Bad Dads Film Review

Bad Dads
  • 5.0 (16)
  • Film Reviews
  • Updated Semiweekly

Several years ago 4 self confessed movie fanatics ruined their favourite pastime by having children. Now we are telling the world about the movies we missed and the frequently awful kids tv we are now subjected to. We like to think we're funny. Come and argue with us on the social medias. Twitter: @dads_film Facebook: BadDadsFilmReview Instagram: instagram.com/baddadsjsy www.baddadsfilm.com

  1. 3d ago

    Giants & Giant

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, the dads review Giant, the Prince Naseem Hamed biopic starring Amir El-Masry as Naz and Pierce Brosnan as legendary Sheffield trainer Brendan Ingle. It is a boxing film, a mentor-protégé story, a study of fame and arrogance, and a surprisingly knotty argument about whether loyalty, recognition and money can ever stay clean once a child prodigy becomes a multi-million-pound champion. The episode opens with Reegs still absent in French France, which means no clever intro but plenty of warnings about swears and spoilers. Dan has watched classic film noir Laura and revisited Universal Soldier for the Midweeker, Cris has been watching Pierce Brosnan in western series The Son alongside some nostalgic X-Men ’97, and Sidey has been back into Barry while also sampling a Netflix serial-killer thriller involving De Niro and missing boys. There is also football, DIY, paint guns, teal walls and the sort of domestic detail that proves cinema podcasting is mostly glamour. For Top 5 Giants, the dads go suitably massive. Dan starts with The Iron Giant and the animated BFG, while Cris brings in Romanian basketball player Gheorghe Mureșan via Billy Crystal’s My Giant, then stretches the theme through the MonsterVerse, The Odyssey, Leprechaun 4: In Space and Rush Hour 3. Sidey nominates Fezzik from The Princess Bride, They Might Be Giants, The The’s “Giant”, Game of Thrones’ actual giants and finally the Giant from Twin Peaks, giving him another chance to declare David Lynch’s nightmare television more or less untouchable. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Riding Giants and several real-life giants also get thrown into the oversized mix. The main review focuses on Giant as a story about two men rather than one. Prince Naseem is obviously the famous fighter, but the film arguably belongs just as much to Brendan Ingle, whose Sheffield gym gives young lads discipline, community and a way to redirect anger. The dads talk through the early scenes: Brendan spotting young Naz’s footwork, taking him into the gym, making new boys sing before they fight, teaching movement before punching, and helping him deal with racist abuse in an environment where National Front attitudes are never far from the surface. As Naz rises, the film follows the familiar sports-biopic path of talent, training, showmanship and success, but the more interesting material comes from the relationship slowly cracking. Brendan nurtures Naz’s cockiness because it fuels the fighter, but that same confidence becomes harder to control once promoters, sponsorships, family influence and huge money arrive. Frank Warren sees the commercial value of Naz’s brash persona, the family starts questioning Brendan’s cut, and the childhood handshake deal over 25% becomes the moral fault line of the film. Sidey and Dan both find that argument more complicated than the film first appears to suggest. Brendan clearly changes Naz’s life, puts the money back into the gym, builds champions and cares deeply about the boy he trained from childhood. At the same time, agreeing a huge percentage with a 12-year-old is uncomfortable, however much both of them believed in the dream. The imagined reconciliation scene near the end gives the film its strongest emotional beat, because it lets Naz say he was a child and Brendan say he gave everything. The sting is that, in real life, they never properly reconciled. The performances get the strongest praise. Pierce Brosnan is very good as Brendan Ingle, and the various actors playing Naseem — especially Amir El-Masry as the adult Naz — capture the movement, swagger and showboating well. The fight scenes are convincing, the Sheffield material gives the story texture, and the film does enough with a modest-feeling British production to stay watchable throughout. The verdict is positive but measured. Sidey thinks it is pretty paint-by-numbers and admits he was never a huge fan of Naseem’s arrogance, though he respects the story and really likes the performances. Dan enjoys the sports-movie structure and the tragic mentor-student angle, but does not think the film quite lands a knockout blow. Cris had not seen it in time for recording, but the discussion leaves the film sounding like one he would still watch. Overall, the dads call it a moderate to strong recommend: interesting, well acted and easy to watch, if not quite a heavyweight classic. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Giants & Giant

