They Made Me a Criminal (1939)
A boxing champion framed for a fatal hit-and-run flees to an Arizona farm under a false name, where he mentors a group of troublemaking teenagers, until the detective still hunting him tracks his trail west.
They Made Me a Criminal reworked Warner Bros.’ own 1933 film The Life of Jimmy Dolan as a vehicle for John Garfield’s breakout tough-but-wounded persona, pairing him with the Dead End Kids in one of several Warners crime pictures built around the young ensemble.
Background
They Made Me a Criminal is a 1939 Warner Bros. crime drama directed by Busby Berkeley, better known for his musical numbers. John Garfield plays a boxing champion framed for a fatal hit-and-run who flees to an Arizona farm under a false name. The film pairs him with the Dead End Kids, the teenage ensemble who play the troublemakers he mentors on the farm. Claude Rains and Ann Sheridan are also in the cast. The story reworks Warner’s 1933 film The Life of Jimmy Dolan, which had starred Douglas Fairbanks Jr., as a vehicle for Garfield’s tough, wounded screen persona. The film runs about ninety-one minutes.
What to watch for
Look for Garfield’s guarded, wounded performance, which gives the film its emotional center as his character takes on the role of mentor to the boys. The Dead End Kids supply rough-edged energy and humor that contrast with his restraint. The film follows the detective still searching for him, and the chase unfolds through the western landscape. Berkeley’s background in musical staging shows only lightly, since the film is mostly a conventional crime melodrama. Notice how the Arizona farm setting separates the story from the city streets of most crime pictures of the period, and how that shift helps build the film’s sense of second chances.
