Gang Bullets (1938)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

GANG BULLETS is a low rent mobster story from cheapie studio Monogram Pictures, notorious for making endless B-movies on a shoestring. This film's about the efforts of an entire city's law and justice departments to bring a notorious criminal to book. Morgan Wallace plays said criminal, 'Big Bill' Anderson, with relish and certainly dominates the film with his larger-than-life persona. I loved the sly joke when he tells the cops that his tax records are up to date so they can't bring him to book.With a running time clocking in at just over an hour, GANG BULLETS is never boring for a moment and the plot constantly twists and turns as first the cops and then the criminals get the upper hand. The usual clichés of the gangster genre are played out here, including protection rackets, stings, and shoot-outs, and they're all handled with surprising aplomb given the paucity of the budget. The film lacks any big-name actors for recognition but works anyway despite this.

1938's "Gang Bullets" shows that Monogram could occasionally compete with Warners' crime dramas, though on a noticeably smaller budget and less action. At the same time Boris Karloff began his 'Mr. Wong' series, the studio's modest ambitions show in this gritty expose of crime boss Morgan Wallace, against crusading District Attorney Charles Trowbridge, with top billing awarded former Warners starlet Anne Nagel, best remembered for her work at Universal in "Black Friday" and "Man Made Monster" (one of her last roles came in Monogram's Charlie Chan entry "The Trap," wearing a fetching bathing suit). After playing the surprise killer in "Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo," Robert Kent was back on the right side of the law, soon starring opposite Bela Lugosi in the 1939 serial "The Phantom Creeps." Morgan Wallace usually played villains, as he soon would in "Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation," before his memorable encounter with W. C. Fields in "My Little Chickadee."

No matter what I think of this movie overall, I hate that the film has an awful cliché. Apparently, there's a mom in this film that is a moron--a victim and a stupid one at that. You see, at one point a family is being held captive by killers. When the young son jumps on of the thugs, the thug's gun falls to the floor---and the mother just stands there!!! The tough thug and a 12 year-old are tumbling on the floor and the gun is only inches from the hateful old broad--and she just stands there!!! I hate this cliché and hate women who behave like walking brain stems! Or, perhaps she just hates the kid and hoping the guy kills him! The film is a crime versus the District Attorney film. Big Bill Anderson is run out of one town, but in the next he decides to create his criminal empire and is so smart that the D.A. can't prosecute him. Despite some excellent efforts, the case just can't be made against the man. And, for his trouble, the local newspaper calls for his resignation. When he tries something very desperate and a little crazy, the D.A. finds that not only doesn't he have a case against Anderson but he himself might be heading to prison! Unfortunately, the film ends with a really, really bad scene--one that requires the criminals to be even dumber than the lady earlier in the film!!Overall, this is a semi-competent B-movie made by the king of Poverty Row studios, Monogram. It's all very watchable but also not all that inspired. For Monogram, it's a good film. For a decent studio (which it wasn't), it would be sub-par. Some poor writing here and there (such as the incident described at the beginning and the bomb at the end) make this one a time-passer at best and not much more.

Forced out of one city by some extralegal methods of one district attorney, gangster Morgan Wallace simply moves to another to set up shop. Wallace is into all kinds of illegal rackets and has the police and DA really stumped. The press is clamoring for DA Charles Trowbridge's scalp, a prospect not pleasing to Trowbridge's daughter Anne Nagel and her fiancé Robert Kent who is also Trowbridge's number one assistant.Gang Bullets comes from out of Monogram Pictures so you can't expect too much and believe me you won't get it. The film has some interesting ideas that don't seem to follow up. At one point Wallace talks about building his racket by letting a few suckers win some big pots at his gambling establishment and then becoming advertisements. It sounded like an interesting film idea that is never followed up on. There's also an interlude where two of Wallace's henchmen bring a third wounded comrade into some woman's home with her 12 year old boy. It plays like a bit from another film entirely. In fact that whole premise was used later on with much greater effect in The Desperate Hours.In the end Trowbridge goes to some extraordinary lengths to bring down Wallace. But even the end is rather anti-climatic. Stuff like Gang Bullets was done so much better over at Warner Brothers.