hrkepler 'Machine-Gun Kelly' is pretty fine film-noir directed by no other than great sleaze fest master Roger Corman with Charles Bronson in his first leading role and Susan Cabot as his on-screen partner in crime. The film is loosely based on real life criminal George 'Machine-Gun' Kelly (in real life Kelly never killed anyone for example). Even the note in the opening credits gives us a warning - "The title character upon which this story is based is true. The other characters, all events and firms, depicted are fictional. Any similarities to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental." The film opens with up-beat jazz music and then the viewer is thrown into bank job in progress, and all of the sudden - the cheeriness of the opening titles is gone. From there on Corman manages to keep the steadily serious tone throughout the film, and cheese level is close to the minimum. Bronson does fantastic job as fictionalized 'yellow' gangster Kelly who is nothing without his gun. The phony tough guy image and his real fears are well balanced with such subtlety that the character never sidetracks or seem forced. Bronson's chemistry with Susan Cabot (who is just wonderful as deceiving and tough-talking Flo) is wonderfully natural. They could be real partners in crime. Although done with small budget (and it shows in some more action packed scenes) the film is much higher in quality than usual AIP productions from that period. At least half the credit for good looks of this film definitely goes to Floyd D. Crosby's beautiful cinematography.'Machine-Gun Kelly' upon its release brought director Roger Corman his first serious critical praise.

sol1218 (Some Spoilers) Early Roger Corman AIP collaboration that comes across pretty good with a cool jazzy score by Gerald Fried. We find out right away that this killer of a gangster George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Charles Bronson, is anything but a killer when he freezes at the sight of a bouquet of flowers at a local Lebanon funeral home. This happens at the start of the movie when Kelly and his gang are about to knock off a bank. Ripping off $41,000.00 in the bank robbery the gangs pick-up man Mike "Fanny" Fandango, Morey Amsterdam, takes $6,000.00 for himself before Kelly and his gang have time to split up the take.Outraged at Fanny's two-timing Kelly later, after working him over, has Fanny served up for lunch to a caged mountain lion who ends up ripping off his left arm. It's this act of unnecessary violence that in the end, according to the movie, has Fanny turn against Kelly which leads to his retirement as a big time gangster. Kelly ends up spending the remainder of his life in federal prisons like Alcatraz and Leavenworh dying behind bars on July 18, 1954 which just happened to be Kelly's 59th birthday.Kelly is depicted, very accurately like he was in real life, in the movie "Machine Gun Kelly" as a cowardly bully who pushed people around only when the odds, and guns, were all in his favor. It's later in the movie during another attempted robbery in the small Oklahoma town of Elizabeth Kelly once more screws up. Kelly panicked when he sees a coffin being delivered to a funeral home, they always seem to pop up at the wrong time for Kelly in the movie, which in the series of events that follows cause his wheel-man Maize, Wally Campo, to end up getting shot to death after a wild car chase.Howard, Jack Lambert, who was in the bank when Kelly, who was to help him rob it, chickened out escaped. Later Howard and his gang ended up being massacred by a pumped up Kelly who ambushed them playing poker at their hideout. It took Kelly's gun moll Flo Becker, Susan Cabot, to get the wimpy hoodlum to get his courage back by taunting him in what a gutless coward he really was.Hiding out from the police at Flo's mom's Ma' Becker, Connie Gilchrist, home Kelly dreams up a new scheme in making big bucks without the dangers of robbing banks; kidnapping. This new criminal adventure on Kelly's part at first seemed to be paying dividends with Kelly & Flo grabbing little nine year old Sherry Vito,Lori Martin, as she and her nurse or nanny Lynn Gryson, Barboura Morris, were coming home from school.Contacting Sherry's dad Mr. Andrew Vito, Robert Griffin, Kelly wants $100,000.00 in cash from him as ransom if he ever wants to see his daughter again. As you would expect by now in the movie the not too bright Kelly screws up. Having again recruited the now one armed, because of Kellys actions, "Fanny" Fandango to be his pick-up man Fanny instead, in revenge to what Kelly did to him, snitches Kelly together with his partners in crime Flo and the equally one-armed Harry, Frank DeKova, out to the police! Fanny also proved to be as brainless as his reality-challenged boss George Kelly by bragging, as the cops were closing in on Kelly's and Flo's hideout, that he sold him out! Whatever happened to Fanny next, getting his brains blown out from behind, had nothing to do with Machine Gun Kelly who was too chicken to do anything with the cops and FBI men shooting up the place. A terrified Kelly ended up cowering in a corner and weeping like a little boy as the lawmen finally put the cuffs on him and took this poor excuse of a gangster.Unlike the legendary hoods of that time, Dillinger Pretty Boy Floyd and Bonnie and Clyde, George "Machine Gun" Kelly lived to eventually die in bed not in a blazing shootout with the local police or FBI Agents. Kelly's who life as a fearless gunslinging, with his tommy gun, gangster was all a myth made up by his gun moll and partner in crime Flo Becker. It's suspected that it was Flo, a member of the weaker sex, who really did most off the bank jobs that Kelly was credited with in the newspapers. This was done by Flo to build up her boyfriends image who in return smacked her around every chance he got. Even Kelly's working Flo over was sissy-like in him, not being a Jack Dempsey or Joe Louis, not being able to even make a mark on Flo, who took it all in stride, no matter how hard he belted her.P.S One thing that you have to give George "Machine Gun" Kelly credit for is in him coining the word, referring to FBI Agents, G-Men. It was that word, "Please don't shoot me I give up G-Men", that a scared to death George Kelly uttered as he was about to be arrest and put away for good as the "G-Men" busted into his hideout.

