Was it an act?
When Rocky was about to go to the electric chair, was he really begging them not to kill him or was he going along with what the priest wanted him to do?
shareApparently Cagney later stated it's up to you to decide.
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MovieChat Forums > Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) Discussion > Was it an act?
Cagney page it so you can interpret it and decide for yourself. I personally think he put on an act. For his best friend and the kids who adored him. He had no fear like most sociopaths.
shareCagney page it so you can interpret it and decide for yourself. I personally think he put on an act. For his best friend and the kids who adored him. He had no fear like most sociopaths.
Sociopaths have no conscience, fear is another thing. That said, I always thought ever since I fist saw the movie (when I was 7 or 8) that Rocky did as Father Jerry asked for the sake of the kids. share
It's very true that sociopaths have no conscience. And some do have fear in regards to losing their life. Ted Bundy comes to mind in that way. But many and maybe most also have the quality of fearlessness. Some good quality people also have that trait. They take very high risk vocations but for pro social reasons. Sociopaths and Psychopaths can commit their atrocious crimes without any emotion or empathy for their victims. I don't think Rocky Sullivan had any fear at all even about death. I also think he put on an act at the end. He said it himself when he said: "you have to have a heart to be afraid, and I don't think I have one." He did it for his friend and the kids.
shareTed Bundy minutes before the chair was scared...Guards had to hold him up.
shareWasn't sacrificing his personna at the time he met his maker what truly made Rocky an "Angel.."? Also,that whole final scene (with O'Brien) would have been pointless if he wasn't putting on an act, no?
"Anything else you wanna tell me?"
"I got 3 balls"
I am not sure of the source or context of Cagney saying it is up to the viewer to decide. Seems to me the whole structure and course of the film revolves around it being an act. Nowhere in the film does Rocky show the least bit of fear of anything. At the end all that was important to him, until Father Jerry talks to him, is that he maintain his image. He positively revels in it when Jerry tells him how many kids look up to him as a tough guy who won't break. He knows he's going to die no matter what, that pleading for his life won't make a bit of difference. Icing on the top is that the guards there hate him and are only too happy to put him to death pleading or no.
It is him listening to Jerry, and seeing a way for him to do good, that in effect amounts to his redemption, and Jerry's prayer to God is answered.
Of course how much sense it makes for a lifelong sociopath to consider, and then seek, redemption is something I would leave up to the viewer. but that brings in a consideration the film does not introduce.
It's about as clear as it can be that it was an act.
I think it was an act. SPOILER - - - - The father asked him (Cagney) to act scared for the sake of the kids. So, I think it was an act.
shareYou're never meant to know a definitive answer.
You interpret whichever (depending on what you've 'taken' from the movie, beforehand)
Nowadays of course, nothing is open to interpretation (and usually results in a slew of remakes, prequels and sequels) nothing is left to the imagination anymore? Everything *must* be spelled out.
For what it's worth, my opinion on the ending alternates between both outcomes (depending on the many times I've watched it)
I think it was all an act-- a great sacrifice for a man who savored his pride, allowing him to die in a sort of state of grace.
shareI do not believe it was an act. He was asked twice by Pat O'Brien to play the coward to help the kids stay off the wrong path and both times he refused. But the priest, his boyhood friend was also giving him an out to save face. He had taken that walk before with other tough guys and they all broke down and he knew Cagney would as well. Yes he was a tough guy, but at that point when the realization hits him about his end, his death, the electric chair, he loses his composure.
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