  2. 5d ago

    Midweek Mention... Universal Soldier

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, Dan, Sidey and Cris revisit Universal Soldier, the 1992 sci-fi action thriller from Roland Emmerich starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as Vietnam soldiers killed in action, frozen, revived and turned into government-controlled super-commandos. Naturally, nothing about that plan goes wrong apart from absolutely everything. The episode opens with the realisation that the podcast has not covered nearly enough Van Damme, despite some hazy memories around Bloodsport, Kickboxer and the sacred word “Kumite”. From there the dads head into the film’s Vietnam prologue, where Luc Deveraux discovers that Dolph Lundgren’s Sergeant Andrew Scott has gone completely bananas, started collecting ears and decided that everyone is a traitor. Luc refuses to execute civilians, Scott kills one with a grenade, and the two men finish the scene by shooting and stabbing each other to death. Twenty-five years later, both men are back as Universal Soldiers: refrigerated black-ops zombie-cyborg-commandos who need cooling down, daily injections and convenient memory suppression. Their first big showcase comes during a hostage crisis at a dam, where they are dropped from absurd height, swim, climb, snipe and punch their way through the terrorists while the military tries very hard to keep the press away from the weird dead-men-with-cameras situation. Unfortunately for the programme, a freshly unemployed reporter sneaks into the operation, sees more than she should, and ends up on the run with Luc after Dolph’s Scott starts remembering Vietnam and immediately chooses murder. What follows is a wonderfully daft road-chase movie in which Luc removes a tracker, discovers nudity-based comedy, learns that food tastes good, orders nearly everything in a diner, drinks heroic amounts of Pepsi, beats up a chef for expecting payment and slowly becomes more human while the military and a rapidly unraveling Dolph hunt him down. The dads also get into the supermarket/freezer sequence, Dolph’s speeches about traitors, the prison-van chase, grenades being thrown back through windows, Luc returning home to Louisiana, Dr Gregor’s extremely generous pseudoscience and the final barn fight in the rain. It is classic Van Damme business: spinning kicks, split kicks, slow motion, a syringe of Mega Juice and a massive agricultural machine waiting patiently to mince the villain at exactly the right moment. There is room for plenty of action-movie nostalgia as well. Cris remembers the film as part of a shared VHS diet alongside Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Double Impact, Commando and Total Recall, including wonderfully flat Romanian dubbing. Dan talks about Van Damme and Dolph being near the peak of their powers, while Sidey admits he skipped the film back in the day because it looked like a poor man’s RoboCop, only to discover it is much more enjoyable than expected. The verdict is positive. Universal Soldier may be silly, sweaty and scientifically indefensible, but it is also fast, funny, practical, quotable and powered by two properly iconic action bodies. Sidey lands on a strong recommend, with the caveat that he is not quite ready to go spelunking through all the lower-budget sequels. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Midweek Mention... Universal Soldier

