They Made Me a Criminal is a Warner Bros. crime-drama film directed by Busby Berkeley and starring John Garfield, Claude Rains, and The Dead End Kids. It is a remake of the 1933 film The Life of Jimmy Dolan.
Boxer Johnny Bradfield (John Garfield) knocks out a rival in a postfight brawl. Thinking he committed murder, he flees to an Arizona ranch run by hard-as-nails Goldie (Ann Sheridan) and her feisty mother (May Robson) and staffed by Leo Gorcey and the Dead End Kids. Though Johnny is relentlessly dogged by Detective Monty Phelan (Claude Rains), the Kids convince him to finance their future gas station by training for and winning a high stakes prizefight. But just as things seem to going "swell" for both Johnny and the Kids, Phelan shows up ready to take Johnny back east in handcuffs? Or is he?
This film also contains the first use of a malapropism in the Dead End Kids/East Side Kids/Bowery Boys series when Jordan says "Regenerate, ya dope" in response to Hall's use of the word degenerate. Malapropisms became a staple of these films, with Gorcey using them on a regular basis throughout the series.
This film is available online as a free download.
