The Purple Gang is a 1960 American period crime film directed by Frank McDonald and starring Barry Sullivan, Robert Blake and Jody Lawrance. It portrays the activities of The Purple Gang bootlegging organization in Detroit in the 1920s
Plot
A fictionalized account of The Purple Gang as they smuggled liquor in 1920s Detroit, Michigan.
Cast
Barry Sullivan as Police Lt. William P. Harley
Robert Blake as William Joseph 'Honeyboy' Willard
Elaine Edwards as Gladys Harley
Marc Cavell as Henry Abel 'Hank' Smith
Jody Lawrance as Joan MacNamara
Suzanne Ridgway as Daisy
Joe Turkel as Eddie Olsen
Victor Creatore as Al Olsen
Paul Dubov as Thomas Allen 'Killer' Burke
Ray Boyle as Tom Olsen
Kathleen Lockhart as Nun
Nestor Paiva as Laurence Orlofsky
Lou Krugman as Dr. Riordan
Robert Anderson as Police Commissioner
Mauritz Hugo as Licovetti
James Roosevelt as Himself in Prologue
Production
The Purple Gang was directed by Frank McDonald and was produced by Lindsley Parsons under the company Lindsley Parsons Productions, Inc. The film details the formation of The Purple Gang and their criminal operations in Detroit, Michigan. It left out that the majority of The Purple Gang was Jewish. The film opened with newsreels and Congressman James Roosevelt, the son of Franklin D. Roosevelt, saying that "despite its entertainment value, the film points out that only by an awakened citizenry can crime be successfully fought." Roosevelt's introduction is followed by a statement that explains the plot of the film. 1930s newsreel footage is interspersed throughout the film. The Los Angeles Evening Citizen News said that the film's narration "adds a convincing documentary flavor to the picture." The narration was provided by Barry Sullivan as his character Bill Harley.
Release
The film was released on January 5, 1960 by Allied Artists. It was released on VHS in 1992 and on DVD in 2011 through the Warner Archive Collection.
Reception
Glenn Erickson of DVD Talk said, "The obvious hook with the true facts of The Purple Gang is the teen angle: in 1959 movie screens were awash with juvenile delinquency pictures. But the script as written sticks with gangster clichés, not adolescent angst." Dave Kehr of The New York Times wrote, "Produced by the cash-strapped independent Allied Artists, the film employs a minimally rendered period setting to provide cover for a more or less frank admiration (at least, up until the last reel) of youth in revolt: teenagers with tommy guns."
References
Bibliography
Stanfield, Peter. The Cool and the Crazy: Pop Fifties Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2015.