Editing Angels with Dirty Faces (section)

===Casting===
[[File:Ann SHERIDAN-James CAGNEY-Angels Dirty Faces-PHOTO2.jpg|upright=1.25|right|thumb|{{center|Sheridan and Cagney, circa. 1938}}]]
Although Cagney had been convinced that he would never agree to play the role of a coward being dragged to his execution, he became enthusiastic about portraying Rocky, seeing it as an opportunity to prove that his acting range extended beyond tough guy roles.<ref name=PCircus>[http://www.parkcircus.com/assets/0008/4568/WarnerBros-at-90-FINAL.pdf Here's a look at Warner Bros.. 90 Years of Great Filmmaking] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208230014/http://www.parkcircus.com/assets/0008/4568/WarnerBros-at-90-FINAL.pdf |date=2015-12-08 }}, ''[[Park Circus (company)|Park Circus]]'', p. 4, published March 28, 2013. Retrieved December 8, 2015.</ref><ref name=Neibaur2>Neibaur, pp. 177–184.</ref> To play Rocky, Cagney drew on his memories of growing up in the Yorkville section of Manhattan, New York. His main inspiration was a drug-addicted pimp, who stood on a street corner all day hitching his trousers, twitching his neck, and repeating: "Whadda ya hear! Whadda ya say!".<ref name=Neibaur1/><ref name=Naremore1/>

Those mannerisms came back to haunt Cagney, who later wrote in his autobiography: "I did those gestures maybe six times in the picture. That was over thirty years ago—and the impressionists have been doing me doing him ever since."<ref name=Neibaur1>Neibaur, p. 179.</ref><ref name=Naremore1>Naremore, p. 164.</ref> Cagney's other inspiration was his childhood friend, Peter "Bootah" Hessling, who was convicted of murder and executed by electric chair on July 21, 1927. The night Bootah was executed, Cagney was playing in a Broadway performance, and wept on hearing of his death.<ref name=PHessling>Hughes, chapter 4, p. 3.</ref><ref name=NeibaurChair>Neibaur, p. 2.</ref>

Pat O'Brien was cast as Father Jerry Connolly, Rocky's childhood friend. O'Brien had been a contract player with Warner Bros. since 1933, and eventually left the studio in 1940 following a dispute over the terms of his renewal contract.<ref name="O'Brienbook">O'Brien, pp. 260–61.</ref> He and Cagney first met in 1926 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. O'Brien was a "lonely, young" actor "playing in a stock company". He heard the stage play ''Women Go on Forever'' (by [[Mary Boland]]) was coming to Asbury Park and on its way to [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. Wanting to meet the star of the show, he went backstage after a performance and met Cagney for the first time.<ref name=BBCinterview>[[Michael Parkinson|Parkinson, Michael]]. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_x1Pu6dq8s "James Cagney and Pat O'Brien on the ''Parkinson'' talk show"], ''[[Parkinson (TV series)|Parkinson]]'' / ''[[BBC One]]'', published January 1, 1981. Retrieved December 10, 2015.</ref> O'Brien and Cagney became great friends and remained so until the former's death in 1983.<ref name=OBriendeath>Zibart, Eve. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/10/16/beloved-actor-pat-obrien-dies-of-heart-attack/c4859a05-913d-4abe-88ea-3c81f52c65da/ "Beloved Actor Pat O'Brien Dies of Heart Attack"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151211045142/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1983/10/16/beloved-actor-pat-obrien-dies-of-heart-attack/c4859a05-913d-4abe-88ea-3c81f52c65da/ |date=2015-12-11 }}, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', published October 16, 1983. Retrieved December 10, 2015.</ref> Cagney died only three years later.<ref name=Cagneydeath>{{Cite news |last=Flint |first=Peter B. |date=1986-03-31 |title=James Cagney Is Dead at 86; Master of Pugnacious Grace |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/31/obituaries/james-cagney-is-dead-at-86-master-of-pugnacious-grace.html |access-date=2023-08-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

By May 1938, the [[Dead End Kids]] had already starred in [[Samuel Goldwyn]]'s ''[[Dead End (1937 film)|Dead End]]''; as well as Warner's ''[[Crime School]]''{{refn|group=N|''Crime School'' was released six months before ''Angels with Dirty Faces''.<ref name=HansonP60/>}} (both with Humphrey Bogart). They had signed a two-year contract with Goldwyn in 1937, but he sold the contract to Warner Bros. the same year because of their behavior on the set of ''Dead End''; in one instance, they "jumped" Bogart and "stole his pants" while in another they crashed a truck into a soundstage.<ref name="HayesWalker56/74">Hayes and Walker, pp. 56–74.</ref> Bogart portrays the crooked lawyer Jim Frazier in ''Angels With Dirty Faces''. German scholar [[Winfried Fluck]] described Bogart's character, Jim Frazier, as an "entirely negative" and "thoroughly bad figure," in "contrast" with Cagney's antihero.<ref name=BogCharacter>Fluck, p. 386.</ref>