Road Gang

A reporter uncovers a network of corruption that extends to the penthouses and prisons of a southern state.

MGM may have gussied up the Depression era with glamorous escapism, but not so Warner Bros. WB liked to say their stories were ripped from the headlines of the day. Their writers operated from street level and not the penthouse top, as this programmer clearly shows. Prison conditions could be abominable at a time when tax monies had dried up along with businesses. Thus prison movies like the best known one, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (932), were popular with straitened audiences of the day.

There are many good touches in Road Gang—the pin-pricked message, the tumbling coal stope, the artful safe-cracker. Note too, how the scheme reporter Larrabee (Woods) uncovers goes all the way to the top. I'm sure audiences of the day enjoyed indicting the rich and powerful. Nonetheless, the movie lacks the fire needed to lift it from the merely routine. Woods is sturdy and likable, but lacks the intensity needed to drive the plot in a memorable way. Also, that superb villain Charles Middleton (mine boss) curiously underplays his key role, such that no sparks are lit there, either. My guess is that director King was not much engaged with the material. His story direction is competent, but nothing more. Thus the narrative unfolds in interesting but not gripping fashion, which I suspect is why it's omitted from Maltin's film guide. Too bad WB didn't get Cagney for the lead role or Mike Curtiz to direct it.

This film was made by the B-movie unit at First National/Warner Brothers. Because it's a B, it only lasts about an hour and stars a relative unknown, Donald Woods. However, although many folks normally assume that a B-movie is synonymous with a 'bad movie', this is DEFINITELY not the case with this movie. Thanks to exceptional writing and direction, the film sure satisfies.

This film is from the social reform era in Hollywood. Many films were made by this studio which questioned the penal system--such as "I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", "Mayor of Hell", "20,000 Years in Sing Sing" and "Angels With Dirty Faces". In this same tradition is "Road Gang"--a film not just about government corruption but corruption in the chain gang system.

A crusading reporter has gotten on the wrong side of a bunch of crooked politicians. They try to bribe him to keep his mouth shut but he vows to bring down the corrupt officials. So, shortly after this meeting with the crooks, this reporter (Woods) is convicted on trumped up charges along with his friend. They are sent to a brutal chain gang--one that is run by people working for the same crooked machine. The plan is to work the two to death so that they never can have a chance to publish anything. And, when the newspaper man tries to smuggle out a story about the brutality, he's sent to an even worse place--a place where they have no intention of allowing anyone to see him again. What's next? See the film.

This film works on so many levels. The dialog is great, the plot works very well and the film really gets its point across. On top of that, it has a really good ending. This film has it all--and is better than you'd ever expect from a tiny-budgeted movie.

Unlike 1932's "I am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang", this film is shorter, is using Warner's B-list talent, and has to deal with the production code which has the unusual effect of changing the king of political corruption in this movie from Metcalfe to "Moett". I've scoured my books and online sources, and I cannot find a politician from that era named Metcalfe that was considered corrupt, or perhaps one that was not corrupt and did not want to be portrayed as such in this film. Just note that you will clearly hear the name Metcalfe being changed to Moett via audio dropouts throughout the film. What this film does have going for it is a co-writer by the name of Dalton Trumbo - his first credited writing role.

Donald Woods plays James Larrabie, whose first expose on Moett's ties to political corruption has Moett trying to corrupt Larrabie himself by offering him a job in return for dropping this series of exposes. Larrabie refuses. Then he does a rather dumb thing - he tells Moett where he is going (Chicago) and how he is getting there. While Larrabie and his assistant Bob Gordon are on the road they are intercepted by the state police for suspicion of a robbery. So far, it is assumed this delay is set up by Moett, but what happens next is not. A criminal kills the local sheriff as he is putting Larrabie and Gordon in jail, and now Moett can't believe his luck, he now has the journalists up for murder. He conspires with a corrupt attorney to get them to plead guilty. The actual jail breaker is dead, so nobody can say they were not part of it. The corrupt attorney therefore tells them to plead guilty to the jail break and they'll get a suspended sentence. He knows the judge, although not corrupt, is a "hanging judge", and instead they get five years hard labor.

This is where the brutal prison scenes begin, with there even being a mine where prisoners who are sent there are destined to die a slow death of black lung disease due to a lack of any protective gear. What does Larrabie have going for him? His editor as well as his girlfriend are working on the outside to get him freed by appealing to the Attorney General. What is not going for him? His girlfriend's stepfather is one of Moett's henchmen. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.

Warner Brothers doesn't have quite the courage of their convictions here, since the corrupt state and prison system is unnamed. How did the prison system get to be so bad, presumably in the south? Originally, the big prison farms were a product of Reconstruction and a substitute for slavery. Largely, at first, blacks were sent to these prison farms, maybe or maybe not guilty of what they were convicted. But the state got free labor out of them, often renting them out to planters who no longer had access to true slaves. The brutality came from what had been done in the past to keep field slaves in line on the big plantations. Eventually, over decades, this just became the prison system for the entire south and for all races.

Well, enough of the history lesson. But I really highly recommend this fast paced little film as probably the best thing I ever saw Donald Woods in, helped by a tight script and good direction.

Framed for crimes they did not commit, two young men are sentenced to five years at hard labor on a Southern prison's brutal ROAD GANG.

Here is a fine example of the type of crime film which Warner Bros. produced so well. Although there are no big stars in the film, the acting is generally good, the stifling atmosphere is well maintained and the production values - especially in the prison camp/mine sequences - are of a high standard.

Donald Woods makes a sturdy, stalwart hero; made to endure various humiliations & punishments, he never wavers in his fight for justice. This is quite typical of the fine performances Woods gave during his career. Kay Linaker is enjoyable as his courageous fiancée.

The film is sparked by a handful of noteworthy performances among the large cast: Carlyle Moore Jr. as Woods faithful, tragic buddy; Henry O'Neill as a slick, utterly corrupt politician; Edward Van Sloan as a shyster lawyer; Olin Howlin as the lethargic prison doctor; and Charles Middleton as the Blackfoot Mine's vile warden.

ROAD GANG was a partial re-make of Warner's' hit film from four years earlier, I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (1932), starring Paul Muni. In the days of the studio factory system, when churning out one picture after another in an almost endless supply was vitally important, it was not at all unusual to recycle the plots of successful A movies. The B pictures department would change elements here & there (ROAD GANG has a much happier ending than the Muni film), and release an entirely new picture, hoping for another winner. This was the first film scripted by the young Dalton Trumbo, destined to be famous for more than just his celebrated screenwriting abilities.

This is one of those "B" films that doesn't get much airplay but show up periodically to my delight as an avid aficionado of "B" movies. A solid cast of second leads and character actors....Donald Woods, Henry O'Neil, Charles Middleton and a very young Marc Lawrence. It mirrors "I Was A Fugitive From a Chain Gang", the Paul Muni "A" list movie of that time in that it deals with the conditions of southern prisons in the 20's and 30's An interesting sidelight to this movie which was mentioned by the preceding reviewer....the post-dubbing of the character Moett's name. In the film,it is obviously "Metcalf" but has been post-dubbed to "Moett". I have searched extensively for the reason but can't find out why this was done. I would recommend it to anyone who loves the "B" movies....low budget, hackneyed dialogue and last minute reprieves....it's the stuff "B"'s were made of!