Born Reckless (1930)

IMDb plot summary: Hoping to use the publicity to get re-elected, a judge sentences a notorious gangster to fight in the war.

Directed by John Ford. Starring Edmund Lowe, Catherine Dale Owen, and William Harrigan.

Born Reckless is a 1930 John Ford movie about a member of the mob who decides to go straight after getting caught, but his old friends and connections keep catching up with him. This is a slightly more interesting look at this kind of story than I expected, partly because he's still so very friendly with his old gangster pals, giving the impression that nobody has a problem with him having left... until suddenly someone does. It feels at first like a more optimistic version of this story, as if he CAN have it all, both his old friends and his new life. It does take a bit of an abrupt turn downward in the second half which feels a little disorienting and disconnected, but that mostly works thematically. This is the earliest movie I've seen from Ford, and the way he structures his film, both visually and narratively, definitely is an indicator of where he landed later -- simple but powerful narratives about people trying to live their lives. I'm not going to remember the details of this film but I hope I remember the interesting twist it put on an old trope.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Born Reckless < Hairspray (1988)

Born Reckless > The Man with One Red Shoe

Born Reckless > The Hangover

Born Reckless < Casino

Born Reckless > The Wiz

Born Reckless > About Ray

Born Reckless < The Party

Born Reckless > First Blood

Born Reckless < Deep Red

Born Reckless < Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Born Reckless > Once Upon a Time in America

Born Reckless > Wedding Crashers

Final spot: #2234 out of 3695, or 40%.