Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

Charlie Bronson was 37 when he starred in this potent little gangster picture from King of the Bs Roger Corman. As real-life 1930s public enemy George Kelly, Bronson orchestrates complicated bank robbery schemes and kidnapping plots across America, and when one of his gang members (Morey Amsterdam) tries to skim off the top, he feeds him to a caged mountain lion. But take away his machine gun and Kelly is not that tough; things such as coffins, skulls, and funeral wreaths are enough to paralyze him with terror. Much tougher is his sexy, manipulative moll Flo (a sensational Susan Cabot), who goads him into his feats of crime. As she likes to say, "Machine-Gun Kelly is my little baby." The R. Wright Campbell script really fleshes them out as complicated characters and works well at both exploring dysfunctional relationships and supplying loads of tense action. The film was a critically praised hit, especially with the influential Nouvelle Vague critics in France. It also made a star out of Bronson, lifting him out of bit parts and into the majors.