I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Don't Believe the Hype

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Ward Bryant is an anti-corruption crusader making his newsreels denouncing racketeers who have taken over the city and stealing as much as $200 million. Crimelord Al Kruger (Barton MacLane) warns thug Bugs Fenner (Humphrey Bogart) to leave Bryant alone but Bryant is shot to death anyways. Uncorruptable Dan McLaren is hired as the new police commissioner and he starts to clean house. Streetwise Johnny Blake (Edward G. Robinson) gets discharged from the force. Lee Morgan (Joan Blondell) wants him to join her in her numbers game. Al Kruger hires Blake after he punches out his former friend McLaren in public, but Bugs is suspicious of the former cop. When more suspicions fall on him, he suggests to Kruger to take over the numbers game and make it bigger.This is not the hardest gangster movie despite having legendary Bogart and Robinson. It's cool to see them. The gun play is minimal. It's a hard talking gabfest. I really don't buy Kruger letting Johnny Blake into every aspect of his organization so quickly. Bugs should be the normal reaction. It would be fine if he's let into the organization but he shouldn't have a VIP pass.

This is one of the few gangster classics from that genre's golden era and featuring its iconic stars which was never available in my neck of the woods until it surfaced on DVD. It was also the first of five films teaming (or rather pitting one against the other) Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart; the former was the real star and he was already starting to branch out from gangster roles – the latter was still a supporting actor (having just had his big break with THE PETRIFIED FOREST [1936]) and five more years would pass till he achieved his long-deserved stardom (nevertheless, in spite of the lack of range offered by the scripts for these type of roles, Bogie always made an impression at it).By this time, the Hays Code had come down on Hollywood for their glorification of the gangster; Warners had pulled a clever switch with "G" MEN (1935), where these same crimes were presented from the viewpoint of law enforcement officers (that film had also been helmed by this film's director, William Keighley, and starred another of the great genre actors, James Cagney). In this case, the narrative allowed Robinson as an undercover cop to still be involved in the criminal activity, and rise through the ranks as always, without taking active part in them: however, censorship of the time still dictated that his character had to die at the end (unless it was a way of showing the risk inherent in such police work). Interestingly, Keighley would return to a similar situation – this time revolving around the F.B.I. – many years later with the noir THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948), which I've just watched as part of my ongoing tribute to Richard Widmark; having mentioned the noir, while I admire the vitality and raw power of the gangster films, their limited plot lines rather prevents them from having the same pull of the fatalistic thrillers often involving tortuous plots and where the protagonists – apart from the dark city streets – could be as much a private detective as the next man, but always gullible and at the mercy of a femme fatale... To go back to BULLETS OR BALLOTS, the film is typically fast-moving – it's not just the action that crackles but the dialogue as well – and, while some of the edge of the very earliest gangster pictures, has been lost by way of repetition (and the standards of the Code), it's still a satisfactory and highly entertaining entry. For the record, two of the very best efforts in this influential genre were still a couple of years away – namely ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938) and THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939), both with Cagney as an anti-hero and Bogie ever the irredeemable and duplicitous mobster. Here, alongside the two stars, are Joan Blondell as Robinson's on-off girl on whom Bogart has his eyes as well (interestingly, she's got her own particular racket going!), Barton MacLane as the big boss whom Bogart is forever trying to oust (again, a role he would often play) and Frank McHugh providing the comic relief (ditto).

This turned out to be a decent '30s gangster movie, not a lot different from a few others I've seen where Humphrey Bogart plays the bad guy and is the main adversary of the hero. Several films had James Cagney up against him; here it was Edward G Robinson.Robinson plays policeman "Det. Johnny Blake," who goes underground, so to speak, by posing as a gang member to get the goods on them. (It's based on a real-life character.) Robinson, as usual, is very interesting to watch and is a tough guy BUT with a soft heart. In fact, he even feels bad about betraying the head crook because he has such principles of being a "straight shooter" that he doesn't feel right lying to anybody, even the gang leader "Al Krueger" (Barton MacLane). Bogart plays "Nick Fenner," Al's number-one guy and is more of the villain than his boss. Joan Blondell gets second billing but that's not right because she's at least fourth in the amount of screen time and lines. There really is no real love interest in this movie; it's strictly a crime story.When I first saw this movie, a little over a decade ago on VHS, I wasn't that impressed but last week, watching this on DVD, not only was the story better than I remembered but the picture was excellent. The blacks, whites and grays in here are beautiful. This was part of the "Tough Guys" DVD package and they did a wonderful job on the transfer.

"Bullets or Ballots" was affected by the new motion picture Production Code introduced in 1934. The Code stipulated, among other things, that gangsters could no longer be glorified in films as had been done with "Little Caesar" (1930) and "The Public Enemy" (1931). That meant that Warners resident gangsters Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney had to come over to the right side of the law.Cagney had done so in 1935 with "G-Men" but in 1936 was embroiled in a contract dispute with Warners and had left the lot. That left Robinson. You can just hear the brain trusts at Warners saying, "Let's put Eddie Robinson in a new crime picture only this time we'll have him go undercover so that he can ACT like a gangster while satisfying the Code by really working on the side of the law". "Bullets or Ballots" was the result.Gangster Al Kruger (Barton MacLane) is a new order of corporate type gangster that shuns the old violent ways of the 20s. He is controlled by unseen bosses well placed in the business community. His second in command Nick "Bugs" Fenner is of the old school. When crusading newspaper reporter Ward Bryant (Henry O'Neill) is murdered by Fenner, it sets off a cry for justice. Police Captain McLaren is appointed Special Commissioner charged with cleaning up the rackets.Detective Johnny Blake (Robinson) is a down on his luck policeman who has been exiled to an outer precinct. One day he learns that McLaren has fired him as part of his cleanup. But as we learn, Blake is really working undercover informing McLaren of the mob's plans. Blake then joins up with Kruger and rises quickly through the ranks. Fenner, meanwhile doesn't trust Blake and the two compete against each other.As the result of the crime crackdown, the mob's earnings have dropped. Blake suggests that they move into the numbers racket which was being run successfully on a small scale by Blake's girlfriend Lee Morgan (Joan Blondell) with the aid her pick-up man Herman (Frank McHugh) and Harlem contact Nellie (Louise Beavers).With the success of the numbers game, Fenner sees that Kruger has gone soft and is neglecting the mob's other businesses. Fenner murders Kruger and vies with Blake to take over. Blake succeeds and continues to inform McLaren of the mob's intentions. Fenner decides on a showdown and................Robinson, who was a well educated and classically trained actor wanted to get away from gangster roles and did so whenever he could. But in spite of that, he will always be best remembered for these types of roles. Barton MacLane for once doesn't play the brutish gangster. He plays Kruger as a businessman and not a thug. Bogey on the other hand, had just made his mark in "The Petrified Forest" (1936) and was typecast for the most part as a gangster for the next five years. Joan Blondell is wasted in her superficial role as Robinson's love interest and McHugh is just along for comedy relief.Still, "Bullets or Ballots" remains one of the all-time gangster classics.