Product Details

• Actors: John Garfield, Claude Rains, The Dead End Kids, Ann Sheridan, May Robson
• Directors: Busby Berkeley
• Writers: Bertram Millhauser, Beulah Marie Dix, Sig Herzig
• Producers: Benjamin Glazer, Hal B. Wallis
• Format: Black & White, EP, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Allumination Filmwor
• VHS Release Date: February 28, 1991
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302010144
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,413 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The boys are working on a farm. Here comes John Garfield., September 3, 2003

By 

James McDonald (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Made Me a Criminal (DVD)

This is the fourth Dead End Kids film. (Dead End [1937], Crime School [1938], Angels With Dirty Faces [1938]). A boxer (John Garfield) has a little party after his fight. In an apartment, Johnnie trys to swing a punch at a nosy reporter, but he is so drunk he misses and ends up passed out in a chair. Another man hits the reporter over the head with a whiskey bottle. The reporter McGee ends up dead. Later, they decide to make Johnnie take the fall. Johnnie is innocently drunk-sleep. The bad man and woman try to make their getaway, but with the police catching them, they go off the road and instantly die. They think it is Johnnie who is dead. But one detective is on the hunt. Johnnie runs away and he comes across a farm where the delinquent Dead End Kids (Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Billy Halop, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell, Bernard Punsly) have been sent to work. There he meets the boys who are trying to reform. Also a woman at the date farm, Peggy (Gloria Dickson), softens his heart too. Meanwhile a detective (Claude Rains) is close on the trail.
This is a good film for Billy Halop, who practically steals the film. Great acting from Halop. Good performances by May Robson who played the Grandma on the farm. Filmed at Palm Desert, California. Great ending. Get a hankercheif. On this DVD version, Alpha Video only offers an "index" which is a chapter selection. Very good print of film.
John Garfield & Leo Gorcey also appear together in Out Of The Fog (1941).
John Garfield & Billy Halop also appear in Dust be My Destiny (1939).

John Garfield & Claude Rains also appear in Four Daughters (1938), Four Wives (1939), Juarez [VHS] (1939), Daughters Courageous (1939), Saturday's Children (1940).

John Garfield & Ann Sheridan also appear in Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943).

The next films are:

Hell's Kitchen (1939)
The Angels Wash Their Faces (1939)
On Dress Parade (1939

Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bernard Punsly, Gabriel Dell as "Dead End Kids" joined up with the "Little Tough Guys" (1938-43) for Universal Pictures.

Leo Gorcey and Bobby Jordan went on to be "East Side Kids"(1940-45) for Monogram Pictures and were later joined by Huntz Hall and Gabriel Dell.

Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Gabriel Dell then became The Bowery Boys (1946-58).

John Garfield also appeared with Leo Gorcey (and Bernard Gorcey) in "Out of the Fog" (1941).

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Drama, July 15, 2000

By 

Vincent Tesi "Vinny" (Brick, New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: They Made Me a Criminal [VHS] (VHS Tape)

They Made Me A Crimminal is not remembered as a classic drama, but the film still provides predictable entertainment sixty-one years after its theatrical release. Busby Berkeley's direction is excellent as the sequences involving the car crash, Garfield's train ride, and the water tower appear realistic. The fight scenes in the ring are a bit histrionic, but at least Berkeley used enough extras to create a boxing arena type atmosphere- John Avildsen (Rocky) are you reading this? The film contains a credible cast with John Garfield in the lead as Johnny a prize fighter on the run. Gloria Dickson as Peggy gives a Sylvia Sydney type performance as a reformer intent on reabilitating juvenille deliquents. Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, and the rest of the Dead End Kids are the NYC teens who idolize tough Johnny, but respect Peggy. Cluade Rains plays a newspaperman who wants to rip the veil of deceit from Johnny's persona. Ann Sheridan receives top billing over Gloria Dickson and for no good reason. Sheridan's role as Goldie is brief and totally unconvincing as a drunken floozie riding the coat tails of Johnny's ring success. For those that enjoy happy endings with morality values, this 90 minute film will not disappoint you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars a criminal made this, February 1, 2010

By 

D. J. blomquist "blujay" (middle island n.y. u.s.a.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: They Made Me A Criminal (1939) [Remastered Edition] (DVD)

avoid this 'so-called remastered' dvd-r. i found it to be totally unwatchable, the audio is out of sync, and the picture was filled with lines. how this could be released is beyond belief. i love this movie and was hoping for an improvement on what is currently available. stick with the alpha version, it is alot better and cheaper too.