  3. Aug 28

    Wolves & The Wolf of Wall Street

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, Wolf Week continues as Sidey, Dan and new dad Jamie sink their teeth into Martin Scorsese’s riotous financial crime epic The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau and Joanna Lumley.  With Reegs absent and therefore no proper intro to keep things vaguely professional, the dads begin by catching up on what they’ve been watching. Dan has largely swapped screen time for Cold War spy histories while his wife is away in the Czech Republic for the summer, Jamie has returned to the comforting embrace of Blue Bloods, No Offence and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, and Sidey has endured Jason Statham’s Mutiny, a revenge-on-a-boat action thriller with suspiciously Die Hard-adjacent poster energy.  The Top 5 this week is Wolves, which naturally sends the conversation roaming all over the cultural wilderness. There’s Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction, Moro from Princess Mononoke, Teen Wolf and the obvious sporting advantage of being Michael J. Fox with werewolf powers, plus Shrek’s Big Bad Wolf and a detour through wolf-related music from Warren Zevon, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Duran Duran, Howlin’ Wolf, Steppenwolf, Los Lobos, Wolfmother and Wolf Alice. Liam Neeson’s miserable survival odds in The Grey get a mention, as do Bad Wolf and Rose Tyler from Doctor Who, Jack Nicholson in Wolf, Remus Lupin, Dances with Wolves, Portia Crystal from Sing 2, Lupine Howl, the direwolves from Game of Thrones, How Wolves Change Rivers, Rainier Wolfcastle and Oz from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Then it’s on to The Wolf of Wall Street, a film the dads note is arriving neatly alongside Jersey’s current Martin Scorsese cinema season. They follow Jordan Belfort from his first day as Wall Street pond scum through Matthew McConaughey’s career-rescuing lunch scene of coke, booze,chest-thumping and “rookie numbers”, before Black Monday promptly ends any chance of a respectable finance career. From there it’s penny stocks, Spike Jonze, 50% commissions and the arrival of Donnie Azoff, whose cousin-wife logic, blinding white teeth and crack-pipe networking help turn Stratton Oakmont into a full-blown fraud machine.  Along the way, the dads dig into the film’s most notorious moments: the “sell me this pen” lesson, motivational speeches, middle fingers to clients, dwarf tossing, strippers, head shaving, Rob Reiner as Belfort’s furious father, Margot Robbie’s Naomi making her entrance, Donnie’s appalling first impression, the famous 11-second romance, Vegas excess, penicillin shots and a superyacht wedding present. They also cover Kyle Chandler’s FBI agent Patrick Denham closing in, Jon Favreau’s lawyer trying desperately to make Jordan stop, the Steve Madden IPO, hidden stock ownership, Joanna Lumley’s Aunt Emma and the Swiss bank account, plus Jordan’s spectacularly arrogant attempt to bribe the FBI with lobster, prostitutes and absolutely no self-awareness.  The review also takes in the yacht storm and Italian rescue, the infamous Lemmon Quaaludes sequence with crawling, ham-choking and the destroyed Lamborghini reveal, Jordan wearing a wire while warning Donnie not to incriminate himself, and the ugly final collapse as Naomi demands a divorce, Jordan turns violent and everything finally crashes. By the end, the dads are left wrestling with prison, sales seminars and the uncomfortable question of whether the film really works as a cautionary tale, or whether it is simply too entertaining for its own good.  Verdicts are strong across the board. Sidey recommends it, while still insisting it is far too long. Dan also gives it a strong recommend, particularly for the endlessly quotable scenes, and Jamie calls it a must-watch — although preferably consumed as three one-hour chunks rather than one enormous sitting. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Wolves & The Wolf of Wall Street

  4. Aug 26

    Midweek Mention... An American Werewolf in London

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, it is Wolf Week, which means we are heading to the moors, the Tube, the London Zoo wolf enclosure and one of cinema’s all-time great transformation scenes for An American Werewolf in London. Sidey and Dan are joined by guest dad Jamie for John Landis’s 1981 horror-comedy about two American backpackers, one very unwelcoming pub, and the worst possible way to discover that “stay on the road” was not just local colour. Sidey had somehow never watched the whole film before, despite having seen the famous transformation sequence many times. Jamie definitely saw it before, but at an age where he absolutely should not have. Dan brings the cult-classic affection, and the result is a review full of practical effects appreciation, Yorkshire pub suspicion, Jenny Agutter, decomposing best mates and moon-based needle drops. Along the way we discuss: Jamie’s debut as a Bad Dad and the need for subtitles/phone voiceThe Slaughtered Lamb and Britain’s least welcoming pintRick Mayall, Brian Glover, Frank Oz and other “what was he in?” faceswhy the film does not bother over-explaining the village, the cover-up or the logistics of getting David to LondonJack returning as an increasingly decomposed undead adviserthe nightmare sequences, including the Nazi werewolf home invasionJenny Agutter as Nurse Alex Price and the film’s spectacularly fast romanceDavid being oddly honest about his visions, nightmares and wolf problemRick Baker’s Oscar-winning makeup and the transformation scene that still holds upwhy practical effects age so much better than dodgy CGIDavid waking naked in London Zoo and trying to buy a small boy’s balloonsthe doomed attempt to get arrested by abusing the police and the monarchythe porno-theatre support group of victims suggesting suicide methodsPiccadilly chaos, armed police, decapitation and catastrophic traffic managementthe moon-heavy soundtrack, from Blue Moon to Bad Moon Risingwhether the film is horror, comedy, romance, body horror, or all of them at onceThe dads come away with a very strong recommend. It is brisk, funny, gruesome, strangely sweet, brilliantly made and still properly entertaining. The werewolf may occasionally look like it is on a dolly, but the transformation remains magic, the comedy still lands, and the whole thing has exactly the right amount of nonsense. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Midweek Mention... An American Werewolf in London

