James Aloysius O'Malley (Pat O'Brien) is a by-the-book beat cop. After another petty crime shows up in court, the judge complains to the Captain and O'Malley is told to stop with the minor city ordinances. One day, he stops John Phillips (Humphrey Bogart) to give him a ticket on a minor automobile infraction and John loses a job due to being five minutes late. John's life spirals and he ends up in prison. O'Malley is ridiculed as turning a good man into a criminal. He is relegated to being a crossing guard for little kids at a school. That's when he befriends a little girl named Barbara who happens to be John's crippled daughter.
Mostly, I don't buy this movie. I don't buy that a strict police office is looked down upon by the rest of the department. He has to be more than that. He has to be cold-hearted and maybe arrest a kid or two. A cop, who writes a lot of tickets, is celebrated by his comrades. It's hard to start a movie with a premise that I can't believe in. As for the rest of the movie, there is some good convenient poetic tragedy possibilities. Then there is the ending which is another unlikely situation. A cop gets shot and somebody has to pay. It's too easy which makes the turn less easy. Quite frankly, it would be more compelling to have a tragic ending. Here's the thing. I like the idea of the story but I have some difficulties.
Mostly, I don't buy this movie. I don't buy that a strict police office is looked down upon by the rest of the department. He has to be more than that. He has to be cold-hearted and maybe arrest a kid or two. A cop, who writes a lot of tickets, is celebrated by his comrades. It's hard to start a movie with a premise that I can't believe in. As for the rest of the movie, there is some good convenient poetic tragedy possibilities. Then there is the ending which is another unlikely situation. A cop gets shot and somebody has to pay. It's too easy which makes the turn less easy. Quite frankly, it would be more compelling to have a tragic ending. Here's the thing. I like the idea of the story but I have some difficulties.