Spikeopath Baby Face Nelson is directed by Don Siegel and co-written by Daniel Mainwaring, Robert Adler and Irving Shulman. It stars Mickey Rooney, Carolyn Jones, Cedric Hardwicke, Leo Gordon, Anthony Caruso and Jack Elam. Story is based on the notorious criminal who became public enemy number one in the first half of the 1930s.Gangsters have always been a profitable source for film makers, with many of them proving to be the basis of classic cinema. The story of Baby Face Nelson is ideal for cinematic treatment.Don Siegel's 57 movie is tight and taut, yet still briskly paced, and in the main as per the characterisation of Nelson, it's pitched right by Siegel and Mickey Rooney. Nelson is seen as a pocket rocket of inferiority complexes, a deluded bully held in the grip of jealousies. He's a trigger-happy punk with anger issues, while Siegel is professional enough to ensure the little thug is not glamorised (the film opens with a written statement pouring praise on the FBI). The recreation of the period is grand, those cars, those guns, the latter of which get a good amount of screen time as Siegel gives us gun play aplenty. While visually (Hal Mohr on cinematography duty) it's lighted for shadows and period starkness. There's even a pitch black noir ending to round it off.The flaws? Rooney never fully convinces in the role of Nelson, where perhaps he is a mere victim of following in the footsteps of greater characterisations in the genre? Or maybe it's just a case of being familiar with him in more airy roles? But with Hardwicke doing fine work as a boozy lecher, Jones appealingly knowing and sexy as Nelson's moll, and Elam and Elisha Cook Jr bolstering the support ranks, film is in capable acting hands. Narrative is a bit scratchy, not quite a complete whole, more a case of a number of great scenes inserted here and there, but it doesn't hurt the picture too much. Overall it gets in and does its job in next to no time, never out staying its welcome, it overcomes its faults and entertains the genre fan with ebullience. 7/10

ChuckTurner Don Siegel's BABY FACE NELSON is one of the harshest, most ferocious of movies; its conclusion one of the bleakest ever filmed. Siegel hit this same note of bitter cynicism again later in his career with DIRTY HARRY; but because BABY FACE NELSON offers no redemption for its protagonist, it is the more direct and powerful film. The central performance by Mickey Rooney ranks with Cagney's Cody Jarrett in Walsh's WHITE HEAT, in its absolute lack of sentimentality, utterly uninterested in ingratiation. One of the most chilling moments is when Nelson abruptly sets free a hostage instead of killing him: Rooney offers no clue as to why. There is no reason why: it is a whim as little understood by Nelson as by the viewer. An independent production originally released through United Artists, it has not been seen theatrically for several decades, and seems never to have been issued on DVD. Long overdue for rediscovery, BABY FACE NELSON should take its place alongside Siegel's better known pictures THE LINE UP and HELL IS FOR HEROES as a dark and chilling masterpiece.

bevep Baby Face Nelson with Mickey Rooney is entertaining but not very factual.Keeping in mind that Hollywood was in a "crime doesn't pay" mode in the 50's ... many exciting moments in Baby Face Nelson's criminal career were either white-washed or eliminated completely, leaving no direction in the story & not much for Mickey Rooney to work with.This is surprising if you look back to the Cagney films of the 1930's(Roaring Twenties/Public Enemy) where the hero (or villain, depending on your point of view) was applauded by the public ... & sometimes even triumphed over the good guys. On the plus side: Mickey Rooney did do an outstanding job (he even looked somewhat like Baby Face)The moral: great for fans of Mickey Rooney ... not so great for fans of Baby Face Nelson.

jeffhill1 In "Baby Face Nelson" Mickey Rooney has come a long way from his "I know. Let's put on a show" Andy Hardy solution to meeting the problems of the Depression. The cherubic teenager has become a cold eyed, cold blooded killer with a chip on his shoulder who delights in showing that despite his five foot three inch stature, he is a big man with a Tompson submachine gun.