  5. Aug 21

    Gangs/Revolutions & True History of the Kelly Gang

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we review True History of the Kelly Gang, Justin Kurzel’s bleak, stylish and aggressively unromantic version of the Ned Kelly myth, starring George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Russell Crowe. Before we get to Australian outlaw trauma, we discuss the important stuff: Dan’s adult-nappy experiment, whether “pound a piss” is a viable subscription model, and Sidey’s long-standing policy of treating every body of water as a toilet. Our top five is gangs / revolutions / rebellions, featuring: Chris remembering the Romanian Revolution of 1989, childhood gunfire and shiny spent shellsThe Warriors and “Warriors, come out to play”The Wanderers and its soundtrackthe Rebel Alliance as freedom fighters / terrorists, depending on perspectiveSpartacus and historical inaccuracy done properlyPolice Academy 2 as, apparently, gang cinemaDaniel Day-Lewis method-acting complaints during Gangs of New Yorkthe Fremen from Dune and spice-fuelled jihadthe Baader-Meinhof gang, Joe Strummer T-shirts and Luke HainesGreen Street Hooligans and football-fight bravadochildhood gangs from Stand by Me and Itthe War Boys from Mad Max: Fury RoadThen we get into True History of the Kelly Gang, including: the film’s fake-truth title gaga red dress, a white horse and an apocalyptic Australian bushyoung Ned Kelly watching his mother bargain with Charlie Hunnam’s police sergeantRed Kelly, stolen cows, hidden dresses and emasculated fathersEssie Davis as Ellen Kelly: protective, seductive, terrifying and constantly pushing Ned toward violenceNed being offered a possible escape through education, only for his mother to sabotage itRussell Crowe’s Harry Power, an enormous beard, and a family singalong about the “Constable C**t”Ned being sold into outlawry and refusing Harry Power’s pancakesCharlie Hunnam having a very bad day in a whorehousethe Sons of Sieve, dresses, mud-blackened faces and theatrical rebellionGeorge MacKay’s adult Ned arriving through brutal prize-fightingNed and Joe Byrne’s intense, ambiguous bondNicholas Hoult’s Fitzpatrick in suspenders socks, spreading vice and misery wherever he goesMarlon Williams’ astonishing hair and “I’m gonna be your daddy” energyFitzpatrick’s predatory deal over Ned’s sister and the confrontation that finally tips everything overEllen Kelly asking why Ned did not kill himpolice murders, severed ears, hostage-taking and bank robberythe famous homemade armoura botched train derailment plana strobing, bloody final siege where the police do not care who else is in the buildingEllen’s command to “die like a Kelly”whether Australia’s Ned Kelly mythology is heroic, poisoned, or bothIt is not an easy watch. Dan finds it long, bleak and punishing, though brilliantly acted. Reegs thinks it looks amazing and digs the way it interrogates Australian identity, colonial oppression and generational trauma. Chris appreciates the harshness and lack of romance. Sidey thinks this is probably closer to what survival and outlawry actually felt like than the cleaner folk-hero versions. Verdicts: Dan gives it a mid recommend; Reegs, Chris and Sidey are on strong recommends. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Gangs/Revolutions & True History of the Kelly Gang

