Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

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Machine Gun Kelly (1958)
Topic Started: Mar 22 2009, 07:20 AM (118 Views)
Laughing Gravy	Mar 22 2009, 07:20 AM Post #1
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,073 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Charles Bronson, in his first starring role, is George B. Kelly, a bully and petty bank robber who is prodded by his ambitious but nuts wife, the awesome Susan Cabot, into making a name for himself, and she gives him that name: "Machine Gun Kelly". While he likes to slap around cripples (and stooge Morey Amsterdam), he's really a coward who is terrified of death (and every few minutes writer R. Wright Campbell and director Roger Corman give us a skull tattoo on a character's wrist or a coffin being carried down the street or something like that so we can see what a yellow-bellied wimp Kelly really is). Eventually, Kelly's stab for the biggest of the big-time does him in; he decides to kidnap the young daughter of a wealthy industrialist, which puts the G-men on his trail. One of Corman's best movies, fast-paced and fun with a terrific cast (including Balcony fave Barboura Morris as the little girl's nanny, and frequent Corman face Richard Devon as an oily gang member). The DVD is excellent; full-screen, but it looks as though it were originally framed that way. Available in England (Region 2) as part of the "Arkoff Film Library", as is its original co-feature, William Witney's "The Bonnie Parker Story". Our FNF gang enjoyed the picture a lot, including the women in attendance (in some ways, this is a woman's picture). Our cartoon was "Daffy - The Commando", as recommended by Balconeers Thad and Paul, and it was a treat - that cartoon version of Hitler was disturbing! The Three Stooges short? Well, we'd seen "False Alarms" only a couple of years ago but now that we're watching them in chronological order it was back. It's okay. We all love Mysterious Island. Good times. BTW, wiki'ing Machine Gun Kelly, I find the film was surprisingly accurate in the details of his infamous career. The real Kelly (who is credited with attributing the term "G-Men" to FBI agents) was sent to Leavenworth, transferred to Alcatraz for awhile, but proved to be such a model citizen he was eventually sent back to Leavenworth. He died of a heart attack in 1954 - on his 59th birthday. His wife was paroled in 1958 and lived the rest of her life quietly in Oklahoma.



Frank Hale	Mar 25 2009, 02:01 PM Post #2
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	The newsreel on the "Picture Snatcher" disc which I was watching the other night has some brief footage of the real Mr. Kelly after his arrest.



The Batman	Mar 26 2009, 06:17 AM Post #3
Charter Member Posts: 5,570 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: September 4, 2005	I reallyed enjoyed this movie, too. I had a great copy on VHS, wish I had kept it to transfer to DVD.


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