Jealousy and revenge have never helped anybody for the most part. It is especially the undoing of gangsters and criminals. Thunderbolt (George Bancroft) would take a fall because of jealousy.
Jim aka Thunderbolt was a gangster in love with a woman named Mary aka Ritzie (Fay Wray), except that Mary had emotionally moved on. She was no longer in love with Thunderbolt and furthermore she was fed up with his gangster lifestyle; so much so she was willing to help the police nab him.
Thunderbolt was too smart to get caught by the police even if they had Ritzie's help, but he would finally fall when he couldn't let her move on with her life with her new boyfriend, Bob Moran (Richard Arlen). He was intent on erasing Bob from the picture and because of that (and a meddling stray dog that was essentially a deus ex machina) he was finally arrested. Two-thirds of the movie would take place in prison where the movie slowed down tremendously.
Thunderbolt wasn't one of Bancroft's finer roles. He was a slow talker--much too slow--with not much to say. It was so opposite to other better roles such as his role in "Scandal Sheet"(1931) and "Rich Man's Folly" (1931).
The character Bob Moran didn't help the movie much either. He was such a golly-gee-wilikers choir boy it was sickening. It's one thing to be a good guy, it's another thing to be a goody-two-shoes. He was such an "awe shucks" simpleton it drove me nuts.
What I did like about the movie, and this was probably a result of it being pre-code, was the presence of African American characters with speaking roles. Not only that, they were dining in a restaurant with whites as well without any big to-do made about it. A few of the characters were clearly there for comic relief which fell flat and one character was behind a steel beam which was baffling. It was supposed to be a shot of two men speaking. We can clearly see the man on the right while, for whatever reason, the Black man on the left was covered by some type of obstruction. It's hard to say if it was a mistake or by design, but I can't imagine a director looking through the lens, seeing the actor being obstructed, yet still proceeding with the shot. It's hard for me to assume anything other than there was some arbitrary limit on how many Black actors could be shown on screen in a movie.
It didn't bother me enough to make me dislike the movie, Bob Moran and slow-talking Thunderbolt were enough for that. And as I said, it was a net positive that so many Black actors were even on screen to begin with. "Thunderbolt" is an early gangster movie that would get easily upstaged by the likes of "The Public Enemy," "Little Caesar," and even "Smart Money."
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Jim aka Thunderbolt was a gangster in love with a woman named Mary aka Ritzie (Fay Wray), except that Mary had emotionally moved on. She was no longer in love with Thunderbolt and furthermore she was fed up with his gangster lifestyle; so much so she was willing to help the police nab him.
Thunderbolt was too smart to get caught by the police even if they had Ritzie's help, but he would finally fall when he couldn't let her move on with her life with her new boyfriend, Bob Moran (Richard Arlen). He was intent on erasing Bob from the picture and because of that (and a meddling stray dog that was essentially a deus ex machina) he was finally arrested. Two-thirds of the movie would take place in prison where the movie slowed down tremendously.
Thunderbolt wasn't one of Bancroft's finer roles. He was a slow talker--much too slow--with not much to say. It was so opposite to other better roles such as his role in "Scandal Sheet"(1931) and "Rich Man's Folly" (1931).
The character Bob Moran didn't help the movie much either. He was such a golly-gee-wilikers choir boy it was sickening. It's one thing to be a good guy, it's another thing to be a goody-two-shoes. He was such an "awe shucks" simpleton it drove me nuts.
What I did like about the movie, and this was probably a result of it being pre-code, was the presence of African American characters with speaking roles. Not only that, they were dining in a restaurant with whites as well without any big to-do made about it. A few of the characters were clearly there for comic relief which fell flat and one character was behind a steel beam which was baffling. It was supposed to be a shot of two men speaking. We can clearly see the man on the right while, for whatever reason, the Black man on the left was covered by some type of obstruction. It's hard to say if it was a mistake or by design, but I can't imagine a director looking through the lens, seeing the actor being obstructed, yet still proceeding with the shot. It's hard for me to assume anything other than there was some arbitrary limit on how many Black actors could be shown on screen in a movie.
It didn't bother me enough to make me dislike the movie, Bob Moran and slow-talking Thunderbolt were enough for that. And as I said, it was a net positive that so many Black actors were even on screen to begin with. "Thunderbolt" is an early gangster movie that would get easily upstaged by the likes of "The Public Enemy," "Little Caesar," and even "Smart Money."
Free on YouTube.