  6. Aug 19

    Midweek Mention... Marty Supreme

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we review Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein’s A24 sports-hustle drama starring Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, a table-tennis prodigy with Olympic-level confidence and almost no visible concern for anyone else. Only Dan and Chris have done the homework this week, leaving Sidey and Reegs to interrogate them on the plot, the tone, the ping-pong, the Gwyneth Paltrow of it all, and whether Chalamet can truly carry a film when he still looks like a haunted Victorian child who has discovered hair product. Along the way we discuss: Chris failing to return from Romania with the promised contrabandparents discovering IMAX and immediately wanting a monthly cinema clubthe Safdie brothers going their separate ways, with Josh Safdie on this and Benny Safdie off with The RockMarty working in a shoe shop but dreaming of table-tennis glorya sperm-and-egg title sequence that nobody had quite expectedMarty robbing the family business while trying to frame it as sensible career planningLondon tournaments, The Ritz and the ping-pong federationGwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone, a famous actress in a loveless marriageEndo, the terrifying Japanese player with the modern grip and superior paddlewhether the table-tennis sequences are CGI, doubles or just very committed editingorange ping-pong balls, champagne bills and Marty’s endless self-mythologisinga hotel bath falling through the ceilingMoses the gangster dogHarlem Globetrotters-style ping-pong tricksMarty getting to Japan, losing an exhibition match, refusing to kiss a pig, and demanding one more gamewhether achieving your dream means anything if you have used everyone around you to get thereThe big question: is Marty a brilliant, driven outsider, or just a selfish arsehole with a paddle? Dan finds the character so unpleasant that it limits his enjoyment, even while acknowledging the film is very well made. Chris is more taken with the craft, the period detail, the tension and the way the film keeps moving despite its hefty runtime. Reegs hears shades of The Karate Kid, White Men Can’t Jump and Uncut Gems, while Sidey remains deeply suspicious of Timothée Chalamet’s pixie leading-man energy. Verdicts: Chris is on a strong recommend, Dan is somewhere between mid and strong recommend, and Sidey and Reegs are officially TBC. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Midweek Mention... Marty Supreme

  7. Aug 14

    Prisons & Sing Sing

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, it is prison week — although with Riggs and Chris missing, Sidey and Dan are doing hard time as a two-man crew. Before the main feature, we look at memorable prisons and prison stories from film, TV and music. That means everything from miscarriage-of-justice anger to escape-movie comfort food, brutal borstal drama, wizard prisons, sitcom prisons and, naturally, George Clooney being offensively cool in Out of Sight. Along the way we discuss: In the Name of the Father and the fury of the Guildford Four injusticeThe Shawshank Redemption, new fish, Red, Andy Dufresne and the power of endless TV rewatchabilityThe Green Mile as another Stephen King prison classicBirdman of Alcatraz, Escape from Alcatraz and The Rockwhy Pete is missed whenever a Sean Connery impression is requiredBrubaker, with Robert Redford discovering prison corruption from the insidethe glorious stupidity of Prison Break and its tattooed escape-plan premiseScum, Midnight Express, Azkaban and The Great EscapeFolsom Prison Blues, Jailhouse Rock, I Fought the Law and John Lennon’s Attica StatePorridge, HMP Slade and Fletcher trying to survive the system by wisecrackingEscape from Sobibor and the power of stories about people walking out through horrorOut of Sight, Glades Correctional Institution and the possibly illegal hotness of George ClooneyThen we review Sing Sing, directed by Greg Kwedar and starring Colman Domingo as John “Divine G” Whitfield. Inspired by the real Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the film follows a group of incarcerated men who use theatre to build community, process emotion and make something together in a place designed to strip people of freedom. The film opens with Divine G performing on stage. For a moment, it could be Broadway. Then the prison reality returns: standing to attention, routines, walls, control. That contrast becomes the film’s central power. Inside the rehearsal room, the men are not reduced to their crimes or their sentences. They are actors, writers, collaborators, comedians and friends. A big part of the film’s authenticity comes from the cast. Alongside professional actors like Domingo and Paul Raci, many performers are real RTA alumni and formerly incarcerated men playing versions of themselves. Sidey and Dan both pick up on how much that matters. The film feels lived-in because many of the faces on screen have lived some version of this world. The main dramatic spark comes when Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin joins the theatre group. He is guarded, tough and suspicious of vulnerability, but he is also the person who suggests the troupe should make a comedy instead of another serious drama. That choice leads to Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code, a real RTA production full of time travel, ancient Egypt, Hamlet and absolute chaos. Sidey had not heard of Sing Sing before this week and might not have watched it without the nomination, but he is very glad he did. Dan is just as positive. The dads admire the film’s warmth, pace and humanity, and the way it avoids becoming either a grim prison misery parade or a simplistic “art fixes everything” story. It is moving, funny, generous and grounded — a prison film about performance, friendship, grief, justice and purpose. Strong recommend from both dads. You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Prisons & Sing Sing

