Humphrey Bogart is "outstanding" (Variety) as a vicious gangster on the run in this "masterful gripping drama" (Motion Picture Daily) directed by William Wyler (Ben-Hur) and written by Lillian Hellman (The Little Foxes). Nominated* for four Academy AwardsÂ(r), including Best Picture, Dead End is powerful, entertaining and a true landmark in moviemaking. On the mean streets of New York's Lower East Side, Drina (Sylvia Sidney) hopes to save herbrother from a life of crime. But notorious hoodlum Baby Face Martin (Bogart) has come back to his old haunts looking for trouble and threatening to drag the boy down with him. Drina turns to her childhood friend Dave (Joel McCrea) for help. But can he stop Martin without becoming just like him? *1937: Best Picture, Supporting Actress (Claire Trevor), Cinematography, Art Direction
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Stagy melodrama still entertains:
Attracted by the picturesque river view, the rich rub elbows with the poor on the dead end street of the title when a ritzy apartment building is constructed there. In the shadow of plenty, several characters try to scratch out futures for themselves, most notably an out of work architect (Joel McCrea) who is having an affair with a rich man's mistress (Wendy Barrie), a shopgirl (Sylvia Sidney) trying to get her younger brother (Billy Halop) a better life away from street gangs, and a fugitive gangster... more info
"Dead End" is Dead On!:
This is such a wonderful movie from 1937 which stars Joel McCrea, Sylvia Sidney, and a quite youthful and convincing Humphrey Bogart. But in my eyes the real stars of the movie are the Dead End Kids. Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell, Bobby Jordan and Bernard Punsly were the original Dead End Kids in the Broadway play "Dead End". When the studio brought it to Hollywood to be filmed, they also brought the kids with them - much to the chagrin of studio head Louis B. Mayer! They wreaked quite a... more info
AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE:
Far too many movie goers are forgetful. They forget what movies were like in the early days. They forget that the times themselves were different in the early days. To truly enjoy a film made all those many years ago, you have to transport yourself into the time when it was made, when it was released. You have to place yourself totally in a different world, one without cell phones and home movies and the internet. When that happens, the movies themselves take on a whole new meaning. To truly enjoy the film... more info
"We all make mistakes, boss. That's why they put the rubber on the ends of pencils.":
Dead End is a remarkable film because it is the first film starring the Dead End Kids who later became the East Side Kids and finally The Bowery Boys. Leading the gang is Billy Hallop, although later gang leader Leo Gorcey also appears. The boys are just used as culture for the background of a New York City slum where the famous Babyface Martin (Humphrey Bogart) grew up. He returns to see his old girl who he can't seem to forget, and to possibly see his mother. He finds both, but finds them as unfriendly... more info