trimmerb1234 This clearly is a budget movie yet it's quite professional, does entertain and interest. The interest is provided not so much by the action sequences which are fairly weak but by the characters - underworld but unlovely, unheroic and flawed. The kind of movie that would not make stars of its cast. Bronson does quite well - as well as he ever did - in the lead role. The rest of the cast is up to the job notably Fandango who clearly had star quality. The central idea that he was afraid of signs of death was rather crudely handled. Bronson was Bronson - a undoubted tough immobile face - not one to register fright or anxiety. Other movies would have had music, close ups and sharp editing to heighten the effect.For me the irksome thing was the visual aspect - cheap restricted interiors with flat lighting (a single general lighting set-up simply ensuring every part of the set was lit ie the shots were not preplanned and lit accordingly. Consequently there is little contrast and no deep shadows - as to be seen on live TV shows). Even the outdoor scene especially "the flats" were curiously nearly all mid grey and matt coloured. Also the cinematography - there are no memorable images. Well lit and shot movies provide images which can stand on their own as quality photographs.Worth comparing with the much superior "Asphalt Jungle".

Jennel2 Many people have a certain degree of affection for Roger Corman's schlock classics, "Little Shop of Horrors," and "Bucket of Blood." "Machine Gun Kelly" was slightly earlier than those two, and it has a more conventional genre structure. It appears that Corman was attempting to make a more coherent movie than his usual churn it out in two days pictures. This is certainly not a very good movie, but a certain amount of care is taken to make it convincing. None of us would think of Charles Bronson as a great actor, but he was a step up from Corman's usual stock company. Supporting roles are well cast, especially Morey Amsterdam as "Fandango," Connie Gilchrest as Flo's mother, and Frank DeKova as the tall tale spouting but cowardly gas station owner. Of course there are Corman regulars in the cast, such as Barboura Morris, Wally Campo, and one time Universal starlet, Susan Cabot (who overacts as usual). Despite a weak ending the movie is a generally fun. The silent opening robbery sequence is well staged. No doubt veteran cameraman Floyd Crosby ("High Noon," "Oklahoma," and uncredited co-DP on "From Here to Eternity") deserves much of the credit for this and the decent night photography. But this is not a movie to be taken too seriously. My favorite bit is when Flo and Kelly go to hide out at Flo's mother's bordello. One of the working girls asks Flo's mother if Flo is, "The new girl." "Watch you mouth," Flo's mom replies, "this is my daughter!" Working girl: "Yeah, ain't we all."