  8. Aug 12

    Midweek Mention... Angels With Dirty Faces

    This week on Bad Dads Film Review, we head back to 1938 for Angels with Dirty Faces, Michael Curtiz’s classic gangster drama starring James Cagney, Pat O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart and Ann Sheridan. It is very much an old-school Hollywood crime picture — street kids, reform school, crooked lawyers, corrupt city rackets, priests, gangsters, ledgers, shootouts and plenty of “what do you say, what do you know?” patter — but the dads are surprised by how modern and effective parts of it still feel. We start with young Rocky Sullivan and Jerry Connolly, two poor kids stealing from freight cars in the hope of making a few dollars. Jerry makes it over the fence. Rocky gets caught. That one moment sends their lives in opposite directions: Jerry becomes Father Connolly, a priest trying to help the local boys; Rocky becomes a famous gangster whose name alone is enough to make those same boys look at him like a hero. The film’s central question is simple and still uncomfortable: what happens when the person the kids admire most is exactly the person they should not become? Rocky returns to the old neighbourhood after prison looking for the $100,000 he is owed by Frazier, played by Humphrey Bogart in full slippery villain mode. Instead of paying up, Frazier and his partners try to have Rocky killed, while Rocky’s presence in the neighbourhood starts pulling the Dead End Kids away from Father Jerry’s attempts to give them discipline, sport and a better path. Along the way we discuss: James Cagney’s magnetic gangster energyHumphrey Bogart before he became top-billed BogartPat O’Brien as Rocky’s childhood friend turned priestAnn Sheridan as Laury, the grown-up “pigtails” from Rocky’s youththe Dead End Kids as younger versions of Rocky and Jerrythe basketball scene and Jerry’s attempt to teach rules and teamworkcorrupt rackets, hidden ledgers and gangster bookkeepingRocky’s refusal to let Frazier and Mac kill Jerrythe rooftop/tenement shootout that seals Rocky’s fatethe electric-chair ending and whether Rocky’s fear is real or performedwhy that final walk is the thing everyone remembersthe film’s influence on Angels with Filthy Souls in Home AloneSidey had not seen the film before and comes away genuinely impressed, especially by how strong the filmmaking feels for 1938. The camera moves more than expected, the street scenes have real life in them, and the moral ending still lands. Dan highlights Cagney’s star power and the way his gangster roles sit alongside his broader musical and performance talents. So does it still work? Absolutely. The language and rhythms are unmistakably of their time, but the story of poverty, idol worship, bad choices and one final attempt at redemption still has weight. Strong recommend, see? You can now text us anonymously to leave feedback, suggest future content or simply hurl abuse at us. We'll read out any texts we receive on the show. Click here to try it out! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or on our website baddadsfilm.com.   Until next time, we remain...   Bad Dads

    Midweek Mention... Angels With Dirty Faces
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About

Several years ago 4 self confessed movie fanatics ruined their favourite pastime by having children. Now we are telling the world about the movies we missed and the frequently awful kids tv we are now subjected to. We like to think we're funny. Come and argue with us on the social medias. Twitter: @dads_film Facebook: BadDadsFilmReview Instagram: instagram.com/baddadsjsy www.baddadsfilm.com

Information

  • Creator
    Bad Dads
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    640
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Bad Dads Film Review
  • Show Website
    Bad Dads Film Review

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