City Streets (film)
7.4 /10 1 Votes
Director Rouben Mamoulian Duration Language English | 7.2/10 IMDb Genre Crime, Drama, Film-Noir Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date April 18, 1931 (1931-04-18) (USA) Writer Dashiell Hammett (story), Max Marcin (adaptation), Oliver H.P. Garrett (screenplay) Music director Jack Yellen, Milton Ager, Karl Hajos, Vee Lawnhurst Screenplay Max Marcin, Oliver H.P. Garrett Cast Gary Cooper (The Kid), Sylvia Sidney (Nan Cooley), Paul Lukas (Big Fellow Maskal), William 'Stage' Boyd (McCoy (as William Boyd)), Wynne Gibson (Agnes), Guy Kibbee (Pop Cooley)Similar movies Goodfellas , The Dead Pool , Get Shorty , Bound , Stiletto , A Walk Among the Tombstones Tagline Love and courage pitted against a ruthless hate! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
City Streets is a 1931 American Pre-Code film noir directed by Rouben Mamoulian and starring Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney and Paul Lukas.
Contents
Based on a story by Dashiell Hammett, this Pre-Code crime film is about a racketeer's daughter who is in love with a shooting gallery showman. Despite her prodding, the showman known as The Kid has no ambitions about joining the rackets and making enough money to support her in the lifestyle she's accustomed to. Her father implicates her in a murder and she's sent to prison, after which her father convinces The Kid to join the gang to free his daughter.
Plot
Nan Cooley (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of racketeer Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee), is in love with The Kid (Gary Cooper), a shooting gallery showman. Cooley tries to urge him to join the gang, in order to earn enough money to support her in the lifestyle she is accustomed to, but The Kid refuses. Soon her father kills bootlegging chief Blackie (Stanley Fields), at the urging of Big Fella Maskal (Paul Lukas), because Blackie was against Maskal's involvement with Blackie's gun moll Aggie (Wynne Gibson).
After Pop shoots Blackie, he passes the gun to Nan, thus implicating her in the murder. She naïvely takes the rap, believing the mob will arrange for her acquittal, but is sent to prison. Pop Cooley tries to convince The Kid to join the gang to free Nan, and he does so out of love for her. However, her attitude had changed since she was railroaded to prison. When The Kid visits Nan in prison in a fur coat, she becomes terrified of his involvement with Pop's gang after witnessing a fellow inmate's mobster boyfriend being gunned down outside the prison gate. When Nan is released, having served her term, she wants nothing more to do with the mob. She tries to persuade The Kid to quit the gang, but he refuses. Things go downhill from there. She finds that her father is unrepentant and involved with a loose, gold-digging woman named Pansy (Betty Sinclair). Maskal soon takes a strong liking to Nan and throws her a homecoming party, forcing her to dance with him all evening. When The Kid finally asserts his claim over Nan, Maskal threatens him, then later sends his thugs to kill him, but The Kid successfully disarms them, then goes after Maskal.
Terrified her lover will be killed, Nan goes to Maskal to warn him and offers herself to him in exchange for The Kid's life. Aggie, now Maskal's mistress, shoots him with Nan's gun after he leaves her for Nan, and Nan is accused of murder. The Kid then names himself mob chief and escapes with Nan in a car with three of Maskal's men, but they aim to kill him. The Kid and Nan are then taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. They race a train and maintain high speeds. Nan pulls a gun on the men and disarms them. Dropping the thugs off with "no hard feelings", The Kid tells them he has quit the beer business, and he and Nan drive off.
Cast (in credits order)
Reception
In 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for its Top 10 Gangster Films list.
References
City Streets (film) WikipediaCity Streets (film) IMDb City Streets (film) themoviedb.org