GANGSTER'S BOY (1938) Jackie Cooper, Robert Warwick & Lucy Gilman | Drama, Romance | B&W

Gangster's Boy is a 1938 American drama film directed by William Nigh. It stars Jackie Cooper in his second film for Monogram Pictures.Show more

SYNOPSIS
A popular high school valedictorian and star athlete becomes a pariah when it's discovered that his father is a former bootlegger.

High school student Larry Kelly's father Tim used to be a gangster. Despite being treated badly by his friends, Kelly takes sides with his father when people try to force him to leave the town. Kelly's girlfriend and her brother Bill Davis continue to be around Kelly even though it makes their fathers unhappy. After a car accident in which Bill was the driver, Kelly takes the blame for the accident and is taken to jail for drunk driving. Judge Davis and Kelly's father are opponents on proving Larry Kelly as guilty or innocent.

CAST & CREW
Jackie Cooper as Larry Kelly
Robert Warwick as Tim 'Knuckles' Kelly
Lucy Gilman as Julie Davis
Louise Lorimer as Molly Kelly
Tommy Wonder as Bill Davis
Selmer Jackson as Judge Roger Davis
Betty Blythe as Mrs. Davis
Huntley Gordon as Principal Benson
Herbert Evans as Stevens (butler)
William Gould as Dist. Atty. Edward Jameson
Jack Kennedy as Sergeant
Bobby Stone as Salvatore

Directed by William Nigh
Written by Robert Hardy Andrews, Karl Brown
Produced by Scott R. Dunlap
Cinematography Harry Neumann
Edited by Russell F. Schoengarth
Music by Edward J. Kay
Production company Monogram Pictures
Release date November 16, 1938
Running time 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Jackie Cooper was a child actor for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer until the company fired him when he was 13 years old, which was a tradition when child actors became teenagers. The smaller company Monogram Pictures hired Cooper after he turned 13 years old to star in the film Boy of the Streets. After a successful stint in films that were produced by other companies, Cooper starred in the Monogram Pictures film Gangster's Boy as part of his contract. The film was produced with a low budget. Betty Blythe, an actress in silent films, was considered to be "more or less retired" by the Harrisburg Telegraph when she took a role in the film despite taking roles that she liked. The Scrantonian Tribune wrote that Robert Warwick had "the finest opportunity of his entire career as Tim Kelly". The film featured music by Hal Le Roy in a revue. Lucy Gilman Scott, a teenage actress for the radio, had her film debut in the film as the girlfriend of Cooper's character. As it turned out, Blythe was not retired and her career continued until 1960.

Karl Krug of the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph said, "Gangster's Boy is a neat and comfortable "homey" picture, despite its titles. And, its principal lesson, if any, is that the sins of gangster fathers, although they have reformed, shouldn't be visited upon by their children". The Daily Times-News said that "the dramatic situations in Gangster's Boy are tense and go to make a fine afternoon or evening's entertainment".