of Nelson, where perhaps he is a mere victim of following in the footsteps of greater characterisations in the genre? Or maybe it's just a case of being familiar with him in more airy roles? But with Hardwicke doing fine work as a boozy lecher, Jones appealingly knowing and sexy as Nelson's moll, and Elam and Elisha Cook Jr bolstering the support ranks, film is in capable acting hands. Narrative is a bit scratchy, not quite a complete whole, more a case of a number of great scenes inserted here and there, but it doesn't hurt the picture too much. Overall it gets in and does its job in next to no time, never out staying its welcome, it overcomes its faults and entertains the genre fan with ebullience. 7/10

I saw this movie several years ago and really liked it a lot. I'm currently trying to find a copy. If anyone could help me get a copy please contact me at muffinheuer2003@yahoo.com I really loved Mickey Rooney's performance in this film. He was and STILL IS a great star. He is my all time favorite. I like all of his movies I have seen and that is almost 100. I loved him in the Andy Hardy Films, Young Tom Edison, Killer McCoy, The Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney musicals. He was and is so talented. Hollywood will never know another Mickey Roooney. Please help me locate a copy and if you have a copy would you please contact me? I would greatly appreciate it!

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.