Good start, but then it gets ruined

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Can't find a flaw or an objection to "G-Men", a depression-era gangster picture which hits all the right notes. The screenplay, acting, direction and photography are all outstanding. The picture centers around James Cagney, a lawyer-turned G-man who rises quickly through the ranks to become a hero, much to the grudging admiration of Robert Armstrong, Chief of the Department, as he captures or exterminates several dangerous gangsters.It sounds like a lot of similar 'shoot-em-ups', but Director Keighley does it with style here, and with the help of a first-rate cast. Besides Cagney and Armstrong are such stalwart supporters as Lloyd Nolan, Ann Dvorak and Barton McLane. He keeps the action moving so that there is very little down time or prolonged stretches of dull dialogue - come to think of it, there are no breaks in the action as it is nearly continuous and helps to make "G-Men" one of the best of its genre regardless of the era.

That's what tough, gritty Warner Brothers was in the 1930's and'40's. Nobody made better gangster films and this is one of their best. It is a fast-paced, crisply-paced entry in the genre with lots of gun-play and action. Cagney plays a good guy in this one and he is at the top of his game. He is ably supported by a good supporting cast that includes good work from Robert Armstrong, Barton MacLane and Lloyd Nolan in an early role. Ward Bond can also be briefly seen as a trigger-man. One can see how this film influenced such later crime films like "The Cotton Club" and "The Departed." For anyone who likes gangster films, this is a must-see.

Lawyer Brick Davis (James Cagney) is a fresh-out-of-school law graduate with no clients. When his old friend Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey) stops in town, he approaches Davis to become a 'G Man' - a member of a newly formed federal force that uses brains combined with brawn to make the perfect law enforcement. Davis isn't interested, but when Buchanan is shot dead by a gang of organised thugs, he joins up instantly, and begins to distance himself with his criminal clients. Upon arrival at the FBI recruitment centre, he knocks heads with his newly-appointed mentor Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong) who dislikes the amount of law graduates they are getting. When the gang that Davis left behind start to cause mayhem on a federal scale, Davis uses his knowledge and experience to bring the gang to justice.With all the Pre-Code mayhem that was taking over the cinemas back in the 1930's, people began worrying about the flattering, anti-hero portrayals that the criminal underworld were getting. Films such as the 1932 version of Scarface, and The Public Enemy (also starring Cagney) both showed them in a flattering light, so G-Men wanted to make the law cool again. Cagney's Brick Davis is very much like the villains portrayed in these films - he's ambitious, tough, intelligent - but he's also moral. The criminals, however, are portrayed as pure scum, and (in a quite shocking scene) capable of killing women without thinking twice. More of an FBI propaganda film than a film noir or a crime film, but it's easily watchable. Yet apart from a couple of bloody good shootouts and the odd surprise, the film never really grips and it does lack the usual bite from Cagney.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

After playing a Gangster for the better part of four years, Cagney was allowed a curveball in 'G-Men'.Though not without a little prodding to the Warners, Jimmy turned the tables and finally portrayed the law, in one of the better F.B.I. films to this day.Breaking from his standard typecast, Cagney gets to show a little more range in a restrained lawman looking to use the law as his vehicle of payback.A great turn as well paced and scripted film.For Cagney fans or just old school movie lovers, bring the popcorn.